A Baby will be above my Apartment, am I screwed?

[Rod Hagen]

On 6/1/2026 at 5:18 PM, PhileasFogg said:

 One baby will not be that bad at first if construction is good.   If that changes, steps can be taken to mitigate. 

"Steps" such as?

[Rod Hagen]

Thank you everyone.  Someone asked about moving to the top floor.  I too have always, before now, lived on top floors for the simple reason that it means one less neighbor to deal with.  My partner doesn't like top floors because he believes firmly that they are too expensive to keep cool.  Well, this is the consequence.  Having a baby below, I believe, would be much better than above.  The only other acceptable top floor unit in this building is the one above the baby and they only just moved in so I don't see them moving out any time soon.

We did look at another unit in the building away from the family.  Our Unit is our favorite unit in the building, and moving we would always be missing our unit.  Nevertheless, we will see how picky we are the first six or seven sleepless nights and unproductive days.

I purchased these earplugs:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FBMJY4W4?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

And this sound Machine:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074FL2HL2?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

And wishlisted this Air Purifier which I'll purchase soon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KPJCDN6/?coliid=I40HF9BNBUIY9&colid=41YSORTN5762&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it&th=1

I meet with the landlord/manager today.  We are very nervous about this, their "blessing", and since we found out both ironically (or stupidly) waking up late at night with pre-anxiety!

Thank you again everyone, any more thoughts?  

[+ sync]

25 minutes ago, Rod Hagen said:

Thank you everyone.  Someone asked about moving to the top floor.  I too have always, before now, lived on top floors for the simple reason that it means one less neighbor to deal with.  My partner doesn't like top floors because he believes firmly that they are too expensive to keep cool.  Well, this is the consequence.  Having a baby below, I believe, would be much better than above.  The only other acceptable top floor unit in this building is the one above the baby and they only just moved in so I don't see them moving out any time soon.

We did look at another unit in the building away from the family.  Our Unit is our favorite unit in the building, and moving we would always be missing our unit.  Nevertheless, we will see how picky we are the first six or seven sleepless nights and unproductive days.

I purchased these earplugs:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FBMJY4W4?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

And this sound Machine:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074FL2HL2?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

And wishlisted this Air Purifier which I'll purchase soon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KPJCDN6/?coliid=I40HF9BNBUIY9&colid=41YSORTN5762&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it&th=1

I meet with the landlord/manager today.  We are very nervous about this, their "blessing", and since we found out both ironically (or stupidly) waking up late at night with pre-anxiety!

Thank you again everyone, any more thoughts?  

There is also the possibility the sounds of the infant/toddler could be less of an imposition than presumed.

[maninsoma]

37 minutes ago, Rod Hagen said:

Thank you everyone.  Someone asked about moving to the top floor.  I too have always, before now, lived on top floors for the simple reason that it means one less neighbor to deal with.  My partner doesn't like top floors because he believes firmly that they are too expensive to keep cool.  Well, this is the consequence.  Having a baby below, I believe, would be much better than above.  The only other acceptable top floor unit in this building is the one above the baby and they only just moved in so I don't see them moving out any time soon.

We did look at another unit in the building away from the family.  Our Unit is our favorite unit in the building, and moving we would always be missing our unit.  Nevertheless, we will see how picky we are the first six or seven sleepless nights and unproductive days.

I purchased these earplugs:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FBMJY4W4?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

And this sound Machine:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074FL2HL2?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

And wishlisted this Air Purifier which I'll purchase soon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KPJCDN6/?coliid=I40HF9BNBUIY9&colid=41YSORTN5762&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it&th=1

I meet with the landlord/manager today.  We are very nervous about this, their "blessing", and since we found out both ironically (or stupidly) waking up late at night with pre-anxiety!

Thank you again everyone, any more thoughts?  

Any more thoughts?  Cancel the sound machine order and just rely on the sound of fans and/or air purifiers.  Not much reason to pay money for a device that just makes white noise as far as I am concerned unless you specifically like the "nature" sounds it simulates.  Maybe I'm just biased, but the ones I've heard generally sound unpleasant other than the basic "rain" sound which can easily be found in various YouTube videos.

[Rod Hagen]

38 minutes ago, sync said:

There is also the possibility the sounds of the infant/toddler could be less of an imposition than presumed.

Yes, I hope that's true.

I also wish they would abandon family-apartment life and buy a house like proper rich parents; It's not as if we are in Manhattan, there are houses all over LA.

But, I struggle with optimism. 

I believe that the best way to handle the future is forecasting, and the best way to put the past into a useful perspective is backcasting.  Those are my tactics in an overall preparedness strategy.

That said, I know that optimism is helpful. 

Yes, hope in one hand shit in the other see which one fills up first is true, so hope feels naive to me because simply hoping isn't doing anything. 

But hope is not nothing, it's not naive, it doesn't have to ignore reality.  When circumstances seem beyond a man's control, the one thing he can change is his outlook. 

 

Edited Wednesday at 02:53 PM by Rod Hagen

[+ SirBillybob]

My air purifier is extremely quiet at max video recording volume. I can hear the street garbage collection and sirens (I live a few blocks from a main street artery). Such sounds drive me crazy without masking. 

First clip is all other ambient noise free, depicting what to anticipate from this model of air purifier (from Best Buy). 

