What can you sleep through?

[LissyGlitter]

I only ask as so many people seem to moan they are kept awake by the slightest thing...I have NEVER been woken up by neighbours, and have only had very slight difficulties in going to sleep (completely sober, may I add) in a house where there is a loud party going on downstairs. The only time I am kept awake by noise is if I am worried DP is making enough noise to disturb the neighbours (although we have never had a complaint so maybe they are the same as me) DD is the same, she will happily sleep through any noise. The only noise that will wake me, weirdly, is DD crying. Must be some kind of instinct.

I'm pretty sure it is in the upbringing, eg as a baby I used to have my naps in brass band practises and went camping nearly every weekend so got used to other peoples "living sounds". We have never tiptoed around DD when she is asleep, and have made sure she isn't fussy about where she goes to sleep, so she will happily sleep almost anywhere, which means a lot more freedom for us and her. She has had naps in the middle of parties, at football matches and while people do DIY, and I bet she will have no trouble coping with sleeping in university halls or wherever.

Am I just really lucky with my sleep genes or are some people just too fussy?

[Pyrocanthus]

You're lucky, and babies sleep through anything.

[ohIdoliketobebesidethe]

I have slept through an earthquake once but the other night my husband's mobile phone was beeping as it was low on battery. It kept me awake even though it was a good 30m away.

[Pyrocanthus]

I'm such a softy - a really small Midlands earthquake once woke me up (sounded like a wardrobe falling over in the next room).

[MrFlibble]

Ive slept through 2 earthquakes, 1 tornado going right past my house and someone setting fire to neighbours car.
But if I can hear the tiniest little noise like the running of a laptop that has been left on then I cant sleep no matter what.

[meltedmarsbars]

My dh sleeps through the kids screams, but hears them through his leg (when I kick him)

[tobago04]

Being burgled

[CMOTdibbler]

I can sleep through anything, and so can DS. However, him chatting in his room at the other end of the landing wakes me up through two doors

[expatinscotland]

Lucky you!

As a baby I was exposed to a lot of noise. I lived in a large, extended Latino family.

We never tiptoed around our babies.

We have lived in a council estate you could hear a mile away, town centre Edinburgh, and our children still wake up if there's loud music. So do I. I'm a light sleeper with chronic insomnia.

Yeah, you're lucky.

Maybe you won't be next time round, you won't be so lucky, or the true neighbours from hell may suddenly appear, so don't be so quick to dismiss some people as 'too fussy' or your attitude might just come back to bite you in the arse.

[Pyrocanthus]

'hears them through his leg'.

The discrepancy between maternal and paternal awareness of baby noise is astounding. I did once try not going to our baby immediately (no neighbours!) to see if it just took him slightly longer to stir - not a flicker.

[FiveGoMadInDorset]

Tanks firing.

[NorbertDentressangle]

It depends how tired (or drunk ) I am.

If I'm really knackered I'll only wake if its an ill/distressed child noise.

On a normal night I would wake at any child noise (their door going if they go to the toilet, DS calling out if he can't find his snuggly toy) or something like a distant phone beeping, the cat running around like a mentalist which she often does in the middle of the night or a fox outside

[meltedmarsbars]

dd1 came in to wake me up with bloody nose dripping onto cream bedroom carpet (and why didn't she take her bloody nose straight to the sink!?!) I spent the next 20 minutes scrubbing it out of said cream carpet before dh woke up to ask what on earth I was doing!

[meltedmarsbars]

Fivegomad: elaborate!

[FiveGoMadInDorset]

I grew up and still live about half a mile from a tank firing range.

[Pyrocanthus]

Meltedmarsbars - stop swearing about you DD's nose!

[tinierclanger]

How old are you? Because when I was under 30 I could sleep though anything. Then it changed. So don't get too smug!

[LadyStealthPolarBear]

I slept through an earthquake once, while on holiday
Could never sleep while a child/ teenager though - used to spend ages awake. Now can sleep through everything, although still leap out of bed when I hear DS stir (doesn't have to cry) - weird!

[countrylover]

grrrr - posts like this make me really cross - as if anyone would be 'fussy' and wake at the slightest sound. most people who are light sleepers aren't so by choice, believe me.

i would give anything to have a full nights sleep and although i have 2 ds's who sleep 12 hours a night, with my chronic insomnia i'm lucky if i get more than a few hours in a row. i'm woken by the slightest of sounds and i'm quite certain that if the OP was too then she would do her fair share of moaning too.

LG - thank your lucky stars you don't have insomnia .... and yes you are really lucky with your sleep genes but no need to rub my nose it in!!

[FiveGoMadInDorset]

tinier sorry was that directed at me? I am 39 and still sleep through them. Can't sleep if I am away and can hear traffic.

[giddykipper]

countrylover - a tip which might help. I too wake at every sound and have really suffered over the last couple of years. A couple of months ago (when it was hot) I put a fan in the bedroom and ever since I've been sleeping really well. It's the white noise, it drowns all the little noises out.

[countrylover]

really? i will try it, i'll try anything!

thanks x