Neighbour complained about 9 month old

[wrinklycactus]

My 9 month old is going through a phase where he kicks his legs a lot when he's lying on his back. He can't crawl yet so he spends all his time either sitting or rolling around/ lying.

We're in a flat and he does bang the floor quite a lot as he's kicking... but he has a thick rug and a thick playmat under him. Our downstairs neighbours have complained, but I'm really not sure what else I can do about this.

We spend a lot of time out in the park etc but sometimes obviously we are at home. It's never at night time, he goes to bed at 7 and sleeps through til 6.30.

Early in the morning I try to stop him doing it or put a pillow under him but I don't think it's really fair to try and restrict him like that every single time during the day because he can't roll easily when there's a pillow in the way.

It's also a phase that will probably pass as soon as he can crawl.

What would you do in this situation... AIBU to just try and minimise it early in the morning and go out as much as we can, but otherwise leave him to it?

Always got on with them before this! I do get it especially a childless couple with babies above and below them, but feel like I can't do anything, and the first poster has it right that my life is pretty stressful atm anyway!

It's nothing to do with being childless.
My children are grown (well just about...) and I love children and understand them. Equally I would find it frustrating to live between families with young children who didn't make any effort to minimise the noise impact on those around them. I wouldn't enjoy raising my family if I knew I was disrupting other people's lives.
I don't know what the answer is, but some of these replies along the lines of "ha ha they should wait until he's a toddler", or "buy him a drum" are pretty rude.

Unless you're talking about a 9 month old horse kicking it's legs in your flat I'm amazed your neighbour has such good hearing.

Why does that particular noise bother them? Do they complain about you moving around or hoovering? Washing machine?

This! It's fucking bullshit, they're obviously the type of person to expect a baby not to make noise, a dog not to bark, no noise whatsoever despite living in flats!
I'm in flats too - got to allow for reasonable noise, it's not like you're having an all night rave x

I would get a thick yoga type mat

I think it would have been obvious it was baby making the noise

How would it be obvious? It's just a banging noise on their ceiling. Why on earth would you think they would know a baby was making it? That wouldn't occur to me at all (nor, presumably, to the posters who can't imagine how a 9 month old could make that loud a noise)

I won’t go into the wrongs and rights of the situation, but if you did want to keep them off the floor a bit, I found back carrying a GOD SEND at this age.

9 months was peak fussiness time for both my kids.

it took a fair bit of practice across several days and a load of YouTube videos before I could master it - but it was such a handy skill to have. Especially when he got poorly and wanted to be “on me”. Or he was fighting naps. I still carry him now at age 2.

I use a buckled carrier. You can rent them from sling libraries, who will often show you how to use them

Maybe, you could get into a routine if back carrying baby for an hour while you do jobs/tidy up in a morning . keeps them off the floor, they love being up high and seeing the house from a whole new perspective 🤣 you get stuff sorted & you don’t have to worry. Plus neighbour can’t moan.

Mine used to drop off in there and I’d take them off to nap on me on the sofa, while I had a cuppa n watched tv since I’d managed to do some jobs while carrying. You get good at squats to pick things up off the floor 🤣

Again not saying tou should HAVE to keep quiet. Merely a suggestion if you were looking for ways to minimise the banging

Do the neighbours not work during the day?

When you say you try and put a pillow under early in the morning what time do you mean?
If it’s happening before 9am on a Sunday for example that would be unreasonable and I wouldn’t put my baby down to kick before then. The same on Saturday before 8 or weekdays before 7.30am. I think it’s easy to forget when you have kids that your definition of early changes a lot.
In the day though I would let them kick freely and just not worry about it. That’s normal noise and to be expected and you shouldn’t even need to think about it.

There is no other answer to this sort of nonsense than ‘fuck off’. Seriously.

Your neighbour is a twat.

Unless your baby is Clark Kent I doubt there is a huge amount of noise from a baby kicking their legs on a thick rug.

Some people simply should not be in flats.

You’d tell your neighbours to fuck off? Nice.

I would ignore them. They are arseholes. Don't make any accommodations at all and don't apologise again. They are ridiculous and the more you pander to them, the worse they will be.

I know two different people, living in ground floor flats, whose lives were made a misery by inconsiderate neighbours above, playing loud music long into the night. They would have taken your little kicky-legs like a shot! Your neighbours are completely unreasonable to complain.

I would do absolutely nothing.

Ask them what you're supposed to do ?
Tell them you've told the baby to stop, and he just won't 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

When I saw the title of the thread, I thought it might relate to through the night crying due to teething…. Which perhaps I could understand, but its just a baby kicking out at the floor during the day which is absolutely normal.

To be honest there isn’t much you can do in this situation, or if your child cries because they are teething.

Our neighbours have noisy dogs… they bark and whine when their owners are not at home so I have some noise cancelling headphones to block them out for work calls, play music on them to prevent it annoying me during the day, and a pair of those loop ear plugs for working from home.

These are simple steps you can take if noise bothers you… you can even connect noise cancelling headphones to most televisions wirelessly if needed.

I'd be petty and walk around wearing wooden clogs

Why is he lying on his back for long periods of time during the day, is he not sitting up unaided yet? I don't remember mine ever lying down once they could sit up. I wonder if a jumperoo on a rug with a cushion under his feet might be better?

”Thanks for letting me know, Barbara. I’ll have stern words with him, and if he does it again, I’ll confiscate his iPhone and he won’t get any pocket money that week.”

Why haven't you explained to your 9 month old that this level of noise is unacceptable? It's just poor parenting.

🤣🤣🤣

Honestly they just need to do one. Try not to give it another thought.

just Here to say congrats on having a 9 month old that sleeps from 7pm to 6.30am!! 👏🥳

🤣🤣🤣 Just wait until he hits his teens and develops a taste in music…..very loud music!!!

Unfortunately for them this is what they need to do. If they can hear a baby at 9 months the sound proofing is pretty dire.

Exactly what I was thinking. Why is he lying down? Mine started walking around and having conversations in French at that age. Poor parenting.

It sounds like you are doing all you can to be considerate. Beyond that, just ignore them.

Is he wearing DM’s? How hard can a 9 month old possibly kick? Tell her to get stuffed. She won’t know what’s hit her in a few months when he’s toddling!