Best Baby Soother Projectors of 2021

The V-Tech Baby Critters Soothing Starlight Hippo lands firmly between plush and non-plush. The main body is firm plastic without hard edges or corners, and the head and limbs are firmly stuffed fabric.

Voice activation means the hippo will turn on if your little one cries in the night, and you can select between a 10-, 20-, or 30-minute light and sound duration. There is also a volume control to ensure the hippo does not wake the rest of the family.

The light display has static stars, arranged in spirals which cycle through three colors. This provides some gentle light, in multiple directions, without it becoming overly stimulating.

As the hippo is soft and light, it is easy to take along with you to family, daycare, or days out.

This cute and cuddly elephant has a removable light and sound unit. That means you can throw the body into the washer if it becomes a little grubby or if your little one spits up some milk.

A small, soft, Velcro strap makes it easy to affix the elephant to your crib or to take it with you attached to the stroller.

The only small inconvenience is the position of the light unit. As the unit is set directly into the elephant’s belly, if you want the lights to project onto the ceiling, you have to attach the projector facing upward on the crib rail. That means your baby will be looking at the rear surface of their new stuffy friend.

This cute and cheerful fox-shaped night light from Infanto is sure to give a pop of color to the nursery, and that’s before it even lights up.

Three tail panels fan out and pass slowly in front of each other, giving a gentle impression of movement without being overly stimulating. Meanwhile, the small fox cub that nestles in front of the adult can be removed and acts as a portable, independent nightlight.

None of the five songs the fox plays were familiar to us, but they were all pleasant, delicate musical pieces that were an excellent soothing choice for bedtime.

You can use the projector with either light alone, sounds alone, or a combination of the two. Whichever combination you choose, the projector will run for 20 minutes before turning itself off.

The styling of the Sleepy Me soother will work just as well in an older child’s room as it will in a baby’s nursery. A large, white “eggshell” sits atop a cute little yellow chick. The color scheme means it will also sit well within almost any decor.

You can choose between a 30- or 60-minute timer, or if you want to ensure your little one does not wake up in the dark, you can leave it running all night.

The Sleepy Me soother comes with a USB cable so you can run the projector from the power supply if you run out of batteries, or if you prefer not to be reliant on disposable energy. This power combo also makes it usable in a power outage.

This baby soother projector from Fisher-Price has a traditional style look with a modern control system.

There are three light modes — you can use each one alone or in combination with the others. Stars and moons of different colors can be projected upward, soft white animals can be projected outward, and a soft amber night light mode makes the base gently glow.

For sound, you can choose between music, nature sounds, or white noise, and both the lights and sounds can be set on a timer of your choice of duration or left on all night.

The one point that it fails on is that your phone must be within Bluetooth connectivity range to make adjustments to the settings. You can still use the light without your phone, but you cannot make changes to the lights or sounds from a distance.

You can choose between 10 songs, a heartbeat, or a bird song, and each one will repeat, on a loop, for 30 minutes before shutting off.

The light unit projects stars up onto the ceiling, cycling through three colors and multiple color combinations. This provides more interest than the projection of a basic mono-color star pattern but is not so stimulating it will keep your baby excited and awake.

The downside is that the owl must lay on its back to project lights onto the ceiling. You’ll have to attach it to the upper crib rail, which means your child will be looking at the owl’s back.

Also, we found the velcro strap a little short for some crib rails, while on others, it did not hold the owl firmly in place, causing it to drop down and face the floor.

This option from Infantino combines a traditional crib mobile and a soother projector that transforms into a table-top, toddler-friendly projecting night light.

We loved the idea of this three-stage baby soother projector, and it does deliver in most areas; however, there are a few points that let it down.

First, the fittings only allow it to be fitted to a crib where the top rail is 2.5 inches deep or smaller. If you have a deeper top rail, you cannot use it as a mobile.

Second, some babies may find the mobile animals too interesting, causing them to stay awake longer than they otherwise might. If this is an issue for you, the animals can be detached. There is also a built-in baby-safe mirror, which, again, might prove to be too much fun.

Finally, you cannot use the mobile and the projector at the same time.

The jury is still out on whether to choose a baby soother projector with a sound sensor. Some users and their babies seem to adore them, while others find that having the soother turn on in response to a baby’s cries causes more disruption.

This particular sound-activated baby soother projector is a popular choice because you can change the settings to work with only the lights, just the sounds, both lights, and sounds together, or with both lights and sounds turned off.

Some users had issues with the brightness, volume, or lack of volume of the lights and the volume levels. However, we found those were all down to personal preference or circumstance, such as wanting to drown out traffic noise.

This Fisher-Price projector has an excellent multi-stage turn-off feature that allows your child to slowly unwind. First, after 15 minutes, the animals slow down and stop moving. Then, after a further 10 minutes, the music fades, and the unit falls silent.

We were disappointed to find you can have the animals in the box light up and move or use the star projector, but you cannot use both at once. It would also be nice to have the option to use just the lights or just the sound and not be restricted to using both.

We do like that a large button on the projector allows your baby to start the unit on their own, but this is also a downside if you have a little one who turns it on throughout the night for entertainment when they should be asleep.

This adorable little bunny comes with a detachable plush carrot, which we find is great fun for “Feed the rabbit” games. The projector’s soft body has plenty of cuddle appeal, plus you can remove the light unit to wash both rabbit and carrot.

To recharge, simply remove the light unit, plug in the USB cable, and attach the other end to a charging block. The cable is included with the rabbit, but the block is not. A full battery charge takes around 2.5 hours and will last between 15 and 20 hours.

You can use lights or sounds or both, and it will turn on in response to the sound of 80 decibels or more. The timer can be set to turn the bunny off after 15, 30, or 60 minutes.

Our one word of caution is that as this is a new product, we can’t tell how well it works long-term.