[dpeck]

Completely anecdotal, but when we had our child I did night shifts, and wife decided to use plugs to make sure she'd get enough sleep to be ready to go for the morning.

She settled in on the soft silicone variety, like these http://www.amazon.com/Macks-Pillow-Silicone-Earplugs-Value/d... but she gets the pharmacy or grocery store brand. They let in enough noise that you're not completely isolated, but dampen enough that you're able to sleep through usual noise like spouse snoring, dogs waking up to stretch/scratch/re-position, baby gurgling over the monitor, etc.

Edit: And they're much much more comfortable than the foam varieties tried.