Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

Earplugs at night 3 month old

65 replies

extrastrongnosugar · 08/12/2018 07:41

so yesterday my husband manned up and gave me a night off from our 14 week old baby boy, who still wakes up every hour/hour and a half at night, finishes two bottles at night (he is a big boy) and doesn't nap more than half an hour during the day. So far so horribly usual, both my older girls were exactly the same but with reflux. Fml I know.
Anyway I woke up to expect/anticipate his stories of horror (and also wake up to his newfound understanding of the state Im in), but I still cannot believe it:
the little one slept from 10pm to 2am and then from 3am to 5am!
that hasnt happened to me in 3 months!

Turns out that DH popped in earplugs when he went to sleep.

That would have never occured to me as I would be afraid to not hear if baby has some sort of issue. But it obviously was fine (this time).

Is sleeping with earplugs next to your newborn a thing?

What do you guys think of it?

OP posts:

Notacluethisxmas · 08/12/2018 07:44

Well it depends. If the baby was genuinely hungry surely he would have screamed the house down?

Do you get up to him at the smallest sound
I can see it would be helpful to have ear plugs if you are doing that.

Never worn ear plugs, can you hear the baby if it actually cries? I assume so as he was up for an hour.

TenForward82 · 08/12/2018 07:45

I did it, because every little snuffle she made woke me up. But I think men sleep through those noises anyway so don't think he needed the earplugs.

greendale17 · 08/12/2018 07:46

Is sleeping with earplugs next to your newborn a thing?

No it certainly isn’t!

Notacluethisxmas · 08/12/2018 07:47

My exh didn't sleep through the snuggles he was up all the time. Then he would disturb the babies. Drove me insane.

I don't think it's a man thing. Just some people don't hear them or can zone them out.

SalmonLeBon · 08/12/2018 07:47

Ear plugs only dull the sound, not block it out completely. So, he might not hear snuggles and grunts, which allows the baby a chance to self settle. My DS both slept much better once in a different room from us as we didn't leap to the first stirring any more.

Soiree · 08/12/2018 07:48

I used to have an earplug in the side that was up, the other ear was muffled by the pillow. That way I could hear if she cried but didn't hear the farting/snuffling etc.

Wingbing · 08/12/2018 07:50

Yea I did this. Every snuffle would wake me so I guess your giving them a chance to self settle.

Or it could just be luck.

MimiSunshine · 08/12/2018 07:50

I would be furious if my BF did that when looking after the baby at night. However whenever I had a (rare) night off when she was a baby, I’d find he had the monitor screen on and the volume on full blast so he’d be sure to hear her.

However presumably DS didn’t wake up and scream himself back to sleep when no one tended to him otherwise you’d have woken up?
So maybe it’s a case of you (quite rightly) react almost instantly to DSs stirrings which then fully wakes him etc

At 3months DS night time feeding habits sound totally normal but maybe just wait a couple of minutes to see if he’s just stirring or actually hungry

BlueMoon33 · 08/12/2018 07:55

I did laugh when I went shopping yesterday and down the baby aisle next to the teething gel and calpol was a big packet of earplugs!

Huntawaymama · 08/12/2018 07:59

I've never done this but now I'm tempted. My 5m old is waking every hour. I'll be honest I rush to her when she makes even the slightest noise as I don't want her to get louder and wake my husband. I've been toying with putting her in her own room a few weeks early and your post has made me want to do it more

Nanny0gg · 08/12/2018 08:06

Huntawaymama is it the end of the world if your husband wakes up?

Parents have to get used to that one.

You are making a rod for your own back there.

BunsOfAnarchy · 08/12/2018 08:10

The one and ONLY night ive had away from DD was during a time she slept for stints of 1-2 hours and needed breastfeeding at each waking....she slept 2x 6 hours! These dads are clearly giving the babies some rum.

What this means OP is maybe your DH should do nights from now on lol.

wellhellojill · 08/12/2018 08:11

I slept with ear plugs in right from when my LO was born. I do every night as my husband snores 😡 but she was right next to me so I still heard her cry with them in but I probably wouldn't wake to the little sniffly and snuffly noises that babies make. I don't think your husband did anything wrong. If the baby was in the same room even with earplug there is no way he could have slept through if they were really upset.

Namechanger55555 · 08/12/2018 08:13

I've done it. I still do it.

I wore earplugs before I had babies and continue to do so as I'm particularly sensitive to sound.

I can still hear my baby cry in his room (downstairs- town house) but the earplugs block out his snores, grunts, dream squeals. I only go to him when I know he's fully awake and crying for me. When it's just a little cry for 10 secs he often goes back to sleep. (I can hear these little cries but wait until he falls asleep again).

adaline · 08/12/2018 08:16

I would do this as even the slightest noise wakes me up (plus DH snores!)

W0rriedMum · 08/12/2018 08:25

I didn't do it as my child had reflux and I was worried she might choke. But my husband definitely didn't hear as many baby noises as I did.
I wouldn't have worn the ear plugs for that reason but can see why many do.

welshweasel · 08/12/2018 08:29

I’ve worn them since DS was tiny, as have many of my friends. Allows you to sleep through the ridiculous snuffing and grunting noises they make but you still wake as soon as they cry. Should be recommended in antenatal classes! I wouldn’t be cross at all - if he’d cried properly one of you would have heard - I used to go to bed early whilst my husband kept baby down stairs with him and I’d still wake up when he cried, despite the earplugs.

dementedpixie · 08/12/2018 08:31

I used to wear them too and still heard them cry before dh did

Original poster

extrastrongnosugar · 08/12/2018 08:34

Food for thought here...
I dont think he was crying at night too much as I dont recall hearing much (was sleeping in different room though). Mind you, with me he doesn't cry at all because I wake before he full out cries of course.

Tbh, he sleeps on the tummy with me because a.I cant afford to spend an hour putting him to sleep if I only get an hour sleep anyway
b.hes too strong now to be swaddled so is in the sleeping bag but still has some moro reflex so wakes himself all the time

so I wake up a lot to put back in dummy and make sure he doesnt facepalm.

With husband he slept on his back all night.

how can our experiences be so different!

OP posts:

dementedpixie · 08/12/2018 08:40

He shouldn't really be on his tummy at that age. Plus if you react to him too quickly with the dummy then he doesn't get the chance to settle back to sleep by himself. When I heard mine stir I left them a wee while to see if they would settle and would only go to them if they got more worked up and started crying.

Weenurse · 08/12/2018 08:41

Baby slept in different room from first night home, with baby monitor on. This was over 20 years ago.
Because she was in a different room, I would wait for her to fully wake before getting up at night. She slept from 12 to 5 am at 6 weeks

dementedpixie · 08/12/2018 08:42

That's not recommended either!

Kokeshi123 · 08/12/2018 08:42

Babies can be noisy sleepers and I am noise sensitive. However, I use white noise rather than ear plugs. It soothes the baby too.

PoutySprout · 08/12/2018 08:45

Baby slept in different room from first night home, with baby monitor on.

SIDS risk is lessened by baby being in the same room as you when they sleep. Theory is that hearing someone else breathing reminds them to breathe. A monitor does not replace that. You were lucky.

Original poster

extrastrongnosugar · 08/12/2018 08:49

I know sleeping on the tummy is not recommended, although I think that babies that wake every hour are probably not the sort to forget breathing the little devils.
Just added that so you'd understand better why I'm so vigilant...

So who would sleep with earplugs knowing baby is on tummy? Anyone?

OP posts:

Flip

1 2 3

Swipe left for the next trending thread