Swing Shift and Apartments (WA) (house, legally, noise, landlords)

[Swing Shift 2 toddlers]

I have been reading post after post of people ranting about the neighbor children upstairs making too much noise. I have had some of the noisiest neighbors and never once have I ever complained. Our quiet time at the apartment I am currently at is 10pm to 8 am. My upstairs neighbors do their laundry and dishes at about 5 am. Not a problem. They work very early in the morning and I understand. The neighbors below me her husband works during the day. I however work a swing shift (6pm-2am type shift) and my children are very young. When I get them home from the babysitters especially in the winter its hard to keep them asleep from the car to the house. And sometimes getting them to go back to sleep is nearly impossible. My oldest understands when I ask them to sit down but my youngest doesn't, just not old enough yet. So all 25 lbs of her might run to the bathroom or to her room and back. So when I got a call from the landlord that the downstairs neighbors had made complains about the 25lbs baby running around I was furious. Normal hours!?!?!
Now I'm stressed about coming home. What if the kids don't go back to sleep?
We all have to pay our bills and not everyone is lucky enough to have day jobs. So before you feel the need to complain about your neighbors children please take into consideration that maybe they have a situation like mine. I sleep about 3 hours a night every night. And I am doing the best that I can.

[rego00123]

Being a parent is hard, yo
life is rough, yo

Have you ever considered the person below you HAS considered your situation and only complained out of frustration after being woken up multiple times by a toddler running over thier head on its heels?

i feel for you, and I feel for the people below as well.
Apartment living sucks when you get the wrong combination of people sharing floors and walls

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

I can be sympathetic, but still want to live in peace. I feel your pain, I was a young single mother working a full-time job and usually also taking classes. It was exhausting.

But, the people around you are still entitled to live peacefully in their apartments, no matter the reason for the noise.

So, I know it will be hard, but maybe you could ask your landlord if you could move to a different unit? A ground floor or a unit next to another family?

Landlords in most states can't discriminate against families with children, which also includes not legally being able to designate certain apartments or buildings for families with kids. So, the landlord probably can't suggest it. But, if you suggest it, they might be happy to accommodate you.

[Kim in FL]

You do realize that doing dishes and laundry at 0500 (or any other time of day) isn't considered 'noise', right? But your children, up at 0200 (and the why doesn't matter) running around the unit is. Teething babies, colicky babies and toddlers throwing hissy fits are one thing.....letting them jump and play at that time of the morning is another.

There's no way you should be hearing your neighbor do laundry or dishes....if you can, the issue is the building...not the neighbor. The same applies to your toddler...the pounding of his/her little feet in a wood frame unit (especially if the floors/ceiling are wood and poorly insulated) sound like a small herd of elephants. My 23 lb cat makes quite a booming noise when jumping from the bathroom counter to the floor in my townhouse...(wood frame in unit, solid concrete between)

I agree with Snow...ask if you can be moved to a ground floor unit.