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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think if you make no noise when baby is asleep when babies, you end up with very light sleepers?

53 replies

RocketInMyPocket · 03/02/2015 13:24

Just that really, I've noticed that all those I know who insisted on keeping quiet when baby was asleep, all the kids are now very light sleepers, and all the ones who carried on as normal, the kids are heavy sleepers.
Is there anyone with kids who don't fit this?

OP posts:
Original poster
RocketInMyPocket · 03/02/2015 13:24

Title makes absolutely no sense, but anyhoo....

OP posts:
DixieNormas · 03/02/2015 13:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

seaoflove · 03/02/2015 13:27

I used to tiptoe around DD as a baby, used to have to spend afternoons at home to accommodate naps because she couldnt sleep soundly in the buggy, etc.

Now, at 3, she never wakes when DH is showering and getting ready in the morning.

It's just luck, I think. Nothing to do with children being "ruined" by over cautious parents.

BathtimeFunkster · 03/02/2015 13:29

I don't think it has anything to do with that TBH.

Maybe they keep quiet because they know noise will wake up their baby?

This kind of reminds me of people who think that "offering a wide range of tastes" when weaning means that you won't get a fussy eater.

Imagine if parenting was actually that easy and obvious! Grin

TarkaTheOtter · 03/02/2015 13:30

Nope.
I think you are more likely to tiptoe around if you have a light sleeper.

grannytomine · 03/02/2015 13:30

My parents were publicans, my bedroom was over the public bar. It was a pub that was mainly used by Irish guys who were working in England and by the end of the evening they would be singing? sad Irish songs. Not unusual to end up with a punch up under my window at weekends. I am an incredibly light sleeper so it certainly didn't do me any good.

calmexterior · 03/02/2015 13:30

I think children sleep deeper as they get older. But it is true if they are used to household noise they are less likely to wonder what it is and be disturbed...

ChangingItUp · 03/02/2015 13:30

Nope, mine was a light sleeper as a baby and would sleep through an earthquake now. Always had a quiet household, not intentionally but due to being a 1 child 1 adult household.

BathtimeFunkster · 03/02/2015 13:31

I think a good rule of thumb is:

If it seems really obvious and someone is not doing it, things might not be as simple as you imagine.

ToysRLuv · 03/02/2015 13:32

DS 5 sleeps through fire alarms now. I was scated to breathe in the same room as him as a baby..

DropYourSword · 03/02/2015 13:35

I think that too at the moment OP. But I haven't got kids yet. Wonder how naive possibly smug I am being. Future mummy me may look back at current child free me with withering disdain!

I think BathtimeFunksters rule of thumb is very wise!

Welliesandpyjamas · 03/02/2015 13:36

DS1 >>>> we tiptoed around in tital paranoia well it was so hard to get him off to sleep in the first place so not surprising >>>> light sleeper until he hit 11. Now he'd sleep all day if he could on a schoolday

DS2 >>>> normal noise levels >>>> sleeps like a log

DD>>>> normal noise levels >>>>sleepls like a log, but likes regular wake ups to warm up her feet on anyone available!

So in this house, yes, the more background noise the better, and the preteen/teen years will be bliss!

MsFeckIt · 03/02/2015 13:38

dd used to wake up if I breathed in her room when she was a baby. So I tiptoed. When she was a toddler she slept through smoke alarms. So I stopped tiptoeing. Now she's a teenager she has insomnia but sleeps the sleep of the dead when she does sleep. Some nights. Some nights she wakes at anything.

How does that fit with your thoughts, OP? Hmm

Original poster
RocketInMyPocket · 03/02/2015 13:39

Was just wondering as me and friend were discussing it, she said she used to give 'the look' to her dp if he ate crisps too loudly. Grin, but says she regrets it now, as he's the lightest sleeper in the world, and she can't even flush the loo if she does a wee in the night as it'll wake him!

OP posts:
Original poster
RocketInMyPocket · 03/02/2015 13:40

Was going to say some people are being quite defensive, but realised I'm on AIBU so par for the course!

OP posts:
TheFriar · 03/02/2015 13:42

We'll not in the case of ds2. We were very quiet around him because he was an extremely light sleeper as a baby.
Now you can do as much noise as you want during the night he won't move but he us still a light sleeper in the morning. Just like a lot if other adults tbh.

I do agree though that if a child is never in the situation where you have a noise then he will be sensitive to it but then will get used to it whereas a light sleeper won't iyswim?

nottheOP · 03/02/2015 13:43

Chicken or the egg really isn't it?

Ds slept through anything & still does. I mainly watched Netflix in a separate room when he was small buy he'll still pram nap or sleep through a gathering at 2.8

TheFriar · 03/02/2015 13:44

Bye I wouldn't flush the loo at night so that I don't wake my DH up anyway.
As far as that goes he is the difficult one (and he has never been raised in an quiet environment).

You just have people, adults and children, who are bad sleepers, struggle to fall asleep etc.

GotToBeInItToWinIt · 03/02/2015 13:48

We were never quiet around DD when she was younger when she was sleeping. Even hoovered around her etc. In fact she slept better when it was noisy! However at 14 months she has become the lightest sleeper imaginable, she even wakes up in the night when I get up to go to the toilet. I don't think anything I've done has contributed to that.

ToysRLuv · 03/02/2015 13:48

We still don't flush the loo at night, unless it's a number two. But it's just a water saving habit now.. Took me a long time to realise that I could have a normal conversation right next to him while he is asleep. As a baby he was a total nightmare, so I would have gladly murdered loud crisp eaters in my sleep deprived state.

hawaiibaby · 03/02/2015 13:49

If it seems really obvious and someone is not doing it, things might not be as simple as you imagine.

This, absolutely.

What is with this kind of thing? I've seen it with other parenting talk too - 'my children behave because we teach them to' - Oh right, I taught mine to be feral, should I not have?

We tried at first with Ds to have noise when sleeping, radio on etc. but he woke SO easily as a newborn and was really tricky to get to sleep in the first place, so of course, we adapted and tip toed round him - much more important that he slept and we got some peace than insisting on 'making him a sound sleeper' because it just doesn't work like that.

At around 12 months he started sleeping much more heavily and would happily do so out and about or sleep through noise in the house, but before then, not a chance. Tip-toeing didn't ruin him, it made life bearable!

So, YABU and a bit smug-parenty.

GotToBeInItToWinIt · 03/02/2015 13:50

Of course people are being a bit defensive, you're basically saying it's the parents fault if they have a poor sleeper!

coppertop · 03/02/2015 13:52

Dd2 has grown up in a house of autistic meltdowns, a shrieking sister, and a brother who talks non-stop. No tip-toeing around here either and she's definitely not a heavy sleeper.

It's just another one of the many 'My child does X. It must be because I've always done Y" theories that just isn't true.

SleepRefugee · 03/02/2015 14:00

I thought that, we never kept things quiet around our girl as a baby to get her used to the noise. Still ended up with the non-sleeper from hell!

It's luck, not superior parenting.

TheYellowCat · 03/02/2015 14:00

Nah some babies are just good sleepers. I have one like that.

I haven't done anything to make him that way, he came out like that. Didn't even open his eyes for the first week of his life, and it was rare to see him awake in first 6 weeks. Still likes his sleep at now.

DD on the other hand...