Infant a Noisy Sleeper

I went through the same thing with my, he still does it once and awhile, i was told those or the saound they made in the womb and could possibly be the sounds they heard.

My son was the same way. I used to joke that he sounded like an old jalopy in a cartoon. You could try a white noise machine or ear plugs--this will quell the sound but not diminish it, so you can still hear him for what he needs. I totally understand wanting him near you right now.

A.,

I went through the same thing with my son. He was very noisy and like you I had to find a solution because my husband deployed 2 weeks after his birth. The thing that worked best for us was to move the bassinet out in the hallway. We had a small one so it was very easy to move back and forth. Being in the hallway, he was still close enough for me to hear when he was awake without waking up the whole house but he wasn't right there for me to hear every little noise. We both slept better after I put him in the hallway because I wasn't waking up with every move and he didn't wake until he was ready too. After about a month I moved him into his room. Good luck and a special thanks to you and your husband for your service to our country!

Lots of babies are noisy sleepers. You've got to either figure out how to sleep through it or put him in the other room. My youngest was super noisy; he sounded like the static between radio stations. I've heard that most babies outgrow this by 6 months; mine did. Last word of advice, if you do decide to put him in his crib, don't let him cry it out. Babies that young need attention when they cry. The cry it out method is not recommended until at least 6 months. Good luck!

Hi A..

I have a 3-week-old grunter as well. Although, he grunts all the time. (His name is Noah Jeffrey and my husband has nicknamed him NJ Grunt. :-)) I am going to the doc with my other son on Monday and plan to ask about this. There are a lot of pollens and dust and whatever that are causing him to be pretty congested. This is extremely common with newborns. There are different pollens in the air at night, maybe that is why your little one is struggling. I have also noticed with ours that he is much louder when I put him down at night, even when I put him on his side (though side-sleeping is much less noisy than back-sleeping), as opposed to sleeping in the swing during the day. It's like when you have a cold or something and you can't sleep very well on your back. If I remember, I'll let you know what my doc says about my little one. Get as much sleep as possible! And God be with you while your husband is away on deployment.

Oh- and as for putting him in his own room. Totally up to you. With my first son, we didn't transfer him to his room until he was 5 months old and never used cry it out until he was about 18 months old (and that was cranky, I'm tired crying, that lasts less than 10 minutes before going to sleep.) I personally can't handle crying, let alone the effects it has on the baby. If my husband were leaving for a year in the next few weeks, I would probably sleep even less if I transferred our baby to his own room. My husband does not really participate in nighttime care anyway, because I am exclusively breastfeeding and that's the only time NJ Grunt wakes up. But, if he were going to be gone, I know that I would be even more hyper-alert than I am currently. You need to make a decision regarding the room-transfer that works best for you personally, as you will be the only one there soon. Again, God be with you.

This is too funny...my son was the same way. I swear that I gave birth to a little piglet...he would snort, chomp, and in general be so noisy that I could not sleep. I am typically a very sound sleeper (a bomb couldn't wake me up) but this little guy could. I moved him to his crib when he was 6 weeks old. I still couldn't sleep because he wanted to nurse so much...but it was better than having him in our room.

There are just different temperaments out there when it comes to babies. If yours turns out like ours has, get ready for a very loud child in general. My husband and I are pretty quiet people by nature...so we're not sure where our little loudmouth came from!

I hope things get better for you, and I think you are AMAZING to be able to take care of two children on your own!

Hey there A.,
Just wanted to say that I too have a noisy sleeper only at night. I have tried everything and nothing seems to help. I have twin boys that are 27mos old. One is a good sleeper at night and the other one is just starting to be a quiet sleeper. I think it has something to do with his breathing but have never asked the doctor about it. I have tried propping him up, putting him on his side and other positions, but that never seem to work either. He is too much of a wiggle worm. Sorry to tell you he is just now starting to quiet down. And those first few times when he is quiet for a longer period of time, you probably won't sleep well either. Its ok, its the worry wart in all us. Let us know if you have found the trick. Good luck with your husband being gone. Be strong and now that we are all thinking about you and the safety of you husband.

