Neighbours waking me up at 4.30 everyday

[Sotiredsotired]

I don’t know what to do. My neighbours 11 year old son gets up at 4.30 every morning and starts running around the house. We’re a semi and he runs so LOUD that it’s waking me up. Somehow I have to now do a 12 hour day in no sleep.

Can you talk to the neighbours about it? That's not a reasonable time to be making noise and disturbing sleep. In my area, that would be illegal and persistent noise after a warning would result in a fine. They may not realise how loud it is for you and would address it if you let them know. Are they approachable?

I agree it's annoying, I very much doubt his parents are loving it. Why no sleep ? Surely you get some sleep before 4:30am ?

Sorry for drip feed I am just so exhausted. I’m not getting any sleep knowing that I will be loudly woken by this kid every morning. My body is just so stressed out.
The whole family seem to get up this early so his running around obviously doesn’t disturb them.

Is this something new (like the past 2 weeks?) Or ongoing?
Would ear plugs help you? Or white noise?

Get a brown or white noise app on your phone/Alexa and crank it up. I've slept through neighbours partying all night with that going.

You need to change your mentality as well, you can go back to sleep! My dh is very negative if he gets woken up early, then struggles to go back to sleep. I'm more positive, i'd look at clock and think great i still have 2 hours of sleep before my alarm or whatever.

You can train your brain to ignore it. My dh geta up for work at 4:30, i don't hear his alarm or him leaving anymore, i used to and then have to go back to sleep, but now i'm used to the noises and ignoring them in my sleep.

And as PP said, you've had sleep up to 4:30, surely its only disturbing last hour or 2 anyway?

They moved in in December and the noise was horrific. This kid was running up and down the stairs all day, smashing a football against the wall, crashing into the wall and generally making our lives hell. I’m a midwife so do long shifts and need my sleep.
I did talk to his mum and explained the impact his noise was having and she said she would try and get him to stay in bed til 7. This worked for a bit but now he’s up and running around the house again.

You need to change your mentality as well, you can go back to sleep! My dh is very negative if he gets woken up early, then struggles to go back to sleep. I'm more positive, i'd look at clock and think great i still have 2 hours of sleep before my alarm or whatever.

It really really doesn't work like that - I mean, it was that easy, nobody would struggle with insomnia

I think if you don't struggle with sleep, you'll never understand how frustrating and upsetting it is to get woken up in the night.

I've always struggled with my sleep and with getting back to sleep. Last night DH kept me awake snoring and then when he finally shut up, I was so wide awake and frustrated that it took me until about 2am
to nod off myself. He was asleep about 0.5 seconds after I shoved him to roll over 🙄

My body is just so tense that I can’t get back to sleep. The noise is really loud so I am literally lying there listening for the next bang and crash, this boy is running around like his house is on fire.
I will try white noise, Thankyou for mentioning, but not convinced it will block out this kid flinging himself around his house.

As an insomniac of 30 years and counting, I find it frustrating when you get advice to 'think positively'. While well intentioned, it's quite unhelpful when you're exhausted and your body won't let you sleep. You have my sympathies.

Some things that have worked for me:

Sleep headphones that are soft. Mine are like a headband. On bad nights, I listen to podcasts with people who have soothing voices. Or sleep play lists on Spotify are good. They blur the sound from outside. When noise is a real issue, I even put silicone earplugs on and then the headphones over the top.

All the usual advice like having strict bedtimes, camomile tea, shower/bath before bed, etc are good.

Sometimes, like last night, nothing bloody works!

I have a similar problem and now sleep with earplugs in. They block out all the racket from next door, I sleep better than ever and I didn't realise how many little noises kept waking me before. Ordinary sponge earplugs don't work, they have to be wax ones.
Even when I know the neighbours aren't there I still use my earplugs, they're amazing.

On the plus side, I guess you get to live however you want without consideration as to how it affects your neighbours. Too bad for them. So inconsiderate.

I have found trying to reframe things positively does work, not always, but then the same techniques don't always work all the time. If you've spoken to the parents before and it worked then rinse and repeat.

You have the right to peace and quiet and the ability to sleep... contact noise abatement and get social services involved. We have a severly autistic adult neighbour and we havent had broken sleep for years...its sleep deprivation and its effecting our health

I can sleep through noises that I am used to and are more consistent. I can't sleep through the random noises like op describes.

I think it would be reasonable to complain. He might be up and about but the could try and find something less randomly noisy even if not quiet.

Can you sleep further away from the adjoining wall? Or have furniture along that wall to dampen the sound or is it the noises coming through walls and floors being stomped on.

Noise is weird. Wall paper scraping in the room sounded quieter than two rooms away adjacent to the end of the wall.

Why do people resurrect threads from years ago?

Honestly - I'm sure the OP will have dealt with the situation by now!! 😊