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.We have a neighbor with a 16 month old that likes to slam every door in the house, along with every cupboard. What is bad is, we share a main wall downstairs and upstairs. I am getting tired of hearing it all day long, as it can get really loud! It has also started now really early in the mornings, around 330am to 4am. It was super quiet before the child started walking, now it sounds like a soccer team lives there. How can I get her to get her child to stop it, as it is driving me nuts!!
I thought I would ask all of you in here, since you are all parents. I would like any suggestions from trying to get the child to stop doing what she is doing and/or ways to soundproof the doors, cupboards,etc that she slams so the noise level is reduced big time. And now that it is now waking me up in the wee hours of the morning, it's just too much! Please help! .
You probably have no way to get a 16-month old child to do or stop doing anything. Have you contacted the parents and explain your situation to them? (They are probably at their wits end also!). Try to approach them on the basis of: "Having a young child is difficult and I'm sure you are doing the best you can, but, I need to live here (and sleep) as well. How can you help me out?"
Are you renting or leasing? -- If so, your second alternative might be to contact the landlord and ask how he might help with soundproofing etc. There are, for example, inexpensive cupboard latches which keep the toddler from opening the cupboards (probably more the interest of the parents) -- likewise, some doors can be locked.
An even easier fix would be to offer them a card of inexpensive felt discs available in any big box home store. Put one on the door, and another on the cabinet box. Peace and quiet. That won't help much with room doors, but perhaps it would be a way to open up a dialogue with the parents.
Why in the world would a toddler be up at 3:30 am? Are you sure it's the child?
Please contact the parents, they may not realize how much noise is seeping through the walls. You need to tell them. Perhaps asking them to put pieces of foam or carpet on the cabinet doors would keep them quieter. Even throwing a towel over the top of the bedroom door would keep the door from being slammed shut. If the noise continues I would contact the landlord. The sound proofing must be terrible if you hear that much noise. If it continues and you can't move try putting up fabric wall hangings or hang carpet pieces on the connecting walls to muffle the sound. Also, use a white noise machine between you and the wall (ie. source of the sound) in each room.
Many years ago we lived upstairs in a duplex. My husband liked to exercise & jog in place so he did it in the second, smaller bedroom on the other side of the apartment from the master bedroom so that he wouldn't disturb the downstairs neighbors. They finally talked to us several months later and asked him to be quieter and he woke them up each morning. Their apartment had the same floor plan but they slept in the much smaller bedroom and used the master bedroom for storage AND they worked second shift so they slept late each day. If he would have known both of those things he would have used the master bedroom or exercised later in the day or at night (while they were gone). They would have saved themselves months of being annoyed each day if they had only talked to us.
I bet they aren't aware that the noise carries as much as it does. I'm another vote for talking to them about it. It is quite normal for parents of toddlers to have cabinet locks. I've also seen foam "c" shaped things that fit on a door to keep them from slamming their fingers in them. I'm surprised all the slamming hasn't prompted the parents to do something about it already.
The quickest solution is to put in those felt sticky disks in the door frames to dampen the noise. You can get them at the dollar store.
Kids + noise is pretty much inevitable, though. Are the neighbours planning on having more kids? If they're planning on staying put, you may need to consider moving, or consider more permanent ways of reducing the noise. Soundproofing barriers could be added to the walls, for example.
We own our townhome. They are renting their townhome next door.
I have talked to the Mother about the door slamming and she doesn't know what to do other than yell at her child. I don't like that part. Don't want the little one to cry. She was quiet as a mouse for the first 4 months they lived there.
The walls are not thin enough to hear TV at normal levels, talking or music played at normal levels. It's the things on our wall on their side, doors, cabinets that when banged hard, it sounds like they are hitting the walls with something heavy. Constantly.
I was just hoping to get some positive feedback from people who have children and have probably gone through things like this. Moving right now for us is not an option, because our home is worth less than what we owe. I would move in a heartbeat if I could though.
Well, yelling at a toddler and making them cry is certainly not the way to solve the problem. Neither of my children would bang doors except on a very rare occasion so I do not have any personal experience on that matter.
These are unlikely situations but things to consider, does the child have any toys to play with or books, dolls, stuffed animals? Maybe there is nothing else for him/her to do. Another unlikely situation is that the child is hard of hearing and bangs the cabinets and doors to hear the loud noises and feel the vibrations through the floor. Also, how does the 16 month old get out of his crib at 3:30 or 4 AM? If he can climb out of his crib perhaps he could sleep in a playpen or something like that so he can't get out of the bedroom. Most toddlers sleep many hours at night and take one or two naps each day so there may be some medical concerns if the child is not sleeping a normal amount. I have had experience with a number of preschoolers with special needs who needed very little sleep but usually it started when they were a little older like 2 1/2 or 3 years old (again this is very unlikely). If the noise is constant are you sure that it isn't a parent who can't control their anger and frustration who is actually making the noise? Possibly, one of the parents gets angry and slams the door and the child is just mimicing the behavior.
Good luck, If none of these suggestions work you may have to find a renter.
I am sorry you are going through this. I know that when something like this interrupts your sleep, it makes annoyances even worse. I really feel for you.
Since you talked to the mom, I think you only have a couple of ways to fix the problem.
You could possibly talk to the landlord and tell him that you are concerned that the child is going to get hurt on his property by a door slamming on her fingers. That may get HIM to install childproofing throughout the house. **Does anyone know if a tenant can sue over something like that?
You could buy some childproofing for the mom as a nudge in the right direction. This will keep doors from slamming: Amazon.com: Child Safety Door Stop - Helps Prevent Slamming Doors on Fingers: Baby
There are also a lot of cabinet locks that can be used. Or you could give them the felt circles. I use those because my DH doesn't know how to close a cabinet quietly. lol
You could also try to find ways to get better soundproofing on your end.
Well, yelling at a toddler and making them cry is certainly not the way to solve the problem. Neither of my children would bang doors except on a very rare occasion so I do not have any personal experience on that matter.
These are unlikely situations but things to consider, does the child have any toys to play with or books, dolls, stuffed animals? Maybe there is nothing else for him/her to do. Another unlikely situation is that the child is hard of hearing and bangs the cabinets and doors to hear the loud noises and feel the vibrations through the floor. Also, how does the 16 month old get out of his crib at 3:30 or 4 AM? If he can climb out of his crib perhaps he could sleep in a playpen or something like that so he can't get out of the bedroom. Most toddlers sleep many hours at night and take one or two naps each day so there may be some medical concerns if the child is not sleeping a normal amount. I have had experience with a number of preschoolers with special needs who needed very little sleep but usually it started when they were a little older like 2 1/2 or 3 years old (again this is very unlikely). If the noise is constant are you sure that it isn't a parent who can't control their anger and frustration who is actually making the noise? Possibly, one of the parents gets angry and slams the door and the child is just mimicing the behavior.
Good luck, If none of these suggestions work you may have to find a renter.
I do think that talking to the parents about the simple muffling tricks or the locking of the cabinets with a child guard lock might be helpful.
I do want to mention that it is always possible that the child is autistic and slamming doors is his obsession at this point. Some autistic children just have to open and close doors. At 16 months, that may not be likely, but it may be that the mom needs to have him evaluated by early intervention. The opening and closing doors in conjunction with the sleep problems would certainly be red flags for me.
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Please help! .
