Back in the heyday of my armchair-parenting, I was quite vocal about the benefits of a noisy house around a baby. Heck, I can sleep through anything and I consider that to be mostly due to my mother's constant need to have noise around the house while I slept as a baby.
In theory, I still completely subscribe to this philosophy. If you can get a baby used to sleeping through noise, your life will be far easier. The child will probably be more rested, learn to walk and talk earlier and go on to an Ivy League college followed by the Nobel Prize.
My child, however, will not be doing such things. Because we have turned into a "Quiet! The baby's sleeping" kind of house. I'm mortified when I have to tell people not my husband this. I am totally the parent I used to judge. But when you've fought to get a baby down for a nap or for bed at night and they have proven time and again that they will wake up if that fifth stair creaks on your way to bed, you begin to lose your mind.
The point of all this is that Alliclaus has been asleep for about an hour and I'd really like to brush my teeth before going to bed. But last time I brushed my teeth once she was asleep, the noise woke her up and she wouldn't go back to sleep for two hours.
I'm gonna risk it, I think. I had a lot of garlic at lunch.
Ha ha ha ha ha, ME TOO! We used to be able to get away with bringing a marching band through Lady's room when she was a baby. Now? She's way more aware of us and the world, and she'd much rather be up hanging out with me and Swetie than sleeping so it's like she's got super hearing powers. Now I feel like everything wakes her up, especially during that critical 1/2 it takes for her to finish yelling about being in bed before she can think about falling asleep.
Oh, kids.
Posted by: Chatty cricket at January 15, 2007 10:39 AM
How about a white noise machine?
Posted by: By Jane at January 15, 2007 01:33 PM
You should just keep mouthwash and a spitoon next to your bed. I have also had that struggle. Donovan would go down fine and then I would instinctively make everything quiet, I would have to really work to make regular noise a routine. We bought a CD player for his room and play soothing type music at nap and bedtime and that has helped alot. Or when he naps on our bed, we turn on the TV for background noise. Now, we can have Sarah and her loud ass (drunk and all) over at night and he sleeps right through it!
Posted by: Jenny at January 15, 2007 08:56 PM
That's so funny, I was just thinking about this last night. Both my MIL and a friend of ours have always been really vocal about not tiptoeing around when a baby's asleep because then "they will sleep through anything".
Well yes, okay. Sounds good but if your baby does wake up at certain noises eventually you get really sick of putting them back to sleep and just eliminate those noises altogether. It doesn't have to be tomb-like and silent here at nap time or bed time but it does have to drop down in decibels a LOT.
Ironically, Hayley was easily startled awake as a baby and now I've seen her sleep soundly while Breanna screamed for an hour straight (post-vaccination, gas, etc.) so I have hope Breanna will do the same eventually.
This got long. I think I'll make a post about it on my site later!
Posted by: sherry at January 16, 2007 07:17 AM
I do find it interesting how many people say that once they had children, their ideas about raising kids and parenting have been 'adjusted' by the reality of actually having them. I think that is perfectly OK. Sure, I have ideas of what kind of parent I want to be and things that I think are good or bad or whatever, but if I find I need to tweak that to get my baby to eat or sleep or whatever, I think I can do it. I think it is strong of you to be able to adjust what you thought to make parenting work.
Posted by: Jennifer at January 18, 2007 08:40 PM
Too bad they dont make a baby ipod. I can sleep through anything with a little music!
Posted by: sarah at January 14, 2007 09:19 PM