Best Humidifiers for Babies: Expert-Reviewed and Tested for Comfort and Quality (2025)

If you’re looking for a humidifier that works like a charm and fits the cute vibe of any nursery, you and your baby will love Crane’s 0.5-Gallon Ultrasonic Humidifier. This comes in four options that are all adorably shaped like little animals: an elephant, owl, fox, and unicorn. My colleague Cait Giddings is a parent, and though her kids are a little older, she gave this humidifier perfect scores for price and its ease of use.

This humidifier is simply constructed despite its adorable design, easily controlled by a simple button on the belly of whatever animal you choose. “It’s easy enough that even an almost-3-year-old can master the settings to make it change colors throughout the night,” Cait added. She also found the cleaning process and filter-switching relatively straightforward.

In operation, Cait found the humidifier to be “quiet and unobtrusive,” which should call for less disturbance. “Any noise it makes feels like low-level white noise,” she said. She rated the overall noise level during testing at 4 out of 5.

The Crane also had no trouble humidifying Cait’s son’s bedroom, though she noted it was smaller than the 250-square-foot limit listed. “I felt the Crane did a good job, but I don’t know that it would actually work for a bigger bedroom like mine,” she said. She rated the coverage at another respectable 4 out of 5.

This humidifier retails at just $39, which Cait called “very affordable for a humidifier.” She had a problem with the humidifier leaking, a concern also noted by others in the Amazon reviews. If you encounter this issue, the humidifier is backed by a 1-year warranty, so hopefully, you should be able to get a refund or replacement for any faulty product. 

Want something backed by a longer warranty? Check out the Virtuvi Cloud Humidifier, which comes with a lifetime warranty.

Cool mist humidifiers are a popular choice for children because they eliminate the risk of young ones burning themselves on hot steam. A cool mist humidifier that was beloved by our tester Riley Otis is the Honeywell Mistamate, which Riley found helped keep her dry skin hydrated. She awarded it 5-out-of-5 scores for its reasonable price, easy cleaning process, and user-friendly interface.

Though Riley doesn’t have any children, she still appreciated the humidifier’s safer cool mist construction. “I have a curious kitty, so I’m glad I don’t have to worry about her getting too close and burning herself,” she said. 

When it came to how the humidifier performed, she was impressed with the simple but effective construction. “It has one dial that allows you to control how much mist is coming out,” Riley said. ”Once you add water and turn the dial on, the cool mist immediately comes out.” There’s also a slot where you can add essential oils, though Riley didn’t test this function, nor would we recommend it for little ones.

The Honeywell humidifier is also filter-free, and the tank is detachable to make refilling and cleaning simple. “There’s a hole large enough to fit your hand through,” she said. “So, it’s super easy to handwash.” She washed it once a week and never felt like it was a hassle. “It also doesn’t get moldy or grimy quickly,” she added.

The humidifier also shouldn’t make much noise, as Riley found it so quiet that she often forgot that it was on. “However, every once in a while it seems like there’s an air bubble that escapes or something, because the water gurgles and I see bubbles rise to the top,” she said. Still, it wasn’t too frequent to become an issue, so she still rated the noise it makes at 4 out of 5.

This humidifier retails for $38.95 on Amazon, which Riley found to be an exceptional deal. It also comes with a 2-year warranty that, while on the lower end, should still offer some coverage in the event you need it. 

The Honeywell Mistamate is rated for smaller rooms, so if you need something a bit bigger, you might like the Dreo Smart Humidifier, or the Vitruvi Cloud Humidifier, both of which have larger capacities and range.

If your nursery is large or your baby is sleeping in your bedroom, you’ll want a humidifier that can cover a wide area. Although larger humidifiers often cost more, the Dreo Smart Humidifier is affordably priced and effective. Our tester Caine Wilkes gave this machine a number of 5-out-of-5 ratings, including that for price and its ample room coverage.

Though it’s considered a “smart” product with many features, the humidifier proved easy to use for Caine. “You can have it up and running in under a minute easily,” he said. You can control the humidifier using the four buttons on the machine itself, or access it through the app. “The app makes operating it extremely easy and intuitive, too,” Caine added.

Caine also found that cleaning this humidifier was “a breeze.” “The tank is smooth and easy to clean, and the bottom has very few crevices,” he said. “No tools are needed, and the humidifier comes with a little brush for hard-to-reach spots.”

