Wed 7 Mar 2012
I gave noise-training a shot at the strong encouragement of a friend, Robin. After all, Allie used to fall asleep in the living room with the TV on when she was a newborn, and right up until she got sick and I had to nap her in her room for the elevated crib mattress and humidifier, she did take some naps in the living room. So maybe she’s not a light sleeper, but this is just a phase cuz she’s getting more alert, right? Here’s what happened as relayed in a conversation between me and Robin:
Me: THE JERK NEIGHBOR’S CIRCULAR SAW ON THE FRONT YARD WOKE THE BABY AGAIN!@#$ Why can’t he do his crap in the garage like everyone else?
Robin: Again, let the baby be exposed to some noise. You can’t tiptoe around her forever. She will never get used to noise. Leave a tv on at a normal level while getting her to sleep and nap in the room with it. Stuff like that. Your sanity and sleep will improve. 🙂
Me: okay, I’ll try to put her down for her next nap in the living room with the TV on, but history tells me that she won’t go down with that much noise around anymore.
Robin: Keep her around noise all the time and she will fall asleep even if she fights it. It’s not easy but not having dinner parties etc. because your kid is a light sleeper just doesn’t make for a fun few years.
Me: I don’t think it’s possible to turn a light sleeper into a deep sleeper, but I’ll use more background noise and see if it makes any difference.
Robin: It really does help. [Son] could sleep during anything. Even when we went bowling! 🙂
Me: oh, I thought he was born a good sleeper.
Robin: He was. But as kids get older stuff changes and you have to flex. So, when I couldn’t rock him to sleep, he got car rides. Then more noise as he could walk so he would stay in bed (if he was awake and could hear you in the next room would crawl out of crib). Had to stay up late and keep up with noise so he could ignore it and allow himself to sleep. For me noise would keep him up more than wake him up
Me: [8 minutes later] Allie’s now in her activity walker “listening” to a Friends episode with her back to the TV.
Me: [40 mins later] She couldn’t do it. I started soothing her to sleep in the living room by the TV. She kept looking around and wouldn’t relax. Then she got tired enough to start fussing. I took her to her room upstairs, and as soon as we went in and she was in the darker room with the air purifier humming, she relaxed and started dozing. As she was falling asleep on me, I started slowly walking out into the hall where some TV could be heard. She woke up, and I kept soothing, trying to get closer and closer to the living room again, but she kept waking up. So I finally gave up and went back in her room where she fell asleep immediately, and set her in her crib and closed the door.
I’m a light sleeper. I grew up sharing room with 2 siblings, but no amount of noise training could get me to sleep through noises – I only do it when I’m exhausted.
My kid is the same. Now she sleeps through noises as a toddler because I take her for a 3 mile walk daily, or chase her around the house etc. etc.. But before she could crawl, omg she drove me nuts. I think after 18 months, when she could understand me well enough, I started having these talks with her about how if she’s as sleep and I pick her up to bring her from car into house, or when she hears me say “it’s ok, go back to sleep” please close her eyes and go back to sleep, I swear nothing is going on at all, it’ll just be a dark room and boring me reading a book. I did this on days she was tired after an outing, and she would promise me, keeping her promise most of the time because she was tired. And then with that, she learned to just go back to sleep on her own if noises wake her up. With babies, it’s so frustrating because even though they are exhausted and their eyes just want to close, they would fight it because they think when they are conscious, they MUST open their eyes. Also, I think things will get better with the nanny. Somehow my sister’s kid was like that – she gave her mom the most crap, but with her care taker, she zonked out.
That’s a great idea to convince her to keep her eyes closed once she understands you. I’ll have to remember that.
I hope things are easier with the nanny, and she naps well. She doesn’t fight me that badly on napping, unless she’s overtired.
With my nieces we always had white noise… a fan, light music, etc in the room so when there was noise in the house the baby didn’t go from a completely silent room to ruckus. We never tip-toed around the baby, we went about our daily lives and then became used to it. If they woke up, we didn’t stress about it since they can totally sense it and then it gets transfered to them. Sometimes you need to hold them and rock them back to sleep and other times just leaving them alone to fall back asleep works too. You will learn to “read” what Allie needs. I remember even vaccuming when my niece was sleep and she slept right through it 🙂 There is hope!
it’s a process, just like everything else. just because you weren’t successful on the first try, don’t give up!
like robin said, it could just be the stimulation that keeps her awake. why sleep when there’s so much cool stuff to see and hear? right now, allie is used to sleeping in her room where it’s quiet. but the idea is to “train” her to sleep in other circumstances.
with kyden, i took him out every day. he learned to sleep in the stroller at the park, in the car, hockey games, wherever we were. he was a fantastic sleeper. i don’t take sienna out nearly as much as i did with kyden. and i find that she’s a little more like allie. fusses when she’s tired, and settles down more easily when she’s in her dark, quiet(er), room.
it’s a personal choice, but for your own sanity (and flexibility of your schedule), i think that “noise training” is a great idea 🙂
I *just* read in a No-Cry Sleep Solutions book that babies at this age are, by design, light sleepers. They have to wake up when they’re in danger and cry, such as when they’re hungry, or when they can’t breathe well. Their sleep cycles are mostly light sleep early on, and then more REM and deep sleep start showing up as they get farther into their first year of life.
Allie has slept in her stroller, but it isn’t a good-quality sleep where she’s knocked out solid for a long time. She keeps waking up. Same thing with carseat naps. Every time my husband talks or turns or cuts someone off or makes an aggressive lane change, she pops awake.
I’m now also thinking there’s a gender difference. People who’ve told me about their babies being light sleepers are referring to female babies. Male babies seem to be better sleepers from what I’m hearing from my friends.