19 answers

Noisy Bird Keeping My Daughter Awake

This is a crazy question that I can't imagine there is a simple solution to, but I thought I'd ask. My 5 year old daughter has a tree outside her window that every spring attracts the birds to chirp at night and in the morning. She has always been a good sleeper on a good routine, but this past week she has a hard time going to sleep because of the bird and then wakes up super early and comes crying into my room. I think the crying scared the bird off this morning because it seemed to stop and she went back to sleep, but I didn't! We're going on four days in a row of less than 5 hours of sleep for me because of this bird. I try knocking on the window to get it to fly away, but last night my knocking woke my other daughter up and the bird didn't move. Short of moving her to sleep somewhere else (which would cause other problems) or cutting down the tree (Japanese Maple - beautiful!), I'm not sure what else to do.

What can I do next?

Featured Answers

Try a fan or window fan in the bedroom, it might drown out the bird...don't buy one that is suoer quiet or known to be a quiet fan...that's what we have in all out rooms, even in the winter we have them running (faced away from the kids). It is just added white noise to drown out any other sounds in the house!

My son has a sound machine that he uses at night and at naptime to sleep more soundly. You can get them at Target for about $20 - $30 and can choose between white noise, crickets chirping, waves crashing, etc. Works great for us. Good luck.

More Answers

Hi K.,
I had the same problem.. but the bird was keeping me awake:) My husband and I were going crazy trying to deal with that stupid bird! But, we lived in a condo at the time and there was no way that we could move our bedroom or cut down the tree... so we bought a white noise machine! You can get them at Radio Shack or specialty stores like Brookstone. The first one we purchased was around $30 dollars and had several settings- rain, train, ocean, a 'static' sort of noise and (can you believe this one!?!) a BIRD setting. Good grief I have no idea who in their right mind would want to hear bird chirping while trying to sleep.. but, its there. Anyway, we got a new one this year from a specialty store that has just two settings but its a 'cleaner' noise, if that makes sense. With the noise of the machine - which is not loud - but does have a volume control- it completely blocked the noise of the bird and any other noises in the house. We've actually used one now for about 6 years- we can't give it up! It's worked out nicely because we have such different schedules- so he goes to bed early and I'm up.. usually doing dishes and cleaning up around the house.. and its blocked all of that noise. So, its takes a few nights to get used to but we LOVE it and its totally worth it.
Good luck! I'd love to hear what ends up working out for you.
Take care,
L.

turn it around!!!! make the tree a magic tree and the bird a special friend.... the bird may have a nest, have her look for it, dream of baby birds, have her become the protector of the tree!!!
you have an amazing opportunity here to teach about nature and life and noises and sounds that animals make when they are happy, sad etc.... i could go on and on
DONT cut the tree down, DONT scare the bird away... what are you teaching her? if something is irritating or scary tear it down?
wow, i wish my little one had a Japanese Maple outside his window
best
i

Try a fan or window fan in the bedroom, it might drown out the bird...don't buy one that is suoer quiet or known to be a quiet fan...that's what we have in all out rooms, even in the winter we have them running (faced away from the kids). It is just added white noise to drown out any other sounds in the house!

We use white noise in our girls rooms. We always have. I use a box fan year round. I use a thin small blanket to cover it in the winter and I take it off come spring.
This is a calming noise and it blocks out traffic, birds, neighbors and even us if we wake up before them.

We have lots of trees around our son's bedroom window and between the dogs, the birds, turkeys trotting in at 5am--I finally gave my 2yr old what I use to go to sleep--a nightstand fan which is pretty loud but soothing and blocks out even the dogs barking down the hall...hope this helps!

We have that same problem (almost) at our house. In my childrens room we use a fan. Just a small window fan that when not warm enough we just put on the desk. The whirring of the fan soothes the kids and keeps the noise of the birds out. Which helps me sleep as well. Just an idea that works for us.

Turn a fan on or some other type of white noise to block it out.

Shoot the bird ! No , I don't mean that ! Try a white noise machine. Radio Shack (and many other places)sell them for about $30.00. They are worth their weight in gold ! Good luck. L.

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