Insanely light sleeper

[CoqAuFanjo]

My 6mo DD has always been a bad sleeper, she won't nap at all in the day without a huge fight and sometimes not even then. Even as a newborn she barely slept at all. Whenever she IS asleep we have to tiptoe around as the slightest noise wakes her up. We don't flush the toilets, run water, shut doors, sneeze, cough, go to the fridge, open cupboards etc. Its such a battle getting her to sleep in the first place that it would be madness to do anything
to wake her up iyswim.

We live in a semi and depending on our neighbour she can wake at 5am or 9am and that sets the precedent for the whole day, although our neighbour is lovely and not overly noisy but even him running his tap wakes her up!

I remember a MW in the hospital saying to me "they have to fit round your lifestyle not the other way round" and I agree but at the moment we are totally dancing to her tune.

She just has so much energy but also gets tired and cranky but just won't sleep unless it is deathly quiet. Short of moving to a shack in a forest and becoming elective mutes what can we do??

Lol, I posted something similar to your dilemma a few weeks back OP. I have a 13 month old who wakes to an ant's fart is very similar to your DD. Unfortunately we have yet to figure out what to do..

Incidentally, have you been away with your LO yet? Absolute bloody nightmare staying in a hotel-DH and I had to be in bed by 7pm (no lights/no TV) cos it would wake DS up. Have decided to book him his own room next time we go away :o

My DD was just like this, we weren't able to go to the loo in the night without waking her. Sometimes even turning over in bed even though we're in a different room. Bizarrely once she started sleeping through (age 2 exactly!) she asked for her door to be left wide open at night, and now sleeps much better. We can go to the loo, even peep into the room to check on her! I did nothing differently it just seemed a developmental thing for her. Not sure that helps but you have my sympathy!

I should add that we do still need a silent house for her to fall asleep, if anyone is moving around or making any noise it stops her going to sleep. I would have considered going to live in the middle of nowhere but thought the noise of owls would still wake her!

Have you tried white noise in her room? Some babies are so sensitive to other sounds that this can help to 'drown out' ambient noise.

You say she's a poor sleeper for naps? Have you always put her down for naps in her room or left her to fall asleep downstairs? If she is sensitive to noise/stimulation, she may not nap well in a room where there are lots of daytime sounds. You could try the white noise in conjunction with making sure her room is dark and peaceful and put her to bed as soon as she shows any sign of tiredness. With my daughter, this was about 1.5 hours after she woke up.

I use a fan or air purifier in both DSs rooms. It masks most household noises quite effectively.I now even use one myself for the same reason. If we go away, we normally take one with us!

DS2 was also a very light sleeper at 6 months, but now at 17 months is no real problem, so they do change over time.

Have you tried putting a radio on in her room? We have done this with all ds's because they have been light sleepers. Over time they all started to sleep deeper.

Thanks all, at least you give me hope

I put her down for naps in her room in the quiet and dark, but I've tried all other ways. My friends dd just dozes in front of the tv and she doesn't have to do anything at all whereas I spend my entire day trying to get her to nap!

Funny you should mention about white noise as I had to put her in her cot the other day whilst I hoovered and when I went to look at her she was fast asleep Of course then I tiptoed round lest I wake her. I will get a white noise mp3 and see if that helps. I do wonder if we are not helping by pandering to her - if we just lived normally she'd have to get used to it wouldn't she.

She had to go in her own room at 3 months because all 3 of us were waking each othr up all night and we couldnt take it any longer We haven't been away with her yet precisely because of this problem.

Thanks all again for your comments and advice.