Breathe Right with These Best Humidifiers for Babies and Toddlers

Best Humidifier For Baby: What To Look For

A humidifier is a small, electronic appliance that adds humidity and moisture into a room’s air. Adding moisture into the air with a humidifier has many benefits, such as combatting dry skin, alleviating cold symptoms that creep up, and making a home’s air easier to breathe.

Our family’s personal “rule” is that when our home’s heat comes on for the winter, we set up our humidifiers to balance the often too dry air. And while most all humidifiers work for one main purpose: to add more moisture to your air, they do have different features and functions. Here’s what to look for in a best humidifier for baby.

Size Matters

For maximum effectiveness, it’s ideal to use a humidifier designed for your room’s specific square footage. A humidifier that’s too small won’t fully moisturize the air and a too large one can be overkill and run the risk of overheating the air as well.

Watch Your Water

While it’s only a recommendation, it’s ideal to fill your humidifier with purified or distilled water. Tap water is not necessarily clear of minerals and bacteria, so cleaner water can help ensure the humidified air is cleaner—and help cut down on the amount of cleaning you’ll need to do in your humidifier too.

Find the Right Spot

You’ll also want to be sure to position your humidifier in an ideal location so it’s effective where you want. For instance, you could position your humidifier on a table top, a dresser, or nightstand to ensure the air is reaching where it needs to go. Safety note: Obviously, you’ll need to take precautions whenever using a humidifier, especially near young children. Never place a humidifier where it could fall on the child, pose a strangulation risk, or risk tipping and spilling water near an electrical source.

Know Your Air

When shopping for a humidifier, the biggest delineation between products is how the air is emitted. A warm mist humidifier heats water before pushing it out, while a cool mist humidifier uses a fan or ultrasonic waves.

For children, a cool mist humidifier is usually preferred because there’s no risk of warm or hot water spilling and causing a potential burn. Cool mist humidifiers also maintain a room’s temperature rather than warming it up.

Humidifier Safety

As with all home appliances, it’s important to not only read the product’s manual, but to also review wise counsel like the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA has noted both the benefits and risks of using a home humidifier.

Benefits include:

• Adds moisture to the air
• Reduces dry nose, throat, lips, and skin

Risks include:

• Transmission of microorganisms through the air that could spark allergies and other irritations

To maximize benefits and minimize risks of a humidifier, you will want to clean it often. If you’re running your humidifier nightly, empty and rinse it each day before refilling. Then, plan to do a deep clean weekly.

To deep clean a humidifier, unplug the unit (this is important, don’t forget!) and pour one cup of warm water and one cup of white vinegar into the reservoir and allow it to sit for an hour. Scrub with a bottle brush or clean toothbrush, rinse, and allow to thoroughly air dry to prevent mold, mineral, and residue build up.

The Best Humidifiers For Baby’s Bedroom

Designed to look like a cloud, the MistAire™ Cloud Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier and Mood Light not only functions as a humidifier but also a night light, so it’s two products in one.

The humidifier and night light function independently so you can set either or both depending on your little one’s needs. It’s the perfect size for a small bedroom or baby nursery and can easily run all night long without running out of water. Best of all, thanks to a wide base, it’s super easy to clean: just reach your whole hand inside to scrub any build-up.

MistAire™ Cloud Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier and Mood Light Key Features:

• 1.8 liter water tank
• Dimensions: 9.8 inches x 5.5 inches x 6.7 inches / 2.2 lbs
• 24-hour mist on low; 15 hour mist on high
• Covers 250 square feet
• Doubles as a night light
• Auto shut off
• Easy to clean
• 5-year warranty

“I bought this for my 8-month-old because he was waking up with a stuffy nose a lot. The humidifier has helped with that, and it’s also helped sooth him back to sleep when he wakes up. He likes seeing the colors and the mist. Plus, it’s just really adorable. There are so many options for humidifiers, but I wanted something more whimsical.” -Beth, Amazon review

Before committing to the MistAire™ Cloud Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier and Mood Light, make sure it will sufficiently cover the room you plan to put it in. The humidifier only covers 250 square feet, which is considered a small bedroom.

By now, you know all the perks of running a humidifier in your baby’s bedroom, so let’s focus for a minute on the diffuser component of this handy product: whether you choose to use the Breath Frida Vapor Drops or your own aromatherapy-approved essential oil, your little one will get the benefit of both a humidifier and a diffuser.

