How do I approach this?

[BringMeCoffee]

I have recently moved into a new house and the walls between us and next door are very thin. My next door neighbours have a child that is at least 1 year old.

We have not yet really seen/spoke to our next door neighbours as ours is the corner plot so our front door is on the side of the house so never see them coming in/out.

Every single night, the baby cries for at least an hour. And when I say cry it is the most heartbreaking sound and he starts coughing and sounds like he might be sick. He also shouts Mama and Dada.

No one seems to go and see to him and he is just left to cry. One evening, I heard the Dad shout URGHHHHHH when the baby was crying.

It just seems like he is left to cry and cry and this can go on for over an hour at 3am.

It is getting to the point that it's so loud it's waking my 3 year old. What would you do in this situation? Would you approach them about their baby? I understand that babies cry but it sounds like he is left to cry and cry and it breaks my heart. It literally wakes me up so they must be able to hear him themselves.

There is nothing you can do about this. Obviously it will resolve in time, but then they'll likely have another and you are back to square one.

By all means, tell them. And let them know how badly if affects you and your dc. It might work (it won't) but you will feel you have tried. And they may explain circs which make you feel a bit more patient.

Even sound insulation applied to your side of the party wall is unlikely to help - it needs to be in the room where the sound is produced to be properly effective.

Sorry. [Earplugs]

You really can't judge them about sleep training. You don't know what's going on.
I think you can approach them about the noise and the fact you are woken up middle of the night. But that's it, not about the fact you think they leave the baby crying or not.

You don't know what's going on regarding sleep training etc. You also don't know them and haven't really spoken to them so I wouldn't go wading in with judgement.
I'd possibly mention something about it if and when you get to the stage of general chit chat and friendliness.

I would hate this because it sounds cruel, but I agree that it’s not your place to comment on their parenting techniques. It is your place to complain about noise that wakes you and your son up and goes on for an hour though, so I would go round there and politely mention it and see if there is anything which can be done. Perhaps the cot can go in with them?

Do you know the baby is definitely alone? All four of mine have gone through various stages where I've been in the same room as them and they've still shouted mama/dada. My 2yo was doing it only the other night, she's been poorly and it affected her sleep so she was in our bed. I would cuddle her up to try stop her crying and she'd start shouting for DH, DH would cuddle her up and she'd start shouting me.