Traffic noise in bedroom, advice please...

[mollym]

My son is now 6 months old and he generally sleeps well, (although we've had a few teething probs. of late) but he is also quite a light sleeper. We have just moved him into his own room, which is at the front of the house and is unfortunatly quite noisy, especially in the morning from about 5am (we've had secondary double glazing put in + I've also made some very thick curtains!). Has anyone had experience of moving their baby into a bedroom with traffic noise (particulary early morning). I realise its going to take abit of time for him to get used to, but I 'm feeling quite anxious at the thought of him being disturbed at 5am every morning!. I would be grateful for any shared experiences. Many thanks.

Mollym, I know how you feel! Firstly, is it very loud, and if so, are there any other rooms you can put him in? (Obviously not, otherwise I guess you would have done that!) I think after a while he'll become accustomed to the noise, depending on just how loud it is I guess.

Our home backs on to a nature reserve, which means LOTS of birds... when we moved in I thought how wonderful and quiet it would be, as we have no neighbours on one side and lots of trees at the base of our property. But the bird noise in the morning can be horrendous, and in the early days it did disturb ds sometimes, although now I really think he's used to it and sleeps through the whole thing.

One thing I did a long time ago was to put a radio in ds' room and leave it on static, so that there was just a humming sound coming out of it. I still leave it on through the night, so that some of the sounds in the mornings are drowned out a little bit by the static. It may sound a bit strange but someone recommended it when ds was a tiny baby (apparently babies find humming noises comforting?), and I'm still using it in his room now.

Don't know if it will help you but it might be worth a try.

Thanks very much for replying Holly. The traffic noise is quite loud (occasional buses and lorries) and its not continuous (continuous droaning noise would be better I think, rather than the odd noisy lorry/bus). So anyway I think your advice on the static/humming background sound of a radio is a good one. Thanks again!

A question for you Holly!

How loud do you suggest having the humming sound of the radio on?... bit of a tricky one to explain I guess, but do your best !!
Many thanks.

Hmmm... I would say that it's loud enough to hear, but not overpowering. Think of an air conditioner or a hot air heater - they generally make an audible humming noise but we can usually sleep through it ok. But you'd probably have trouble sleeping if it was a loud, rattling sound, if you get what I mean. Perhaps you could try it at a certain volume and see if it makes any difference to his waking time.

Having said all this, he will probably get used to the noise eventually but this is something you could try in the meantime. Best of luck.

Thanks very much Holly!

Agree with holly ...we live on a main road too...sometimes have a fan on in the room - not blowing on dd but the noise is constant...DH is much the same and has a fan on all night.

We also live on a main road - and from my experience they get used to it.

Used to live in quiet cul-de-sac. Children were 4, 2 and 6mths when we moved. Can't remember having any problems although the noise level is fairly constant - includes buses but not lorries.