Baby is a ridiculously light sleeper - anything I can do?

[bunny85]

Hello all,

I posted a few times before about my son who doesn't like sleep very much wakes up often at night, puts up a fight for day naps etc. And as if that isn't hard enough, he's also a very, really ridiculously light sleeper (and has always been). We co-sleep, and my every move can wake him. Sometimes even if I turn my head, or move my arm! He likes to snuggle up next to me at night (this way he can sleep through actually) so you can imagine how hard is to move away (which I do anyway so that he doesn't get used to being glued to me all night). Same thing happens when we don't co-sleep, say in the pram outside. If my phone rings/I meet someone and start chatting/dog barks loud etc etc he'll be up. I know the advice is to put a baby to sleep in a noisy environment from day one, which I did, only to face the nightmare of putting him back to sleep (very hard once he's been woken up), crying etc. So I gave in and thought that his sleep is important and try to keep the noise down/phone on silence and so on. But it's getting ridiculous. We have a wooden floor at home which squeaks in a few places and I can't even walk because surely that wakes him. Anyone has similar problem? Is there anything that can be done or should I just accept the way he is?

P.S. Must add, if he's been rocked by walking in his pram for some time and falls asleep very deeply, then even an ambulance siren won't wake him up. Other times, no such luck.

Many thanks!

Have you tried white noise?

I second white noise, when dd3 was tiny she nap easily in the day if I stuck the hair dryer or hoover on, then I discovered the ingenious white noise apps for your phone or tablet, she's 15 months now and I still use it now, All Night we still co-sleep and I can't sleep without it either!

Yes, agree with white noise suggestion, on loud to drown out other noises.

Gentle rain on YouTube is lovely.

Thanks everyone, yes, we are using Ewan the Sheep which is brilliant and works very well BUT...it stops after 20mins, grrrr! As long as sheep is on, he's well asleep!

A friend of mine also recommended the app. We tried it and it also works great, but I find two issues here: 1) don't know if letting a baby sleep next to iPhone/iPad all night long is safe? 2) How will I use white noise when out and about? Maybe take the sheep along with us in the pram? But isn't the outside noise (cars, dogs, wind) a white noise itself?

We swapped from Ewan to an iPod/speaker with white noise - much much louder than Ewan.

To be honest she just grew out of being a light sleeper gradually (she's still quite a light sleeper at 2 but nowhere near how she used to be). The white noise helped a little bit not loads

Argh, I can't believe that I stupidly only recently sold my iPod docking station on eBay! That would have come so handy right now...

Dohm white noise machine. Best thing ever!

Oh bunny, my son was like this and I remember how hard this was. I used to wake up in the night and think that I really need the loo, but it would wake him up, so I couldn't go. I got really good at avoiding the squeaky boards, but there would always be something - once he woke up because my knee cracked...

He was about 5 months when we moved him to his own room and things got much better. He still wasn't a great sleeper, but it became bearable.

He is just over 3 now and is absolutely fine, goes to sleep with no problems, sleeps through and likes his sleep in the mornings.

There is hope and it will gradually get better with time.

White noise! There's an app called womb sounds which is ace. We also have a skip hop owl nightlight that has various sound options.

We went in the opposite direction: let him get used to the house noises, put him in a cot inside of a grobag. Once he was a little more constrained he sleeper wonderfully.

Having said that, he has always being incredibly mobile (he used to move the length of the bed in half an hour at 4 days old, so he kept waking himself up. In just the first 2 weeks in the house after he was born we managed to find him stuck between the bed and the wall, the bed and the side cot, at the bottom of the bed under the covers and finally, under the cover under my legs (I really thougth I had asphyxiated him, so we moved him out after that.

Having said that, if you've got a wriggly one and want to co sleep, it may be a good idea to get one of those nappy changing mats that have a higher foam edge, put a towel over it, and baby on top in a grobag.

Some way it works, we borrowed the tip from the local hospital's children ward.

You've just reminded me of my dd when she was little - I'd put notes on the door to stop people ringing the bell, no one was allowed to flush the toilet, lock the bathroom door or run a hot tap because those noises woke her up.

She grew out of it sometime between 1 and 2 and is now the best sleeper on the planet, she never wakes up at night, she sleeps through me turning the light on and sorting laundry in her room and we can flush the loo at night

No advice other than they grow out of it. Sorry OP!

I put the radio on detuned.

Sorry it's taken me ages to reply. Thanks everyone for there assuring stories.

Notalotta, detuned radio is a clever way of doing it, never thought of that!

Ginger, followed your advice and ordered the Dohm sleep device, supposed to arrive in a couple of days. Will update you of, hopefully, our success!