Thursday, June 3, 2010

To White Noise or Not??

Recently we had an out-of-the-blue rough couple of weeks of Cameron sleeping terribly for some unknown reason. After a night or so of letting him cry it out for about twenty minutes, he's getting back to his normal sleep habits. Praise God because I do not have the patience or tolerance to be getting up in the middle of the night with an almost two year-old who had previously been sleeping twelve hours a night.

Anyway, even with Cam sleeping through the night he's still been getting up earlier than usual; maybe 6:30 vs. 7:15-7:30. But last night, I decided to turn the portable fan on in his room to create white noise since I knew I'd be juggling garbage that needed to go from the garage which borders the wall of his room. I kept the fan on through the night & he slept until 7:20 this morning. It was the first time in what seems like forever that I've actually woken up to my alarm vs. a crying Cameron. It could be a fluke, but I'm thinking the white noise from the fan had a little something to do with it.

Cameron's bedroom is at the front of our house & there are many sources of noise that might interrupt his sleep. And I know that I'm a very light sleeper who wakes up at the slightest sound; hence me wearing earplugs to bed for the past 10 years. So, it's gotten me thinking that maybe Cam is also a light sleeper & a bit of white noise would do him good. Problem? Mike is afraid that he'll come to depend on this & have trouble sleeping for the rest of his life if he doesn't have it.

And I can only imagine what's going on in Mike's brain.... What if Cam's traveling when he's an adult & has no source of white noise & can't sleep?! Then his insomnia will eventually lead to insanity & he'll end up in a mental institute & we'll have scarred him for the rest of his life!!

Okay, well, maybe it's not that extreme (although, you never do know), but either way, he's concerned that putting the fan on in his room each night will lead to issues that affect his sleep in the long run.


Help! What should we do? Put the fan on in his room to help him sleep better or keep it off in hopes that he'll adapt to the noises around him & sleep through it?? Any input would be appreciated!

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10 comments:

  1. oh dear heavens, do the white noise. it's not like it's a tv that you are leaving on all night. adelaide's room gets a ton of noise too. i think it's just common sense to try to make a child's room a peaceful quiet place. could we sleep w/ a bunch of noise? not really!
    although you think of me as an earth mother so you will probably throw my advice out with the bathwater, just dont throw out the baby too!
    sincerely,
    lesli aka earth mother
    p.s. allison if you were adelaide's mother you would be the one in a mental institution. she is teaching me patience, that is for sure. ahh well, this too shall pass and one day she will be a teenager with boobs and won't want her mommy.

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  2. Lesli, what can I say, we like to over-think Cam's sleeping!!! Before we had Cam, I always wanted him to be a great sleeper for our sake & his. That seems obvious; who doesn't want their kid to sleep well?!? So that's why we over-analyze everything when it comes to his sleep!

    I promise we're laid-back about pretty much everything else!

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  3. I say white noise all the way. I have slept with a fan on for the past 15 years, and I may not sleep as good without it, but I still sleep. And it may just be b/c I am not in my own bed. I say overthinking!

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  4. If it helps him sleep, go with the white noise. If you and/or Mike are concerned about him becoming too dependent on it, you could get a white noise machine with different sounds, then just mix up what sound you use each night. That way he won't get too dependent on any one particular sound.

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  5. I agree with Mike..what else is new, right? But not necessarily because of how he'll be as an adult but just to make life easier while he's still a child. I just think the more you teach them to adjust to their surroundings the easier it will be in the long run. But I'm a mean mommy.

    Kelly

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  6. Funny I say that and I'm the on who prefers a fan to sleep. haha

    Kelly

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  7. Hey if you expect him to adjust to his surroundings then Allison should try throwing out the ear plugs and see how that goes!!! :) It's only fair!

    Also Allison I was only referring to Adelaide's sleep habits - that's what would have you pulling your hair out!

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  8. Lesli, if it was up to me Allison wouldn't sleep with ear plugs. I'm a firm believer in allowing your body to adapt to your surroundings instead of adding something to yourself to help you adapt. It's why I try to not put lotion on myself unless I really need it, I want my body to know it's not getting any help so it better figure something out. Know what I mean?

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  9. Also, Cam has slept through a car alarm once, and also boat engines being cleaned out. We're at the end of a court, there's not much traffic at all.

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  10. you are one weird fella!

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