Hi A.,

My son was a noisy sleeper too. My midwives told me this is completely normal. Don't give up. I can't remember when he quieted down some but I think it was around when he was a few months old. And being a breastfeeding mom too, it is sooo much easier to have him there right next me in the room. Makes sleep so much easier as I took care of him during the night since my husband had to get up and go to work. He is 7 months old now and still sleeps in the room with us. Gives me more peace of mind and I love being able to just lift my head up to check on him if he makes a noise rather than hearing it on the monitor and having to run all the way into his room. Also, you will get used to his little noises too. Just takes some time. He is only 5 weeks old so give it some time. Just sleep during the day when he sleeps so you can get the rest you need. It will pass soon and then you will actually be missing those sweet little squawking and chirping noises.

2 of my 3 have been noisy. I couldn't handle them in my room because I didn't get sleep. I put them in a different room and used a baby monitor. I had it on the lowest setting so I could hear it and kept it under my pillow. I couldn't sleep without it. It could also help to try changing his position. We have our 4 month old sleeping in a swing. He sleeps so much better and the noise of the swing helps mask any noisy sleep.

Good luck!

Hi A. ... our son did the same thing. We had him in a Moses basket in our room for his first six weeks. We felt that it would be better to have him close by and since I was getting up in the middle of the night to feed him, it made more sense. He fidgeted, banged his hands against the sides of the basket and fussed off and on. He didn't like being bundled up tightly either. Generally it didn't make for a good night's sleep for any of us. Even though we were reluctant to move him into his own room at such a young age, we tried putting him in his crib in his own room one night (around the time he was 6 weeks old) and it was the best thing we ever did! We kept our door open and his door open so we could hear him (believe me, your mother's instinct will never keep you from hearing your child in the middle of the night!) and we slept much better as well. I think he just loved having the "freedom" in his own crib and I think the crib mattress was also more comfortable for him. He could sleep with his arms straight out to the side and wasn't banging into the side of the Moses basket. He's always been an active sleeper (rolls around a lot now) but he loves his crib and we rarely, if ever, have any problems getting him to go to bed and he is 2 years old now.

On a side note, most babies sleep their hardest in the first 3 or 4 hours that they are asleep. Nothing can wake our son up during that first 4 hour or so period!

Good luck to you if you decide to try the crib. Give it a shot! It just might work. You can always move him back into your room if he doesn't adjust well or you can't take being far away from him!

=)

My 2nd child did the same thing, at 3 wks old I had to move her into her own bedroom for my sanity!

Shades of my son!

He was such a noisy sleeper he only slept one night in our room because of his snuffling. It was a miserable night. And he had spent over a week in the ped ICU of the hospital so I was very concerned about his heath.

So we put him in his room and I still heard him at his first cry for hunger. But we didn't hear his snuffling. As a toddler and child he began to snore. It was just part of his nasal passages.

But I needed to sleep those hours to be a good mother for him during the day.

He will survive if you put him in his room. You will hear him cry for hunger. The mother umbilical cord stretches a long way.
W.

Hi A.. My little one didn't make a lot of verbal noise, but he was a thumper from fairly early on. (He would raise his legs, then thump them down on the co-sleeper mattress.) Definitely woke me a lot, but I felt more comfortable having him near me. Plus my husband would get up and do the first morning feed, so I could sleep in a bit. After reading up on attachment parenting, SIDS, etc., I made it my goal to have the baby next to me for at least the first 6 months... The baby ended up sleeping in the co-sleeper crib until about 7-8 months.

I guess my advice is to figure out whether the peace of mind of having the baby close is worth the sleep you lose. Best of luck to you and your family.

Hi A.,

It is perfectly normal. My second daughter also was a noisy sleeper. She even would cry in her sleep for about 10 seconds. If you ran to pick her up, you would then wake her. At four weeks old, I moved her to her own crib in her own room. I even turned down the monitor. Your a mom, you will reconize your baby's cry. Besides, you not only owe it to yourself but to your husband. Especially since he will be leaving soon. Good luck!

