A certain level of peace and quiet in your own home should be a given, but sometimes, there are factors that may disturb your ability to relax - whether that be a barking dog, an arguing couple, or a crying baby. While you may feel like there's nothing you can do, a polite note should help quieten things down, but if that doesn't resolve the issue, you may wish to take it further.
One person considered a fix that was a little out of the ordinary when their next-door neighbour's baby was "screaming" in the middle of the night, leaving them unable to get any sleep.
They explained they'd had problems with the previous owners of the house, but they were just arguing, so they asked them to "stop shouting", and they did.
But this time, with a crying baby next door, the fuming Redditor admitted that they were considering "bassy speakers" to drown out the noise.
They wrote: "I've lived where I live for eight years. Now the nightmare scenario has arrived where the house with the adjoining wall to mine had a baby in it. Right next to my bedroom. I have to listen to it screech throughout the day and be kept awake at night by it.
"When I look up noise complaints about screaming babies the consensus amongst everyone on the internet seems to be 'you have to live with it, bAbIeZ cRy..it's normal!!! You're not normal for being annoyed about having no sleep! It's so much worse for the poor, poor parents!!'
"That can't be right, surely. Surely it's not unreasonable to want to sleep in my own house. I feel like going round there next time it starts screaming in the middle of the night and telling them to move it to another room."
Then they suggested they might "fight fire with fire" with the solution they'd thought of.
They continued: "I might tell them to soundproof. Or fight fire with fire just play bassy speakers against the wall so they are forced to move the baby.
"I don't know. I've had problems with the adults in the house before and have had to ask them to stop shouting on the telephone and screaming at each other all day with the windows open (to be fair, they did stop temporarily, then would start again).
"What can I do other than ask them to move the baby (they probably won't) or soundproof the room (they almost certainly won't)?"
In the comments, people were fuming on their behalf, with one commenting: "Honestly I'd wait til THEY are trying to get some sleep and the little demon finally shuts up, play back recorded audio of it screaming on a loudspeaker."
Someone else raged: "I loathe the consensus that other people just have to put up with the noise because 'it's a bAbY!!'
"That's not how it works. Housing is expensive, and if we're paying a premium for it, we should not have to put up with constant noise from a neighbor [sic]. It's an unacceptable intrusion from their home into ours.
Another sympathised: "I'm so sorry that you're going through that. You aren't the unreasonable one."
What would you do in this situation? Let us know in the comments.
