Is There Anything I Can Do About My Neighbor?

Ouch. That is tricky, isn't it? Have you considered adding white noise to her room when she sleeps to cover some of the noise?

S.

I would want to know if I was bothering one of my neighbors. Since you said he is a nice person and can't hear then he probably doesn't know the truck is loud either. I would just talk to him. If you live on a street maybe he could park the car out there when he is running his errands during the day. I agree that if he doesn't know it bothers you it won't change. Your baby has the right to get a good nap and sleep well and there are noise laws for a reason. I would bet that if you just talk to him the two of you can work out something about the dog and the truck both. I think the suggestion about a noise machine is good too that will block out unexpected noises but the truck and dog noise needs to be brought out in the open. Good Luck.
K M

Not much you can do with out causing problems...Do you have a fan in her room? If not get one and turn it on high! I do this with myself and my kids...drowns out all noises! GREAT sleep! Good luck!

I would say either switch the rooms with your son or deal with it. I really think if you say something nothing will be done anyway. Let alone they may look at you differently and starts stuff. I would just leave it alone.

Sorry about your neighbor, that sounds like a tough situation. I have white noise machines (actually they are Holmes air purifiers) in both my kids' rooms to prevent waking during naps, especially - and it helps quite a bit!

Good luck.

S.-
In my experience I find it best not to say anything unless it is intentional on the neighbors part. I used to have a fit on the high school kids next door to me, b/c they would have LOUD partied EVERY weekend.

As far as the truck goes, ther is really nothing that can be said since it is his vehicle to get around in.

As far as the dog, I might casually mention something when you see him around. Just tell him that the dog has been barking quite a bit, and you weren't sure if he was able to hear it or not. In that situation I try to find humor in it when confronting the person so it doesn't seem to them like you are complaining.

Is there somewhere else you could move your daughter too? That might help.

Hope everything works out!!!

Have you tried either a white noise machine or radio in the bedroom? If he can't hear the dog bark, I think that is a losing battle. You sound like a kind neighbor. God bless you for being patient and understanding! We all need neighbors like you!

well...not sure what to suggest to change your neighbor...but I do have a few suggestions to make your daughter sleep through noise better.
Put a full size fan in her room...and turn it on when she sleeps. My whole family sleeps with fans...and it is so outside noises, and house creeks and such, don't wake us up. We have a neighbor with the same kind of truck...very loud...and there is a firehouse less than a block away...the fan drowns it all out when i sleep.
IF you have blinds on her windows, that get drawn during naps, that helps barrier out the noises as well....

You can't say anything about the truck (well, you can, but...) but you CAN say something about the dog. We have a dog that barked frequently at night. We live on 10 acres so he was barking at the coyotes. Even though our neighbor has 10 acres too, our dog would bark towards their house where their bedroom windows were open. One night at 2 a.m. they called and of course, we didn't answer because we were sleeping. The next time it happened, they called the police who just told us to keep our dog quiet. I felt awful!! We didn't hear our dog but now we make a point of closing the doggie door at night! We hate the thought that we interrupted our neighbors' sleep and inconvenienced the police! If you have a good report with your neighbor, he will understand, but you may have to mention that you will be calling him if his dog gets excessive in his barking. This is always a delicate area so compliment more than complain!

Hi S.,
Wow, you're in a tough situation. Nice people, but ANNOYING...and legally deaf so he has no idea that his dog and truck are so darn loud! I'm not sure you can do anything about this...is there any chance you have another room you could move your daughter to, on the other side of the house? I'm hoping maybe you have a bedroom that is being used as a home office and you could trade rooms or something! My other suggestion is to get a white noise machine for her room. It will drown out the dog and possibly the truck, although not completely. But it might make it so your little one doesn't wake up all the time.

Best of luck...what a toughy! :)
C.

S.,

If you treat your neighbor with respect then he will more than likely treat your concerns with respect as well.

Years ago we had a neighbor who worked on his truck every weekend and most evenings. The revving noise didn't bother us so much because the houses had a good deal of separation and the other neighbors never complained. However, just after our son was born it seemed he only worked on his truck when our son was napping. I went over and talked to him about our son's nap schedule and he was more than happy to tuneup his truck at a different time.

We moved from that area about 6 years ago, but I still keep in touch with our old neighbors.

When you speak with your neighbor about his dog you might want to suggest a bark collar to limit the barking. It is a great training tool - I have an Airedale, a breed that is notorious for barking, and the collar really helped!

Good luck!

-C..

Your neighbor can't fix a problem that he doens't know exists. You could gently ask him if there is anything he can do about the loud motor, and see what he says. It would be unrealistic to expect him to move the driveway, but may be you could move her bedroom. In our first house, the master bedroom was ian the front, and right nest to the neighbor's driveway. youcould hear the noise. We moved our bedroom to a different, smaller one that didn't have the noise and all was well.