Second clip is all other ambient noise free except the sound of ‘Big Water for Sleep’ iTunes track through a speaker a few feet away, though it’s more pleasant than recorded here. I cannot hear sirens or huge metal garbage bin slamming sounds from the forklift operations. And of course one can adjust the volume. 

Edited Wednesday at 09:01 PM by SirBillybob

[d.anders]

2 hours ago, Rod Hagen said:

I struggle with optimism. 

I hear that. There certainly are downsides to living in an apartment building. You say yours is "well built," let's hope that is true. Unless you are at the very top, noise from a neighbor above is fraught with risk. I have learned the hard way.

[+ PhileasFogg]

4 hours ago, Rod Hagen said:

"Steps" such as?

Carpeting or rugs was already mentioned.  Enforcement of lease terms perhaps.  If there are gaps at pipes/conduits that go from floor to floor, they can be caulked.

In my experience, upstairs is less of an issue than downstairs.  Particularly if you don’t have a problem at the moment.

I live in the middle of the French Quarter.  Babies are the least of my noise worries 

[+ Pensant]

I hate noise. Both of my places are blessedly quiet, even my townhouse in the city. Have always slept with a fan whirring. The place on the island at night is like a scene from a movie where all humans have disappeared, a bit too quiet perhaps?

[jeezifonly]

It may be that the infant won't be a non-stop screamer - one or two fussy nights a week. Seems like you're acting defensively - protecting your ears - which is all you can do without specific restrictive language about tenant-tenant courtesy (decibels/time of day) in the lease you signed. 

"And my friendship with the Hagens means more to me than all the money on earth"

I rely on comfortable earbuds playing one of the hundreds of 10hr YT videos titled "Fall Asleep in Five Minutes" 

 

 

[samhexum]

My goddaughter had a baby on Tuesday.

 

Edited Saturday at 09:54 PM by samhexum
just for the hell of it

[mtaabq]

Hello. Truthfully, I think you’re trying to solve a problem that does not yet exist. Whilst babies make noise I have to agree with others that dogs can be worse. Fans and white noise machines (even inexpensive ones) can help a lot to mask the noise. Further, as another mentioned, I would be more worried once that baby discovers mobility in the form of one of those wretched wheeled contraptions moving back and forth across the floor.

Having said that, I can say with a great deal of confidence (and experience) that 90% of what we worry about doesn’t happen.

I would also like to mention this. If I read your post correctly you are on the 2^nd floor and the impending mother is on the 3^rd. You do not mention an elevator. I feel like any problem will mitigate itself once the new mommy and daddy have to start schlepping 1) a baby; 2) a car seat; 3) a stroller; 4) a diaper bag; 5) mommy’s newly expanded purse; and 6) whatever else daddy is forced to carry up and down three flights of stairs. Trust me when I tell you that it will not take long for the new parents to start seeking accommodations on the ground floor after about 90 days of this up-and-down BS. The manager is also going to be on the warpath once she or he sees how said car seat, stroller, and other baby paraphernalia are scuffing, scratching and damaging the walls and doors of the apartment building.

You might also consider sending a small gift to expectant mom (a $25 Target gift card goes a long way with new mommies). This will do wonders for your karma plus you’d be surprised how much they might try to keep the noise down knowing you were so gracious and generous.

If all else fails, and I don’t mean to be a smartass here, but remember the Serenity Prayer and accept the things you cannot change.

I wish you the best.

Edited 8 hours ago by mtaabq
Sentence structure. Yes, I AM that OCD, lol!

[Danny-Darko]

On 6/1/2026 at 11:19 AM, Rod Hagen said:

After years of day and middle of the late-night barking from untrained dogs owned by entitled residents in my last place, I moved to my current apartment because it's concrete and steel, and it's one of two apartments in West Hollywood thus far successful in keeping out pets. (The other is rundown and noisy for other reasons).

It's been blissfully quiet In the nearly year I've been here.  In that year, one Zillenial asshole resident decided he is so special that he will break the 50-year policy of no dogs.  Good news is his apartment isn't near mine so I've never heard the new dog, bad news is it creates a precedent and others will follow. God knows how those dogs and owners will be.   Nowadays landlords rarely evict tenants for getting a dog in violation of their lease because it's so easy to get the "service dog" certification.

Last week, I found out that the woman above me is going to give birth in a month.  Fuck.  Have you lived next to or above or in my case below an infant? It's a well-built building, is there any chance that its screams won't wake me up at night and irritate me during the day?  Any at all?  While I can hear them walking, I've never heard their TV or their talking.  Talking of course is not the same as a baby screaming.

I know that apart from pressing the the landlord to instal carpet if it is a problem, do you have any other practical suggestions.  Obviously, you can't zone against parenthood.

https://alblawfirm.com/press-mentions/crying-baby-noise/

I purchased this and this:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D3V6Y38G/ref=twister_B0D6C4LZPN?_encoding=UTF8&th=1

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074FL2HL2?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

Any suggestions besides establishing a relationship with them, my landlord, and the Manager, all of which I've already done?  

I love this building so much.   I do not want to leave.  Thank you.  I'm terrified.  Am I screwed?

 

 

 

I feel for you! I've been in similar situations before.