So drop in those sleepytime oils and moisten the air with this 3-in-1 appliance. Oh and don’t forget: you’ll the benefit of a nightlight too. Leave it to Fridababy to cover all the essentials.

Fridababy 3-in-1 Humidifier with Diffuser and Nightlight Features

• .5 gallon tank
• Dimensions: 9 inches x 9.25 inches x 9.25 inches
• Runs for 12 hours
• Covers 320 square feet
• Functions as a night light and diffuser
• Auto shut off

“This [is] the perfect humidifier for my daughter’s room! The night light is perfect. It’s just enough light so that you can kind of see but not too bright to keep her awake! The humidifier lasts through the night but needs to be refilled the next day depending on what level of mist you have it on. I love it, what a great product! Thank you Fridababy!” -LA Warren, Amazon review

Although this product serves a lot of purposes, be prepared that it might pose some difficulty cleaning. The water opening is pretty tiny, so you’ll want to follow the unit’s cleaning instructions for how to clean it properly.

When it comes to humidifiers, I never know if I want the mist pointed directly at me/my child or just into the room for indirect exposure. With the Safety 1st 360 Degree Cool Mist Humidifier I don’t have to choose: you get both with the two rotating mist outlets.

The large water tank ensures a consistent, all day output that is ultra-quiet. Best of all, when the water is depleted, the humidifier will shut off automatically. There is also a light that pops on to notify you when it is time to refill the water tank.

Cool Features from a Cool Mist Humidifier:

• 2.5 liter water tank
• Dimensions: 11 inches x 8.5 inches x 8.5 inches
• 24 mist output on low setting
• Auto shut off

“I love this style. I have one for every room. I like how you can adjust the mist and the direction it blows. I had another one, this same brand, different style/model, and returned because even on low it would disperse lots of mist. This one is perfect!” -Keki, Amazon review

My only “complaint” with this cost effective, well-designed humidifier is the color options. Both the teal and purple are wonderful, but they may not match everyone’s decor.

Ready, set, breathe easy! The Crane Adorable Elephant Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier fills easily with water and offers quite a few adjustable features to create a custom mist output.

With three settings and a 360-degree mist top, you can point the mist any direction you like and control the speed in which your humidifier propels water vapor. The Crane Adorable Elephant Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier is “whisper quiet,” making it ideal for light sleepers. It’s also easy to clean: all the pieces come apart for full access.

Kid-Friendly Features:

• 1 gallon water tank
• Dimensions: 12.75” x 9” x 9” / 5.74 lbs.
• 24-hour mist
• Covers 300-500 square feet
• Auto shut off
• Easy to clean
• 1-year warranty

“This is the 3rd crane animal shaped humidifier we have purchased. They work great! I love that I can SEE it working and my kids Really do sleep better when they are sick because of it.” -Courtney Hollan, Amazon review

Some reviewers have dealt with leaking with the Crane Adorable Elephant Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier. I haven’t personally experienced this problem, but it is something worth being aware of. When you purchase your Crane humidifier, get it up and running right away so you can see for yourself and take advantage of the one-year warranty if needed.

On the low setting, the 70-Hour Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier with Aromatherapy has the capability to mist for the longest of any humidifier on the market. It functions well for small to medium rooms and has the added benefit of aromatherapy, thanks to the tray that holds a few drops of essential oils and then disburses them with the mist. Plus, the 70-Hour Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier with Aromatherapy functions as a night light, making it a great, multi-use option for bedrooms.

Best of all, for those concerned about mold and mildew growth, the 70-Hour Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier with Aromatherapy has Silver Clean Protection, which fights that. It does have a thinner entry point and thus a bottle brush will be helpful when it comes to cleaning, so your whole hand won’t fit inside.

Features to Appreciate:

• 1 gallon water tank
• 13.25 inches  x 7.5 inches x 7.5 inches / 2.4 lbs
• 24-hour mist
• Covers 100-300 square feet
• Aromatherapy option
• Night light option
• Auto shut off
• 3-year limited warranty

“LOOOOVE this humidifier! I keep it on low all the time in my bedroom but the moisture fills up the entire living room as well (which is NOT small). It’s quiet and I can’t even hear it besides maybe a light hum every once in a while when I focus in on it. Easy to fill up and just feels like really good quality when I handle it. 10/10 would recommend.” -LorettaFlowers, Amazon review

Although the 70-Hour Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier with Aromatherapy by PureGuardian acts as a humidifier with aromatherapy feature and night light, be advised that you cannot drop essential oils directly into the water like a diffuser. This unit requires replacement pads for the aromatherapy tray.