Teething is no joke. Babies are in pain and often make it known by loudly crying. When living in an apartment surrounded by others, this can be an issue. One dad’s solution to the problem is simply ignoring his neighbor.
Naturally, this strategy was not the best way to go about it and has led to some bad blood. The dad took to Reddit to see if he was in the wrong here. The forum let him know the error of his ways and he took steps to rectify the situation.
Teething is painful for babies.
The dad explained his daughter is 1 year old and teething. “It’s clearly causing my daughter a lot of pain, especially at night,” he began. “Before she was a good sleeper, but now it’s been rough. She’s been waking up around 1am and then 3am daily, screaming with her little fingers in her mouth. My wife and I have tried comforting her, bringing her in our bed (she sleeps in our room anyway and her crib is next to our bed, but normally she likes to sleep cuddled up when she’s uncomfortable), we’ve even given her baby Motrin to help with the pain but she still screams for about 10-20 minutes each time until we are able to settle her. It’s shrill and it sucks, but there’s not much we can do beyond what we are already doing.”
Crying babies can be annoying.
The frustrated father continued his tale. “We live on the ground floor of a new condo building. It’s made of heavy concrete and decently sound proofed, but not perfect. Above us lives a single woman in her late 20s / early 30s. This is an expensive part of town in a new building, so we can assume shes decently monied (or daddy is).” It is unclear why he felt the need to bring money or her father into the story.
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There's enough pettiness to go around.
The details about her door make more sense. “She also keeps her balcony door open all day and night that faces into our courtyard,” he continued. “She has been 'punishing' us during the day by blasting loud music directly into our unit by putting a stereo next to her balcony. We are on the ground floor and have a fully enclosed courtyard so it vibrates around. She’s got great music taste, and my daughter will dance to it all day long. So while my wife hates her intention, I think it’s worked out just fine… until now…”
Things reached a breaking point.
The neighbor finally had enough one night. “Last night she came barging down at 3am and rang our bell 4 times while we were trying to settle our daughter,” the dad recalled. “Motrin works for about 8 hours, so by 3am we have to give her another dose and wait through the cries, cradling her for 15-20 minutes for it to kick in again. My wife (a strong tempered petite woman, amplified by her first year of motherhood) wanted to go fight her then and there, but I said let’s just concentrate on settling the baby and ignore her. I also didn’t want to make the baby any more upset than she already was. So yeh, I just let her fume outside my door at 3am.” He ended his post by asking if he was wrong for ignoring her.
There is blame to go around.
The verdict on Reddit’s AITA forum was “everyone sucks here.” The forum acknowledges that it is difficult to deal with a teething baby. They also concede it is not fun to be woken up in the middle of the night consistently by your neighbor’s crying baby.
Everyone is at fault here.
Many on the forum took issue with the dad’s sense of entitlement. “Your comments about her are awful (especially that 'daddy' is paying her way),” called out one user. The dad must have sensed this because he went back and edited his post removing the daddy part.
The forum also took issue with the neighbor’s bad behavior. “Her response with the loud music is childish,” wrote one user.
Here are some suggestions.
Many on the forum offered advice on how to deal with the teething babies. “Is there some reason why you can't move the doses of Motrin so that it works all night?” suggested one user. "Maybe a dose at 11:00 pm? That would allow all of you to get a much needed night's sleep. Also, I think they make cold teething rings to help with pain."
“Like in a hospital or for those who are doing pain management at home, you can schedule pain medication so it has a continuous dose so the baby doesn't have to experience the pain and start screaming to alert you they need more,” advised another. "Just don't go over the daily maximum."
There is more to the story.
Thankfully, the father seemed to somewhat see where he could have done better. He updated his post to share some new details. “I delivered a small care package to her door with a long letter and a bottle of wine and chocolates. She was not home so I put it next to the door. We are only here for a couple months (temp rental until we finish construction) but I’d rather offer an olive branch than see all the pettiness continue. Yes, it sucks to be woken up. Yes, it’s a shared building. Yes, people throw parties here until 3am on the weekends. Yes, babies cry and we try our best,” he concluded.
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