To want to take a swing at my neighbours and their builders?

[explodingbosoms]

Look, IAB totally U. I know this. But I just need to vent.

I, and my 6-month-old daughter, seem to have just, JUST, got a handle on naps- ie, long naps, in her cot (obv I'm talking about her naps not mine! Though it would be nice...), twice a day.

Man it has been a struggle. The shush-patting has been intense. But yesterday, like a miracle, the naps fell into place (knock on wood).

So of course today, the neighbours start having work done on their house, right outside the baby's window. Work which involves hammers, saws and builders who whistle and shout.

WHY, GOD, WHY???

Very annoying, I agree. Unfortunately, there's nothing much you can do about it, unless they start really early in the morning and finish very late at night. You could have a polite word and ask them to keep it down if at all possible.

You poor thing. Could you move her cot to another room in the meantime?

Could be a long shot but maybe having a chat with the builders could help - ask them if they could try not to whistle/shout (can't really ask them not to drill and hammer I guess) so much. They might surprise you by being considerate!

Or would your daughter nap in her pram on a walk instead (you're probably trying to get away from this aren't you, but it would keep her rested and give you a mental break, even if you have to sit in a cafe or on a park bench reading while she sleeps, rather than getting things done at home).

Whatever you do, try not to fall out with your neighbour over it - that makes life much worse in the long run (speaks from experience).

That would irritate me no end, YANBU! When you've been struggling to get a baby to nap, anything that disturbs that is evil.

You have my sympathy. :)

Unfortunately they seem to be keeping very sociable hours. Would love to see their faces if I came over all PFBish and asked them to please stop working between 8.30am and 10am then 1pm and 2.30pm. For the children, you know.

They're probably wondering why the grumpy bint in the house next door keeps giving them evils from her kitchen window.

Having said that, miraculously, the baby has now been asleep for an hour despite incessant banging and yelling.

iheartthehuckabees, the pram is poised and ready to go the minute she wakes up. Needs must.

I have become obsessed with naps and it will not be in vain, it will not!

Maybe your daughter will become a champion sleeper who can sleep through anything.

Oh dear! She may well be able to sleep through it though. Try not to get too stressed about it.

She's sleeping through it. Is a miracle. Will have to smile sweetly at builders to make up for earlier scowling.

great news

DD was the world's worst napper. I mean THE worst. She would nap for 20 minutes or so. One day she was asleep in our room in her cot and had been for 30 minutes!!! Then the carpet fitter arrived to fit carpet in the nursery next to our room. He was hammering carpet grip strips around the edges of the floor - just the other side of the wall from where she was. She also slept through it! That was her first ever 50 minute nap! She woke up after the hammering, when he was cutting the carpet to fit!

Maybe the noise is actually reassuring her? Friend's baby would only sleep to the sound of a hoover for a while during the day... kid was hoover obsessed, in the end mum bought her a little hand held dustbuster as a "toy" figuring she may as well get some housework done out of the equation!

I feel your pain. I have a 6mo and an entire housing estate being built over the road. I have moved her to the back of the house and try to keep the windows closed!

I am also right with you on this one. I don't know exactly what they're doing, but builders in the flat next to us have been drilling and hammering on and off for over a week now. It sounds like they're drilling through concrete or brick, and it's a horrible, grating sound. And they've just woken 5mo DD up from her nap . Her room is at the opposite end of our flat already, so there's nowhere to move her too that would be any quieter. Argh!

Best piece of advice I was ever given whilst pregnant is to always hoover, pull chain, play music whilst dd was asleep. This would get her used to lots of noise and she wouldnt wake.

I was not so sure but did it anyway, worked like a treat.

16 years later she can still sleep through a minor or major explosion. :)

And we had builders in when she was 6 months.