We all know that having a newborn baby can take a toll on your sleep schedule, but if your baby has a tendency to cry during the night, then there's a chance it's also waking up your neighbours.
And while most neighbours would understand the difficult situation you're in as a parent, the noise can sometimes get too much - leading to noise complaints being filed.
That's exactly what one woman on Reddit did when her neighbour's baby began "screaming" every few hours, because it meant that she was completely unable to sleep.
The woman explained she works as a resident in a medical profession and is often exhausted even without the added noise that prevents her from sleeping, and so after a while she decided to speak to her landlord about potential soundproofing.
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In her post, she said: "I live in an apartment. I’m a resident in a medical profession and I work 100-hour weeks plus a lot of additional hours of studying and paperwork. I hardly sleep as is.
"My downstairs neighbour had a baby last month. Since she came home from the hospital I haven’t slept through the night. I’m woken up every 1-2 hours by the baby and this baby screams.
"I know the mum is trying her best - I’m sure she doesn’t want to be woken up either. But, I’m losing it. My boyfriend has been encouraging me to file a complaint because it’s not fair I can’t sleep."
The woman said she tried to talk to her neighbour first before approaching her landlord, but was unable to because the times she tried were times when the baby was actually sleeping.
But after speaking to her landlord, the woman received an angry visit from the mum who called her "selfish" for reporting her and her baby.
She added: "I have tried to talk directly to my neighbour to ask if she could stop walking around her whole apartment or maybe if there could be some soundproofing done. But every time I’ve had the chance to go to her apartment she’s got a note about the baby sleeping and please don’t knock.
"So I spoke to my landlord Friday evening. I was very clear that I’m not trying to blame this woman, I just wanted to know if there could be some soundproofing done or something. The landlord said they’d look into options.
"Well, Saturday I had a day off. I was sleeping and woke up to pounding and screaming. The mother was furious with me and kept screaming about how I’m selfish and trying to kick out a single mum. Neighbours were watching and I kept trying to explain but she just kept screaming."
Eventually, the woman "lost it" and screamed back - telling the mum that she should move out of her flat if she "can't soundproof".
And now, she's admitted she "feels awful" about her actions, but doesn't know how to move forward when both she and the baby's mum are struggling with exhaustion.
She said: "I lost it. I’m beyond exhausted and just screamed back. I told her her baby is so loud she might cost me my job and that I can’t function anymore because of her and that soundproofing isn’t the end of the world. If she can’t soundproof she should be considerate and f**k off from apartment living. She started crying and left.
"I feel awful about it. I know I shouldn’t have yelled. I know that makes me the a**hole. But am I the a**hole for filing a complaint? My impression was the landlord was going to fix the issue not kick her out? I don’t want that."
Commenters on the post were quick to state that neither the woman nor the mum was in the wrong in the scenario, although some pointed out that noise comes with living in a flat and should be expected.
One person said: "You chose to live in an apartment, which means you’re going to hear noise. It sounds like the bigger issue is that your schedule does not work with your living situation."
As another added: "I definitely understand both sides."
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