Boy Let me say he sounds just like my son Van who is now 6 months old and is finally sleeping pretty sound. He had severe reflux, he was miserable- but at first I didn't know it because he was considered a happy spitter. Get the book " Colic solved" all about reflux and see ifyour little boy fits the bill. Then you can go about getting all the great things you will need- like a wedge to elevate his head for at least 30 mins after he eats, and lots of other tips. Hope this helps if that's his problem.
Any other suggestions just let me know
GOOD LUCK

Hi A.! My son did the same thing, and niether me or my husband got any sleep until we moved him to his own room. We did that at about 10 weeks or so. To give ourselves a little piece of mind we got the Angel care monitor. It has a small pad that you put underneath the crib mattress that detects even the smallest movements by your baby. If your baby stops breathing or has no movements for 30 seconds, an alarm goes off. It works so well, and gave us so much piece of mind with our baby sleeping in the next room. Everyone got so much more sleep!! I believe you can get it online or at Babies r us. I hope this helps.

our first daughter slept in our room until she was a year (and only out of our bed after she started kicking us in the head). however with our second daughter, she was so noisy and wiggly that i couldn't get any sleep so she slept in her crib from the beginning. but i would still jump up at every sound. what helped was earplugs and a baby monitor. the baby plugs filtered out the wiggling and fidgeting noises but i was still able to hear her cry. my husband slept through everything regardless of course.

My little girl did the exact same thing - perfectly quiet during daytime naps but grunting and groaning at night. It was the other way around for us though - I slept through it just fine and my husband's sleep was disturbed by it all night long.

I ended up asking her doctor about it and they couldn't help me at all. I can tell you she grew out of it by the time I started putting her in her crib at 3 months. Not sure exactly when - it just kind of started fading away. Hopefully yours will do the same thing before your husband isn't there to help.

My little guy was a very noisy sleeper. Especially his breathing! Honestly, it freaked me out at first until my midwife told me that it was totally normal. I, too, couldn't bear the thought of having him in another room, especially when he needed middle of the night feedings. I don't remember exactly, but he grew out of it around 2 or 3 months of age. We moved him to his own room at 4 months. I believe that newborns belong next to their moms at night, so my best advice is to realize that he will grow out of it soon, and do your best in the meantime.

My son was the same way. I never knew an infant could make so much noise! I had to put him in his crib in the other room because I was just not getting any sleep. It was hard at first because I was afraid I would not hear him when he needed me, but I soon learned he could let me know even from the other room. I am not sure when he grew out of it...maybe between 1 and 2years. I hope this helps. God bless you.

I'd keep sleeping with him close by. Especially since your husband will be leaving soon. In fact, I'd bring him into bed with you, he may sleep better that way and you will have that wonderful closeness. You could try earplugs, you could try cutting them to make them smaller, experiment to find a size/style that muffles the sound just enough but not too much. It's normal for a baby to have a longer period of deeper sleep and then some lighter sleep periods. I hope you are sleeping whenever your children do, so that you can get enough sleep. And yes, he will probably grow out of it!

That is SO funny. My duaghter did the same thing and she was put in her own crib in her own room after she was 2weeks old. It was SO much better!!! Because I didn't wake up at every little moan and groan. She also slept better. She still has some nights that she is tossing and turning but because she is in her own room it doesn't bother me or my husband. I know you are not ready to move him but you would get so much more rest. Also soon after I put her in her own room she started sleeping through the night and WOW it was great!!!!

I think the range of advice/personal history really covers everything. I just wanted to add something in case you go with earplugs:

Drummers Earplugs.

Specifically the white conical ones. The drummers store next to Evolution Studios in Factoria always has them, and GuitarCenter in Kirkland -and many many other locations- usually does (but not always...call first). I'd avoid the orange cylindrical ones, they're built for gorillas I think. Everyone I know (from my dad with ears a Buddha would be envious of, to my five year old son) can wear the white ones happily.

Here's what they do : they block out SOME sound, by taking the edge off of it...You can still hear sound in great detail, but it's quieter. Muscians use them so they can still hear the other people playing, note by note, but it dims instead of muffling or blocking things out.

They cost about 15 dollars...but if you still want to be able to hear him, but not leap out of your skin every time, they're worth it.

Best Wishes for laying in the arms of Morpheus
Z.

A.,

We had my daughter in a bassinet in our room for her first six months. Then she grew out of the thing and we would wake each other up with our normal sleeping. At that point she got moved to her crib in her own room. She is now 15 months and still a roaming, noisy sleeper. Like you, I was programmed to wake up at the smallest noise. I still am.

I know he's still little, but maybe it's time to put him in hos own room so you get some sleep.

Hope this helps,
Melissa