35 Songs Guaranteed To Make Baby Stop Crying

Music can be a great tool to make baby stop crying or just a fun way to bond. From nursery rhymes, to Disney, to Top 40, and everything in between, every baby has a song that will soothe them. Here are some of the songs new parents reported their babies are in love with, including my daughter's favorite song! Check out the list and discover which one is your baby's favorite.

List Of The Best Songs To Make Baby Stop Crying

My kid's favorites

“The Happy Song” by Imogen Heap – scientifically proven to put a smile on crying babies faces and everyone around! Seriously, she worked with Goldsmith University on a team that included developmental and musical psychologists to test the music with actual babies between 6 months to 2 years old. Ultimately it resulted in just the right tempo and melody to create the happiest baby song ever!

“Somewhere Over the Rainbow” by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. It will always get my daughter dancing and can calm her down when upset. Sometimes we even use it to help get her to sleep!

“Dancing On My Own” the Callum Scott version – ok this may be a little *weird* lyrically to sing to your baby, but it's a great song and works! This was the only song that soothed our first during her “witching hour” the first few months. And honestly, watching my husband rock baby girl up and down while singing this song for hours in those early weeks will forever be one of the most beautiful memories I cherish.

Nursery Rhymes + Lullabies

Nursery rhymes are generally a safe bet when it comes to soothing songs for kids. The favorites seem to be:

“Goodnight Moon Child” album by Beautiful Chorus

“Lullaby” album by Jewel. Her version of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” is one of my favorites

“Bramsh Lullaby” by Beth McLaughlin

“Amazing Grace” by Fairy Long

“Itsy Bitsy Spider”

“You Are My Sunshine”

“I'm a little teapot”

“Rockabye Baby”

“Baby Beluga” – Raffi

White noise + chants

Our family loves white noise and they are not all created equal! Most music is tuned to 440 Hz, but music tuned to 432 hz or higher can actually have an extremely beneficial response on the nervous system. One study found that the more harmonic and pleasant nature of the higher hertz released more serotonin and endorphins. It was also shown to reduce heart rate and in our experience the high frequency of the music, helps a fussy baby!

And it really works! One car ride, the only thing that soothed my daughter was listening to OM Chanting at 432 Hz for 4 hours straight! Here are some that we love:

“OM Chanting at 432 Hz” by Meditative Mind

“Wheels of Light” album by Beautiful Chorus

Pink noise

Brown noise

White noise

“Slumber Rain” Nature of Sweden

Songs from TV & Movies

TV has also supplied a lot of baby favorites. Check out these favorites for some inspiration:

Bubble Guppies theme song

“Elmo's World Song” from Elmo

The Adam's Family theme song

“Everything is Awesome” from The LEGO Movie

“Do-Re-Mi” by Julie Andrews from The Sound Of Music

Pop music favorites

Popular music is, of course, popular with the babies as they hear us listening to it on the radio. I was surprised how many babies love “Despacito”!

Other favorites include:

“Halo” by Beyonce or the Lotte Kestner version is our personal fave

“Beautiful Boy” – John Lennon

“The Happy Song” – Imogen Heap

“A Mother's Prayer” – Celine Dion or Rachel Aldous version

“Havana” – Camilla Cabello

“What you Give” – Tesla

“Feel it Still” – Portugal

Disney

No kids music playlist would be complete without a little Disney music! The overwhelming favorite seems to be Moana “remember the coconut”! We don't watch movies yet but I still get these songs stuck in my head from the Pandora Disney music station. The music is pretty fun, some of my favorites are:

“How Far I'll Go”

“You're Welcome”

“Where You Are”

“You've got a friend in me” from Toy Story

Bonus Song: For the canadian moms

The Canadian Moms report a song called “Wheat Kings” by The Tragically Hip as being a song their little ones love!

FAQS on music + crying babies:

Why does my baby cry at a certain song?

It's likely because the song is either tuned to the wrong frequency for their nervous system or maybe you heard it while they were in utero and you felt stressed about something.

Also, just because they cry at a certain song everytime, doesn't mean it will stay that way forever. You can always try again next month!

I'm pregnant and preparing for baby! How can I choose the best songs to make baby stop crying?

Go through the playlist here, or curate your own, with the songs you'd ideally like to soothe your baby as a new mom or dad. Then listen to them during calming times! Think before bed each night, during a beach hang, etc.

During the latter half of my pregnancy, I would play certain songs over and over (the “Wheels of Light” album from Beautiful Chorus mainly as it was my birthing playlist) and I found that my son instantly stops crying when I play “our songs” from that time.

How to make a baby stop crying?

Getting some fresh air has always been the biggest help for us when it comes to a crying baby! If your find your child has a “witching hour” plan to go to the beach or a nature walk before it kicks in.

I find it helps calm my nervous system, which in turn impacts babies.

Of course, check if your baby has a dirty diaper, and know, sometimes babies just want snuggles!

What song guaranteed to make baby stop crying?

While no song can guarantee to make baby stop crying every single time, “The Happy Song” by Imogen Heap has been scientifically proven to put a smile on crying babies faces and everyone around! It was constructed with a team of developmental and musical psychologist with Goldsmith University and the music was tested with actual babies between 6 months to 2 years old to ensure the best results!

Can music stop baby crying?

Yes! Just like music can change how we feel, it changes how a baby feels.

New research (1, 2) shows the high frequency music (432 hz) tends to have the most beneficial on our heart rate and nervous system.

What songs calm babies down?

Rhythmic, repetitive songs tend to calm babies down the best in my experience. We are huge fans of the songs noted in the “Nursery Rhymes + Lullabies” and “White noise + Chants” sections of this post for that reason.

Why does my baby stop crying when I play music?

The repetitive sounds of music may soothe the baby to stop crying, it may soothe you to relax and in turn, soothe the baby.

There's no one reason that music stops a baby from crying every single time, just like there's no one song to make baby stop crying that works every single time forever.

Listen to the playlist here:

Next time you find yourself with a crying baby, I hope you pull up this playlist for a new look on the situation and soothe your little baby with ease!

To listen to all these songs try out Spotify here!