Can I stop ice cream van music playing near our house?

Question

I've got a 6 month old baby. He sleeps three times during the day, short nap in the morning, longer nap in the afternoon at 1pm and short nap in the evening at around 5pm. The problem I have is that the ice cream van comes to our area at the same time when my baby has his afternoon and evening naps. The ice cream man plays his loud music just outside our home waking up my baby every time. I'm becoming annoyed by this and wondering if I can do anything to stop them playing music outside my home or even our street? I could run to the van and ask them to stop their music or not to drive outside our house, but there are so many different ice cream vans! I would need to do that every time they come. They would probably think I am mad! :) Any advice on what I could do? Thanks!

Answer 1

Can you stop them from playing music? Probably not.

But wouldn't it be simpler to try and drowned the music out from your end? Try putting a white noise machine in baby's room. You will be surprised at how well they block out other sounds. Even a fan or humidifier should do the trick.

It's probably too late to teach a baby to sleep through noise. That's something you can do with a newborn but not a 6 month old.

Answer 2

Don't worry - it will be Autumn soon!

Answer 3

I was taught to never tptoe round a sleeping baby but to put them to sleep amidst normal daytime noise or problems like yours arise...you cannot expect to conr=trol any environment to the extent you want to...other people in youir street want to know the van has arrived...

Answer 4

There's nothing you can do except ask the van drivers nicely, and they've got a living to make so I can't imagine them stopping their music just because you don't want your baby wakened.

Your baby's naptimes will change before you know it anyway, so don't sweat it, or change his routine to avoid the times you know the vans will be round.

Answer 5

I know exactly how you feel as the same happens to me. I actually went out and spoke to the ice cream man and he said that he is allowed to play his tunes up until 8pm and then he has to blow on a whistle. Don't think there is anything we can do. It does drive me crazy though! x

Answer 6

well first you shouldn't shield your baby from noise otherwise he will be a bad sleeper for you, and two idon't mean this in a horrible way i just cant think of another way to say it, the world cant stop for you and your baby,that's just life, what you could do is the next time he comes round ask him not to stop right outside your door.  

Answer 7

We had the same thing but to be frank, you shouldnt sheild babies from noise, if you start doing that they will wake up at the slightest sound! I used to hoover and do all the normal stuff when I put my 2 down for their naps and now a bomb wouldnt wake them!! They always get used to having noise around them so dont worry about it. Good luck.

Answer 8

There is nothing you can do, what will you do if the dust cart comes down the road to collect and empty the dustbins or a plane flies over head.  Your baby will get used to try turning your radio up about half an hour before you put him down to sleep

Answer 9

that's too bad.  You aren't saying whether or not the noise is actually waking the baby up, but if it is, is there a room at the back of the house that is quieter?  can you play some soothing sounds in the nursery that may drown out the ice cream truck?  I live in nyc, and we actually have a quality of life law for noise (imagine in a huge city like this) and ice cream trucks or any vehicle emitting sound can only do so while they're in motion.  Once they pull over, they have to shut the sound off...it's been great!  If it's particulary bothersome, maybe you can just verify that there are no local codes the truck is violating....

Answer 10

I am hearing you sister. I HATED all of the noise that occured around my house when my son was younger, because he was a really lousy sleeper and had to have loads of naps.  It got to the point where it was driving me insane - but I realised there is nothing I could do about it.  NOTHING.  I couldnt stop the idiot hoons in their cars doing screechy noise things, I couldnt stop the idiots tooting their horns, I couldnt stop the big jumbo jets from the airport from flying over my house, i couldnt stop the garbage collection trucks from collecting the rubbish so I just had to let it go.  If my son woke up...then I would deal with that issue.  Its easier now, he sleeps a lot better.  But I do really empathise with you.  I did give DarkCloud a thumbs up for his thumping thing...not that I condone violence, but it was funny - I felt like doing that at different times. Especially when you have spent 45 minutes trying to get your child to sleep!!!!

Answer 11

my daughter is used 2 all noise and can sleep thru anything...but not the ice cream vans lol we have 3 that come up aroynd 6 times a day and it is very annoying!!1 sometiems she will sleep thru it and other times she will b drifting and then she gets startled...even thru double glazin its loud lol its just somethign we got to deal with...isn't a big deal really but when your child is so tired and wants 2 just sleep but can't because of mr.whippy then it can be annoying lol!!

Answer 12

Its easy. Next time you hear the music go and thump the driver.

Answer 13

I'm afraid its tough!

The best you could do is to ask them nicely to turn it down a tad, but frankly, why should your childs sleeping habit inhibit their right to make a living?

Thems the breaks i'm afraid. Kids are tougher than you think, if your baby can learn to sleep through lots of noise he can sleep through anything.

Answer 14

I live on a dead end road and they actually banned the ice cream truck from coming down here thank god.  I'm not sure what you can do tho...call the town board?

Answer 15

Unfortunately there is nothing you can do about it.  It's free enterprise and unless it's a private complex that has a strict no soliciting policy, you cannot ban them from public property or any city/municipal street.  Shut the windows and doors when they come around.  Play a natural sounds CD in the nursery or a CD of soft lullabies.