Using a decibel app, Caine also measured the sound output from the Dreo humidifier for a precise measure of possible disturbance. Generally, under 50 decibels is recommended for uninterrupted sleep. “It was hanging out in the low 30s, with a max reading of 35 decibels,” Caine said. “It seems VERY quiet and I hardly ever notice it.” He rated the humidifier’s noise at 4 out of 5, so it should be plenty quiet for the nursery.

This humidifier has a range of up to 300 feet. Caine tested it out in his bedroom, which, while not reaching this threshold, produced respectable results. “Although my bedroom isn’t quite 300 feet, it had no problem regulating humidity there,” he said. (If you’d like a humidifier for a smaller space, check out Crane’s 0.5 Gallon Humidifier).

Caine was disappointed that this humidifier only comes with a 12-month warranty, but it wasn’t enough to put a damper on his entire experience. He was impressed by the affordable price, which is about $50, great for the humidity it provides, and the area it covers.

Wanting to level up your nursery game? Try the Vitruvi Cloud Humidifier, which my colleague Nicole Davis called the “chicest” humidifier she’s ever seen. It’s a large-capacity humidifier that can cover a wide range of spaces, making it a better choice for larger nurseries. Nicole, a mother of three, gave it several 5-out-of-5 scores, including for its cleaning process, area coverage, and lifetime warranty.

Nicole was immediately drawn to this humidifier’s sleek look.. “It’s very modern-looking and unassuming, not like many humidifiers that are clear or brightly colored with lights,” she said. While it’s aesthetically pleasing, Nicole also wanted to make sure that it was more than pretty decor.

She was pleased that the humidifier was rather quiet, which should also cause fewer disturbances for your sleeping baby. She used a decibel-monitoring app to get a precise reading of how much noise the machine made in use. “I got a 34.2 on the decibel reader app,” she said, which is much below the recommended 50-decibel threshold. “The Virtuvi is not loud by any means, but it hums a bit.”

The actual humidifying is controlled through a series of buttons. “The interface has six buttons, but they’re fairly intuitive,” Nicole said, though she added that folks who are expecting the typical dial or knob control might have a learning curve. “I like that there are run-times from eight to 24 hours so you can customize your experience,” she added, rating the overall interface at 4 out of 5.

As much as Nicole appreciated this humidifier, she was taken aback a bit by the cost.  Although many humidifiers can be purchased for less than $50, , the Vitruvi retails for $235 — making it the most expensive option on our list. However, it can cover up to 600 square feet, and it does come with a lifetime warranty, which is rare for products like these. You can rest assured that your investment will be backed from the moment you buy it.

For a cheaper option, check out the Levoit Dual Ultrasonic humidifier or the Honeywell Mistamate.

Perhaps you want to keep things simple and the budget low when it comes to a new humidifier for your baby. The Levoit Dual 150 Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier was dubbed a “basic, low-risk humidifier” by tester Matt Schickling, who thought it was more than reasonably priced for its effectiveness. It comes in at about $39, for which it earned a 5-out-of-5 score for value. 

“It took me about 2 minutes to get this thing set up, including unboxing,” Matt said. He added that the humidifier was pretty intuitive, and that even without reading the directions, you can fill it up out of the box and be ready to go. It’s controlled via a simple knob that you can turn from the minimum to the maximum setting, a straightforward design that earned it a 4 out of 5 interface score. There’s also a built-in ambient light that allows you to navigate the nursery, but you can also easily turn it off if your baby doesn’t need a night-light.

This humidifier operates with a filter system, which Matt also found to be a simple process. “Basically, you just unscrew a cap within the unit, pop the small circular filter out, put a new one in, and boom, you’ve got a new filter,” he explained. “The unit actually came with an extra filter.”

It’s small but mighty, as Matt found it worked great in his 200-square-foot room, which falls within the humidifier’s 107 to 290-square-foot range. He added that it was “pretty dang quiet,” too. “It’s a much lower hum than the dehumidifier in my basement and even lower than a ceiling fan.” You’ll likely have to listen carefully to hear it, which should mean happy sleeping for little ones with sensitive ears.

Matt also called the cleaning process “relatively easy,” saying, “There are a few crevices within the container that are a bit annoying to clean, but in my experience, you can usually just rinse it out without having to apply too much elbow grease.”

If you like what you hear about this humidifier, you can get it for as low as $38.99. It only comes with a 2-year warranty, but because of the low price, Matt thought this was a fair compromise. For a longer warranty, you might like the Vitruvi Cloud Humidifier, which is covered for life.