Raising Baby: Keeping quiet????

I always tried to keep a normal routine during my childrens naptimes-that way the house wasn't too quiet. As a result my children can sleep through pretty much any ordinary noise. My youngest sleeps through anything- he's used to all the noise his older siblings make.

I truly believe that if you take away the noise in any enviroment that you become more sensitive to it.Kinda like when you get into your car and you left the radio on and turned way up.That is what it like to a child that you take noise away from.They become so used to having silence that every little noise is a jolt to them.Making them irratiable and grumpy.

My oldest is a very light sleeper, he has gotten better over time, but still wakes up fairly easy. When he was a newborn, we always left his bedroom door open when he took naps, and did our usual things, but he would wake up screaming and crying. Then we decided, maybe it's just too much noise for him, so we put a cd player in his room, and shut the door and did things normally. He still would wake up if it got too noisy. Now, we don't tiptoe, but we try to remain relatively quiet. I don't know if this is something ingrained into children or not. As I am a very light sleeper as is my mother. BUt I certainly agree that you can set your children up for sleeping problems later on if you keep the house silent while they nap. Our youngest thankfully sleeps like a rock, even when his big brother is running and screaming throughout the house.

I believe that they should get use to every sound around them. My friend just came over yesterday with her baby, and he was sleeping, I ran the dish disposal in the kitchen and he woke up screaming at the top of his lungs. Whereas when my child was little, I would continue things normally, running the dryer, frying something, closing a closet door, I wanted him to be familiar when he's at home and feel safe as he sleeps..

I agree with you totally, we are noisy anyway and we did not change anything. My kids will sleep through anything. Whereas my sis in law is absolutely pathetic, you cant talk or anything, they take the phone off the hook 24/7 and its her 2nd, OMG whats the point. It even gets to the stage where they hear the car pull up and they run outside to tell you to be quiet because the bubs asleep. (We do not go there anymore), its a horrible way to live your life, and your just making it worse for the bub later on in life. They heard all sorts of loud noises when they were in the womb, why would you change that.

I think basically, every human has the biological ability to screen out noise even if they live in a noisy environment. For example the first day I moved in an apartment which is very noisy with noise of vehicles running out the window. I was able to sleep the first day or two. But after a week I was no more sensitive to the noise and sleep quite well. So you little ones may have the same ability to ignore the noise and sleep sweetly. Tiptoeing becomes unnecessary.

I have always believed that, too and for the most part it is true. But as with anything, there are always exceptions to the rule. My first three kids we were never quiet while they were sleeping (maybe when they were just falling asleep). I was always cleaning or had the TV on, etc. They could sleep through anything. Then along came our youngest daughter. Even though there were 3 loud children in the house and we didn't do anything differently--every single little noise wakes her up. Between the ages of 3-9 months she never took more then a 10-20 minute nap because as soon as she fell asleep one of the kids would yell in the other room or just come into the room where she was sleeping and she was awake. She is the lightest sleeper I have ever known. And it sucks. We have to be so quiet during the first 30 minutes of her nap to make sure she is fully asleep. Then she might sleep for an hour or more (she is almost 1). I was one of those babies who had parents that were super quiet when I slept (my dad's rule). No vacuuming, no music, no loud TV. And as an adult I can not sleep if it isn't perfectly quiet. Any little noise sounds like it is right next to me and it takes me hours to fall asleep at night, especially since my husband snores. It is very frustrating and I am always exhausted because I get about 4-6 hours of sleep a night. My brother came along 2 years later and with me running around and my mom cleaning and blasting the radio and stuff--he could sleep through WWIII in his room.

I think that you make a very good point about sensitizing children to everyday noises. I know that my sister was always so paranoid about how loud the TV was or how loud people were talking when my nephew was a baby and now that he's four years old, he seems to be bothered when things are the slightest bit loud.

We vacuum and do all the above with our kids and they never wake up. They actually sleep much better with noise.

hi there, im quite loud of a day with music and the hoover and other things but when my daughter goes asleep, i have to tiptoe literally because she's a light sleeper and any noise upstairs when she's in bed, she will wake up, she has always been like this, i get comfused sometimes.

You are absolutely right. When my daughter was just a newborn she had to get used to noise very fast as her father was a musician and always had music playing while he was writing new arrangements. When I needed to go someplace and couldn't take her with me he would take her to band rehearsals with him and put her pram on the dance floor so he could keep and eye on her she either slept through everything or played quite happily.

I always believed this too until I had my daughter who is three now . When we took her home from the hospital there were nine of us living in the house so it was most certainly not quiet yet every sound she heard she woke up crying and screaming and the only way we could get her to sleep at all was to keep everyone quiet .

I think babies get used to the noises around them and even get to feel good about it. It makes them feel safe if everything is familiar to them. It is unusual noises that are most likely to upset them, like the sound of their parents arguing loudly.

My first child I did the quiet baby sleeping sign and all that jazz. She si now 16. My 5 year old is different story. She sleeps through it all. My teenagers listening to theiir music, my 9 year old watching movies and playing games. I just continued to do the usuals. I do think though some children are light sleepers and some are heavy, same with adults. I sometimes do try to be quiet, but only because after a while my dauhter, if she wakes up she will want to stay up and play. Eachchild id different, you just have to accomadate each to their own.

yeah i have to agree. it is better to get them use to noise, but some babies just wake up when one little noise so you have to tip toe or put up with an angry baby. so all depending on the child to if they get use to the noise or not. i know when i had niece in same house and she sleeping we just normal noise.

from the beginning i made all the noises i usualy made! so my kids know the sounds of everything and always go to sleep! they can also sleep in a noisy room so i think reducing the noise isn't good! only when there is a big storm it is possible they wake up because they don't recognize the noise of a storm!

That is exactly what we did with our son. Now we can do a lot with him sleeping. All the noise makers he can sleep through, except for the television. LOL. That is our sign to go to bed also.

I agree that children should get used to everyday noise. That way they learn to sleep through not awaken or get scared at the slightest noise.

I allowed my little ones to be around noises during the day! At night we use sound machines, similar to white noise and we all sleep like babies. My children could probably sleep without the sound machines but it does help them get a more restful sleep. :)

yes, that is true : ) ... so that your babies can adopt easily on whatever situation it is.