How Babies React to Sound
When babies are first born, they can sleep through noise, bright light, and all manner of other circumstances that would surely awaken you if you were the one trying to sleep. Though your baby is peripherally aware of the things going on around her, she tends not to react to them at first.
As your baby grows older and more aware of the world around her, she'll become more attuned to the things going on in the room she's in, as well as sounds coming from beyond her room. She'll learn to recognize your voice, she'll grow interested in what people around her are doing (even though she doesn't yet comprehend the meaning or purpose of most of what she sees), and she'll become more alert and more aware overall.
Fact
You can take comfort if your baby is a few months old and had learned to resettle herself back to sleep but now is waking again and calling for you. Know that she may just be going through a phase of becoming more aware of and interested in the world and that after a couple of weeks or so, she'll probably learn to resettle herself again when she wakes, unless she hears or sees something she finds alarming or scary.
As all these changes take place within her, she'll also become more easily awakened as well as more easily distracted from going to sleep. What was that noise? Is something interesting going on in the other room that she's missing? Was that Mommy's voice? Why isn't Mommy in here with her? Of course, she can't literally think these thoughts in so many words, but in a rudimentary way, such thoughts do occur to her.
As well, when she wakes up in the middle of the night, even if she has previously learned to resettle herself and get back to sleep on her own, she may now find that there are too many interesting sights and sounds clamoring for her attention. Any of these might catch her eye or ear and prevent her from going back to sleep:
The sound of someone snoring in the same room or snoring loudly in a nearby room
The sound of a bed creaking as someone rolls over in his or her sleep
The sound of a plane going by overhead or a bus or car going by outside
The clank or hiss of a radiator or the sound of an air conditioner cycling on
The sound of a TV or radio playing in another room loudly enough for her to hear
The audible murmur of voices as you and your spouse hold a conversation
The slam of the neighbors' door
The sound of people talking in the street
The footsteps of the neighbors in the upstairs apartment or the stereo or TV of the neighbors downstairs
The buzz of a fly or mosquito
As she becomes more aware of the world around her, everything catches her interest — even at midnight or three in the morning.
It's impossible to screen out all the noises and sounds of the world, unless you were to put your baby to bed in a windowless, soundproof room. But that's absurd, and it's not desirable, either. What will she do when she gets older, and what will you do if you travel with her?
