Can you teach baby to sleep through noise?
Posted by Nicole on September 30th, 2008
A friend of mine just had a baby and she gave me the idea for this article because her family was urging her to “get the baby used to sleeping with noise”. If I had a dime every time someone told me part of my son’s sleep problems were because he needed to get used to sleeping with noise…well I’d probably only have $5, but still, it was really frustrating to hear. Let me be honest. I have NO SCIENTIFIC proof of what I’m about to say. YOU CAN’T GET A BABY TO GET USED TO NOISE AND SLEEP THROUGH IT. Okay, you might be able to help them not wake up with every little noise, but overall, your baby has a certain threshold where certain things will wake him up. Period.
When your baby is a newborn, he will spend most of his time in a deep sleep and likely sleep through almost ANYTHING! In deep sleep, it takes a lot to wake us up (adults included). Around 6 weeks old, he will become more social and start returning your smiles. This might be around the time the dog barking or that noise outside starts becoming interesting and he may not be able to sleep through as much, but usually he will still be in a deep sleep a lot of the time. By 4 months old, the way he sleeps changes a lot in when he goes into deep sleep and may be even more affected by noise.
Babies will vary as to how much noises interest them or wake them up and how quickly they can fall back to sleep if they do hear a noise. I can tell you that both my boys could not sleep through just anything and were not portable babies (I could not bank on them falling asleep on the go). But, my second son could fall back to sleep MUCH easier than my first. You might think I didn’t make enough noise with them, but let me assure you, my first son was in a very noisy daycare for 8+ months (before we got a nanny and kept him home, partially due to his sleep issues) and he NEVER “got used” to noise! I don’t care how many people tell me that I didn’t do something, he simply has always been worried he will miss something fun if he has to sleep and he all but went on a nap strike at daycare. Even as a 3 year old, at bedtime, he would claim he was not tired, say he didn’t want to go to sleep and then fall asleep 4 minutes later (I am not exaggerating!). He was no different as a baby and would fight sleep tooth and nail. 
So, with both boys we made sure we put the barking dogs away and gave them a quiet place to sleep, in the nursery and in their crib. We later bought White Noise Machines, to block out some of the household noises and encourage longer naps and better night sleep. My other friend’s baby was able to sleep through a lot more noise and on-the-go compared to my boys. It’s just luck of the draw.
So, next time someone tells you to get baby used to sleeping with noise, no, don’t walk on your tip toes, but please give your baby a quiet place to sleep if he needs it. I can tell you one thing, I certainly can’t sleep with my dogs barking outside my door or the radio blaring. I don’t expect my babies to, either.
Do you think a baby can learn to sleep through noise?
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Tags: baby sleep, baby sleep noise, baby sleep sound, baby sleep white noise, baby sleeping noises, marpac sound machine, marpac white noise machine, white noise baby, white noise machine, white noise sleep
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September 30th, 2008
When my son had colic we used alot of noise to calm him down. He is much like your oldest in that if he hears a noise he will wake up to see what is going on now that he is 2. I know this because he sleeps much less at daycare than at home. If another kid cries or something he wakes up. Some kids do not. At home we play white noise and have the room nice and dark. With this setting he can take a 3 hour nap. He is lucky to get a 2 hour nap at daycare.
Our house is small so we use white noise to help drown out noise outside his room and this seems to work. He rarely sleeps well in the care and never in the stroller-just too much to see.
September 30th, 2008
Thank you! Getting that piece of advice drives me nuts! With my first people would act like that was the reason she was such a poor sleeper. It couldn’t have anything to do with highly sensitive food allergies that made her sick the first 1.5 years of her life!
I think the advice can actually back fire. It can create a child that is overtired and only sleeps when they collapse. Then you end up depending on sleep aids that they get hooked on… and you have an entirely new sleep mess to work out!
Roses last blog post..Did My Prenatal Vitamins Cause My Daughter’s Allergies?
September 30th, 2008
Thank you thank you thank you! Amen! I get so tired of hearing that from my in-laws and parents (is it an older generation thing? Is that one of those parenting dementia symptoms that folks get who haven’t raised kids in a long time? Like, “I don’t know why your baby isn’t sleeping thru the night yet, my kids were sleeping thu the night by 6 weeks old”)
I didn’t try to raise my kids as sensitive sleepers! I started out by letting the house be at its normal noise level during naps, leaving their bedroom doors open, etc. But as soon the baby obviously wakes up due to noise, I’m done with that theory. Both of my kids are extremely interested in the world and everything that goes on in it, and don’t want to miss A THING. Now both kids sleep in hermetically sealed environments, white noise blaring, black out curtains, etc. Everybody thinks I’m crazy and annoyed with my “shushing” while they’re sleeping, but it’s the only thing that works!
September 30th, 2008
@Rose Thank YOU for the idea for the article! So true about the sleep aids.
@Claire LOL! I know. Until people have to be the one who has an overtired child because you wanted them to “get used to noise”, they will think their theory works, when in reality they probably just have an “easier” sleeper. We can only dream. And, you’re right, I forgot about the room-darkening blinds we also added to my son’s room! I should add that to my nap article. Thanks for the comment!
Nicoles last blog post..ADHD and Sleep
April 25th, 2009
Oh, I STILL get this about my Munchkin. My family is convinced the reason that he will only sleep in a dark room with white noise is because I just never got him to used to sleeping with noise. However, the REASON he sleeps in a dark room with white noise is because from the time he was an infant he just could not sleep through even the slightest noise. I remember one time my MIL was visiting and he fell asleep in his swing in the living room. She picked up a carrot and took a bite and he instantly jumped awake at the sound of her biting a carrot. When he was only a few months old, all it took was stepping on a squeaky board in his bedroom to wake him up at night. It got to where we would hop around the bedroom missing all the squeaky boards to check on him.
And it’s also interesting that I have been that way for as long as I can remember. Here I am thirty (mumble mumble) years old and I have yet to “get used to noise”. In fact, I had severe insomnia after Munchkin was born and actually spent a lot of time seeing sleep specialists. I asked my physician specifically if there was a way to “get used to noise” as a sleeper. He said that there is not.
Apparently recent studies have shown that people who are light sleepers have much more active sleeping brain patterns than those that are heavy sleepers. Our brains just don’t shut down all the way. He said, ” We have found that some people merely skim the surface while others dive deep into sleep”. So it sounds to me like it’s in a our brain chemistry and no amount of slamming doors when they are little is going to change that.
Shannahs last blog post..FAVORITES Alphabet Flashcards (double-sided)
May 7th, 2009
@Shannah YES! I have read that too about the active sleeping brain patterns and I absolutely believe it. When I go to bed after working late, I tend to sleep in a light sleep mode where I’m not even sure I even slept. It drove me crazy when people told me to get my son to get used to sleeping through noise! I can’t believe you still get it at your son’s age!