Other people waking my baby

[yeknomyeknom]

Chiggers knocking the door at 8.15pm! Ice cream van at 7.30pm! What the hell is wrong with these people?

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

What are Chiggers?

Agree with the ice cream van at a late hour during winter and don't get me started on all the late night unwanted callers , I ignore them all .

[cashewnut]

Selling drugs?

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,818144,847400#msg-847400

[Otta]

Think that should read chuggers. Charity Muggers. Knocking on your door asking you to sign up to a regular donation.

Annoying, but they're trying to earn some money on a 100% comission based wage. Put a sign on your door saying "baby sleeping, no callers after 7pm" or something.

[lightweight]

I always ignore the doorbell of an evening, although last time it was a neighbour saying that someone was ripping the wing mirror off my car. Doh!

[gillandjoe]

How about sneezing when your baby is just about to drop off? Or forgetting to put the phone in my pocket on silent?! So many hazards of the game!

[oimissus]

getting up to creep out of the room and treading on a Clanger (or one of those bloody RSPB birds) . . .

spending the evening shivering because you've left your slippers in their room and don't want to wake child up retrieving them . . .

(otherwise lovely) neighbours having loud, slightly pissed conversation on the doorstrp - take it inside, people, it's your own house!!!

[Otta]

Our house has the squeakiest floorboards. I've more or less mapped out the safe route, but occasionally you just can't help hitting a noisy one.

Can't wait to move!

[devsdev]

A solution that really works with our LO (sample size of 1, can't promise it'll work for everyone) - white noise machine. Definitely smooths over any sudden loud noises and generally works a charm!

[snowboarder]

The funny thing is, I would totally have been with you all on this a year or so ago....cursed bonfire night, hated over night guests, ocado delivery men etc....but now, at 4.5 and 2.5, my two boys seem to have completely altered the way they sleep and literally nothing wakes them, especially in the first half of the night. I can go in their rooms, turn the light on and put clothes away...really weird. So it does, as everything seems to, pass....

[bluesuperted]

Agree, once asleep my 3 year old will not be woken - can be carried in from car etc without waking, similarly can turn lights on, baby can crawl over him and he just snuffles on and continues to sleep... It's lush! Really think their sleep deepens and changes around 2.5... Do agree with white noise though, works a treat keeping my 8 month old napping through the most ridiculous and varied building work noises known to man, a quick burst of white noise resettles her through the most unrelaxing and jolting sounds!

[oimissus]

oh, absolutely, Miss Oi at nearly 4 could sleep through most things, but god, when they're tiny and you seem to spend you whole time willing them to sleep - I feel I could have committed murder several times. And don't get me on bloody emergency vehicles with their blaring sirens, zooming past just as the baby has finally, after 2 hours walking in the perishing cold, gone to sleep - I mean to say, what are they thinking?? Anyone would think that lives needed saving:)

[Strawbs]

My son who is now 2 was a dreadfully light sleeper, any noise at all woke him up until about a month ago and now he sleeps much more soundly. When on mat leave I would rage about the amount of people coming to the door and waking him up. Am due to have another in March and was wondering would a white noise machine encourage or discourage them from being a light sleeper do you think? x

[Pickle]

I tiptoed around my first two when they were tiny, and they would wake at the smallest noise. Number 3 never really had the luxury of peace, but is a really sound sleeper. She recently continued to have her lunchtime sleep while the bathroom next to her was being ripped apart and reinstalled. Builders crashing around, radio blaring outside her door, didn't bother her.

I think the key is to not worry about noise when they're tiny, and they learn to sleep through it :)

[devsdev]

Agree about the level of noise. I used to be petrified about the slightest noise waking my LO when she was small - and I think till they're about 3-4 months they're likely to wake. But then started using white noise and being generally less worried about the level of noise and actually it was much better. She slept through our loft being done - crashing loud noises, machines whirring, Robin Thicke playing for the thousandth time (how I hate that song!) and loud yelling - never woke up at nap time. I like the sleep association that the white noise creates too - she'll fall asleep without it, but in a strange environment it really helps make clear that it's nap/sleep time. I have an app on my phone for when we're on the go.

[canela]

I would second that. I think the more they get used to sleeping with normal noise going on around them, the better. having said that, some babies are just more light sleepers than others and i can understand the desire for a sleeping baby to stay asleep!

With my two I made no effort to reduce noise levels around them during daytime sleeps, bar the obvious one of just closing the door.

[vez]

I have always wondered what actually is a white noise machine?? Can you buy them? Or is it a phone app? Quite keen to get this mysterious miraculous thing for Number 2 due in January...

[Strawbs]

Vez - there are loads on amazon. When my son was born we got the slumber bears and I thought they were useless and we went through three that broke randomly but other people said they were great. You can get a white noise cd but I dont own a cd player any more now I have phones / itunes etc. It is the equivalent I guess to having a fan going in the background all the time which muffles loud noises a bit. x

[devsdev]

This is the one we have . A bit pricey, but totally worth it to me. It's got lots of annoying noises, but the fan noise is perfect and you can adjust the volume. It also plays music and my LO loves to play with this during the day. You can also download a white noise app (I use White Noise by TMI - the fan noise is great).

[MM22]

Put in "baby white noise" on you tube and leave phone/computer/iPad in baby's room. There are also a few free apps. i always liked those that replicate the sound within the womb. A lot cheaper than buying a "specialty" product and just as effective. I used it for baby number 3 to block out noise of 1 & 2 and help with sleep association. Found it helpful. Good luck!

[leons]

My son can sleep through anything, even since a tiny baby, at 4 months he slept through police and parademics banging their way through our ground floor flat at 11pm (another story), doors were banged, lots of shouting, radios going off, sirens, u name it, the look on everyones face when I said I cldnt leave as I had a baby asleep, no one cld believe he had slept through it all. My daughter however was a different story, thankfully we had no incidents as above, but I had to avoid certain floorboards, cld never dare to walk into her room, even now at 3 she will stir if I go in.