baby not sleeping

W

wandasmart

New member
we have drilling day after day after day in the flat below us and the flat next to us due to renovations. But this is upsetting my 3 month old baby, and she is unable to have any daytime sleep. perhaps 15min max before she wakes up from the noise.

As this will continue for some time, and i can only take her out so often (i can't be lugging things and sitting on park benches all day long), will this affect my baby in the long run physically or mentally.. i'm worried sleep deprivation will do something to her.


does anyone know?
 
hi,

my sympathies, have been in exactly the same situation and know how stressful it can be, and you are right, you can't be camping outdoors all day esp as the weather cools down. What I did was I had a chat with my neighbour and asked them (very nicely!! now's the time to grovel) whether they could have a "time out" period (no drilling or hammering) at baby's nap time, my son was 6 months old then and his two most impt naps were 9-10am and 12.30-1.30pm which was reasonable I thought. Hopefully you can time your baby's nap time during a "time out" period and take him out more when they are banging away. Also I think, unless they have a special permit, they should only be doing renovation works from 9am to 6pm on a weekday.

Good luck!
 
ops - sent it too quickly - don't think the sleep deprivation will harm your baby long term, it's just that when babies don't have their rest time, they get very grumpy and fatique more imptly affects how they feed (usually they'll feed badly) and this has a knock on effect on their night time sleep (ie they wake as they are hungry cos they haven't fed enough during the day).....
 
my baby already has difficulty settling down into a nap... it's funny.. whenever people ask me out, and they say just schedule it around my baby's naptime.. i almost want to shrug and say "what naptime?!?!" is it because she is only 3 months and still needs time to get used to sleeping at a fixed time each day? it seems like she never wants to sleep and when she does fall asleep, she doesn't stay asleep for long! even if it is quiet!

:bawling:

really tired and frustrated mom
 
Sorry to hear about your situation. Is it possible to stay in your friend's or in-laws house or have your in-laws taking care of your baby? You may consider a day-time nursery. Protect your baby's ears. If the smell of thinner and chemical is too strong you and your baby have to get out. I used to live in an apartment that has drilling and breaking walls all year long. I've read a similar thread and those moms just went abroad to stay away.
 
but we'd still hv to sleep at home and my folks and inlaws live overseas... its unbelievable and they say it will last a couple of days for drilling, yet its now 4 wks!!!!
 
I understand what you're going through. I have major renovations going on in the flat below mine and they started in October and won't be finished until end of December! Last year, the flat above had major renovations and I did grovel and asked if they could avoid drilling between certain times because of my baby's naptime. Would you consider moving out (even though it's not fair). Do you have any friends that work and that you could flatsit? I ended up using a friend's flat for my baby's naptimes.
 
When my second and third children were three and half years and four months respectively we had major renovations next door. I took them out to nap each afternoon. I would have a pushchair for the toddler and a sling for the baby and walk around window shopping in Central until they fell asleep. Then I would go somewhere for a drink and read a book while they slept. I didn?t get much housework done but if I stayed home I?d get a headache and then be no use to anyone in the evening.

Barb
 
mammalicious, I really feel for you. My son was a bit older than your daughter (17 months at that time), but was terrified of the drilling across the apartment then directly above, so it was really hard for him. On the first two ocassion I took off overseas, because he could not handle it, but on the 3rd ocassion, above us again, I decided that draining my pocket by and separating my family was not doing me any good, and that the people here are just really fond of remodeling. So I played construction with my son and let him bang on stuff, floor, tables, etc., and tell him that's all the people were doing upstairs having fun banging. It seems to work, now he naps through all the drilling, banging etc., he is now 2 1/2, and yes, another neighbor is remodeling (5th & counting), this time below us.

From your comment, your baby was not a big napper even prior to the construction, if that is the case, then maybe she just does not require that much nap time, regardless of what the books tell us (22 hours sleep . . Yeah right!! my son was a 15 minute napper as well). Maybe the remodelers don't bother her as much and she just wants more time with you? Stay Sane and good luck. If you are in the Pokfulam area, you can always come hang out with us (hoping our remodelers are quieter than your on those days) :haha:
 
People renovate for different reasons. For new buildings with many vacant apartments, be expected to have people move in and renovate. But usually people don't do drilling everyday, they do it in one or two days. Taking off walls will be expected in smaller apartments. The renovation of completely new buildings is much less noiser than older buildings, which usually involves a major renovation. For buildings over 30 years old, the government requires an obligatory renovation. Many buildings are already udergoing this process, which means the water pipes, water tanks, windows etc need changing, and the outer walls of the buildings need painting, which means a process around 1-3 months, and the outer walls will be covered with mesh net and bamboo scaffolding with workers working inside your apartment or outside your window. Next time you find an apartment see if the outer wall is newly painted and the windows already changed (for buildings over 30 years old). However, my friend's building has undergone this process when it was just over 20 years old.
 
Even though your bubs has no set nap time I'd still ask for three grace periods each day saying they're so she can sleep so you at least can have some time at home in peace! That way you won't have to spend so much time out in the cold and your bubs can fall asleep in her pushchair.
 
we live in an older buidling and the flat across from us is gutting the whole flat!! i went to the one below us who has gutted the kitchen and the bathrooms also digging in for the pipes. they workers below have agreed to drill only between 3:30-5:30 when i take my baby out. the flat across however.. i went to beg and plead.. the walls, floor everything was bgin torn apart. they even are knocking down one wall to redesign the flat :bawling: they said they can't do anything about it and will just have to live with it. asking them how long it would be, they said at least a week or 2.. i feel like going down and screaming at them everyday!!
 
The workers usually have lunch between 12:00-1:00pm and take a break and have tea between 3:00-4:00 p.m. You may have to reschedule your time.
 
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