The Best YouTube Music Playlists for Babies

My daughter is currently 11 months old and one of the best mom hacks I’ve learned is having a great baby playlist is a must. Scout loves music and listening to certain songs can really improve her mood and enhance playtime.

When you start looking for baby-friendly music on YouTube, there’s a few obstacles that you’ll commonly run into. Below I have tips on how to find quality videos and they also explain why the ones I’ve listed below standout as excellent options for you. After listening to many playlists, the heavy lifting has been done and you can enjoy these videos straight from this blog post.

This YouTube Music Playlists collection is always growing, I add new ones when I come across more gems. Be sure to bookmark and check back often!

Tips to Finding Baby-Friendly Music on You-Tube

Song Transitions

Most baby playlists are a series of songs strung together into one big continuous stream. Some of the creators of these videos haven’t figured out seamless transitions and they put obnoxious and disrupting sound effects between songs. When you’re listening to a 3 hour playlist, this can really get tiresome to hear. None of the videos below have this issue.

Sound Quality

The sound quality of videos on YouTube vary greatly, and some have a subpar standard. I also look for videos with a crisp and clear sound, devoid of any crackling and static.

Length of Time

When you have background music playing, you don’t want to always be running back and forth from your computer or smart TV to skip commercials and select a new song. Many of the videos listed below are over an hour long, some are up to 3 hours. You will avoid a lot of commercials and disruptions with the extra long playlists.

Ignore the Thumbnail Image

Some of the best baby playlist videos have cheesy cover photos, making them look spammy. You can’t judge a book by it’s cover, or in this case a YouTube video. I’ve clicked on videos with great looking cover videos, only to find that the music quality and selection is not great.

Baby Brain Development

Many experts agree that Mozart’s music can help baby’s brain development, especially in the very early baby months. Below I have options for classical musical medleys my daughter enjoys.

Lyrics vs Instrumental

Depending on what you’re in the mood for, sometimes music with lyrics is the best choice and other times I recommend purely instrumental. For high energy dance parties and sing-along playtime, I’ve got some fun videos below. If you’re looking for a calming background or sleepy time playlist, the lyrics in songs can be distracting.

Adult Friendly

As parents we have to listen to a lot of kid-friendly music, and sometimes we need a little break. In my adult-friendly section, there’s some music that doubles as great for kids but also enjoyable for adults. Sneaky sneaky!

Pandora vs YouTube

We tried using the popular Pandora station for babies called Jammy Jams, but we found the commercial interruptions were too frequent and distracting. Several times loud advertisements woke up Scout after she’d fallen to sleep. We even paid for the premium Pandora which we thought would be commercial free, but we still ended up having to deal with commercials. At the end of the day, we ended up using only the YouTube videos.

Screen Free

Babies should be as screen-free as possible for the first 2 years. While most of these YouTube videos have photos and videos to watch, you shouldn’t be sitting your baby in front of them. I always have my laptop or smart TV playing in the background where Scout can only hear but can’t see the video. Some videos have a plain dark black screen so that your baby isn’t tempted to watch the video, see the “pink noise” video example below in the sleepy time mixes.

Sleep Time Options

When it comes to playing sleepy time tunes for baby, you have multiple options. Getting a baby to sleep is one of the biggest challenges parents face, and sounds and music can really be a lifesaver. It will most likely take a few attempts to uncover that perfect video that works with your baby, but it’s like discovering gold when you do find it. I have a collection of videos below to help with baby’s sleep routine.

White Noise

Traditionally this is what parents have used to soothe babies to sleep. It’s supposed to somehow replicate the sounds from the womb.

Pink Noise

Many find that pink noise is more soothing than white noise and helps with fussy and colicky babies. It tends to sound like waves crashing on the sand and less like a TV was left on all night.

Lullabies

This one is the most gentle on the ears of the adult caretakers, so it’s great to find one that baby loves too. My daughter Scout often falls asleep to the “Wonderful Lullabies” video below.

Baby Shusher

We purchased the tiny travel sound machine called The Shusher and it’s really great for screen-free nighttime noises. No internet or power source is required. You will find YouTube videos claiming to replicate the Shusher machine sound, but I haven’t seen one that does a good job of accurately replicating the sound machine.