You should buy this: http://www.sleepwellbaby.com/SleepMate-980A-White-Noise-M...

It is a white noise machine and it heightens the baby's tolerance for outside noise by having a constant whirring sound that is peaceful. I use it for my baby. We live on a street by a high school so when school gets out we have loud bass in kids' cars, honking, kids yelling, etc. In addition, we have a neighbor with a loud barking dog. My daughter sleeps through it all when the machine is on. I highly recommend it... because you can't really tell your neighbor to get a different car, or not leave the house so much.

You could either move your daughter's room to another part of the house or you could put something in her room to drown out the noice such as a fan or humidifier. You could also insulate her windows to cut down on noise. There's not much your neighbor can do about his loud truck. He has to park it in the driveway. KWIM??

What a predicament. I'm surprised at at all the posts that say you can't or shouldn't say anything about it. Of course you can! He sounds like a nice man. Just tell him the truth - that your daughter is waking up from the noise. If my neighbor came to me about that, I would do what I could to help the situation. He may be able to come and go less - condense his trips and do all his errands at once - it'd be better for his gas mileage anyway. It's definitely harder that he can't hear his dog - but he could bring him in at night. How does he answer the phone? Maybe you can make an arrangement that if his dog is barking, you could give him a call to let him know. We can and should have relationships with our neighbors. Bake him some cookies sometimes or ask him to teach your daughter some sign language. I'm sure he'd be happy to share! Good luck!

Another place in the house she can nap, would be my suggestion. Remember your daughter's nap schedule is probably shorter term than is the long term relationship with your neighbor. He doesn't even remember nap times if his children are in middle school. And stopping a dog from barking is tough and if you want absolute silence, you'll probably have to move.

S.,
It sounds like you want to do something without offending your neighbor. I don't think you can do anything about the truck noise, especially if he is legally deaf other than speak to him and maybe coordinate your daughter's nap time with when he leaves? Talking to him one on one is the kindest way--it shows that you are respectful of him and his condition, but he probably isn't aware that the truck is waking her up. As far the dog goes, maybe when they take it outside, they could muzzle it? Once again, if they are as kind as you say, they wouldn't want your little one waking unnecessarily and would probably take the added steps.
Good luck.
E.

You could check with your local twp or city ordinance office to see if it qualifies under noise polution. In regards to the dog, it probably has to be after 11 at night before you call animal control.

Are you on friendly terms with him already? If you are, why don't you just talk to him about it? There isn't probably much he can do about the truck so I wouldn't even bother mentioning that (he's not going to stop leaving the house because it wakes up your daughter), but you could mention to him next time you are talking with him that his dog sometimes wakes up your daughter when he's barking in the back yard and you know he can't hear it so you thought you'd mention it to him. Just say it nicely & casually.

In the meantime, try putting a fan or a noise machine or a radio in you daughter's room so it's not silent to begin with. My daughter used to wake up whenever any loud sound was made (like loud cars driving past or airplanes or whatnot), but we got her a fish tank with a bubble strip so she hears that constantly and sleeps through most other sounds now.

Good luck!

maybe before you say anything to him you could try a sound machine in her room. my son used to wake up anytime a dog barked or a car went by but when we put the sound machine in his room he slept much better and got used to the outside noise. i think i got one at walmart for 15-20 bucks. ours had a multiple choices for sound, his fave was rainforest or waves.
also, if he's legally deaf, he may not know he's being so noisy, so maybe trying something to get her used to the noise might be better than going over to tell him something he may not realize he's been doing.
best of luck!

Is there any way yoy could switch rooms with your daughter?

Other than that, most cities have noise ordinances you could look into.

Last course of action would be to anonamously write a note to say that "...several of your neighbors around you are getting upset due to the truck noise and barking, and tho we all really admire you and your family, are asking if there's a way to cut down the noise?" . Mail it without a return address, type it so handwriting isn't matched, or drop it without postage in his mailbox at night. or in his truck.
Good luck. It's sticky I know.

They need to control the barking...there is probably an ordinance. We had a not so nice neighbor at our old house and had similar problems with a motorcycle...I asked him to please be considerate of the baby, etc. and it got worse. We would then purposely start the motorcycle and gun it outside my son's window every morning about 4:30am. We had a rocky relationship when I mentioned the problem to him.

He may not realize how loud the truck is...he may be willing to park in the street to help you out. I would try raising the issue. He might also be able to keep the dog inside.

How about earplugs for your daughter? Or the white-noise of a fan or sound machine? L.

Hello S., White noise is a God send!! Air purifiers, fans, water fountins, etc. Try several noises at once. I live in an apartment with a deaf man on the floor directly above me. He moves his furniture around at 3 in the morning!! Uuuugggg. The white noise has saved my sanity. Good luck.