Don't get anything that goes in / on the crib. It should just be a mattress cover & sheet. No blankets til at least 1 year.
We use the app "white noise baby" for when we're not at home. At home we downloaded happiest baby on the block tracks from online & play on a cd. Otherwise just buy an adult noise machine. Homedics makes one.
Humidifier - Just look for a cool mist one, because they don't mold as badly/quickly as the warm ones. We went with the Crane animal one because that is what several of my friends had, and loved. We used the heck out of that thing because almost every cold my little one got, turned into croup.
Sound Machine - We had the animal one that you are referring to, but we didn't have it attached to the crib. We had the small sheep one attached to the handrail of her carseat (but hanging on the outside of it, not hanging where she can reach it), and would use it to block out noise while we were in restaurants or at someone else's house. It was nice to always have on hand, because we could swaddle her, take the sheep off of her carseat, and put her in a separate room and turn it on, and she would sleep. We had a regular (not the baby version) HoMedics noise machine for her room, which has 8 different sounds. She is almost 4 years old and still uses it when we go camping, to block out the noise. It literally sounds like it is pouring rain in our tent. HA! The only reason that she doesn't use it at home, is because we just use a radio in her room at home. I had several friends that had the baby version of noise machines and they hated them because the sound was awful and they didn't last long. I have had my HoMedics one for 8 years and it is still working.
We have the animal shaped humidifier, but it doesn't really matter if you aren't attached to it for cuteness factor. It's just a cool mist humidifier. My 5 year old still uses his.
For the white noise machine we got ours from Brookestone and it was the best investment we made. I'd recommend investing in a nice one. Our 5 year old still uses this as well, and we'll get a matching one for baby. We also use the white noise app when travelling, and it's a very nice solution.
We use a cool most humidifier that I bought when I had a bad cold when I was pregnant. We also have a "gentle giraffe" by cloud b. It hangs off of the crip, car seat, whatever. We hang it on the outside of her pack n play where she currently sleeps and outside of her car seat for travel. We will let her hold it in the car seat if someone is with her.
We have a cool mist humidifier as our house gets dry in the winter time, and we find it helps our 2 year old sleep better.
We decided against a white noise machine because we saw my cousin's kids dependency on it. Where ever they went they needed to have the machine with them, they wouldn't even nap without it.
I had the sleep sheep when my son was younger. He preferred it around 1-2 years, but we haven't ever had much of an issue with him sleeping with or without noise.
I have used cool mist humidifier and the sleep sheep for all of my kids. I would buy the small sheep though since you can take it with you and it hangs. Been a life saver that for sure.
We bought a cool most humidifier just for use during sickness at pediatrician's ok. Pediatrician recommends not using a humidifier because it can cause mold. It can create an issue if kids are sensitive to mold & you wouldn't know if they are yet.
Re: Humidifier and sound machines
We use the app "white noise baby" for when we're not at home. At home we downloaded happiest baby on the block tracks from online & play on a cd. Otherwise just buy an adult noise machine. Homedics makes one.
We decided against a white noise machine because we saw my cousin's kids dependency on it. Where ever they went they needed to have the machine with them, they wouldn't even nap without it.
I had the sleep sheep when my son was younger. He preferred it around 1-2 years, but we haven't ever had much of an issue with him sleeping with or without noise.