The new baby has arrived, and while you are busy enjoying the new addition to your family, perhaps other people in the neighbourhood are not too keen about listening to the bawling every night. If you live in an apartment building with thin walls, it becomes even a worse scenario, as you cannot exactly keep the baby quiet. While soundproofing may not have been at the top of your list when you remodelled the nursery, thinking it would be best for the baby to get accustomed to noises while he sleeps, it now sounds like something you have to get to as soon as possible—if you want to avoid more complaints from your neighbours. Is there a way to soundproof a nursery without doing a major overhaul, and without spending a fortune? Indeed, the following steps should help you tone the noise down to a tolerable level:

Step 1. Before you attach anything new, consider where the crib is set currently. Is it set against a wall that is shared with a neighbour? If so, move the crib away from the adjoining wall and transfer it towards an interior wall. This will do wonders for the travelling of bawling volumes.

Step 2. How much furniture is in the room? The physics of sound is that the less items there are in a room, the chances become higher for sound to travel and make echoes. This means that a relatively bare room will cause sound to travel more, thus creating more noise. While you would likely want your nursery to look spacious with only a few pieces of furniture, with the problem of noise, it is perhaps time to get more things into the room. If you do not already have an armchair, get a fluffy, cozy one and push it into one corner of the room; shelves or tiny tables and chairs, particularly those made of wood, will also help.

Step 3. How much fabric is in the room? Furniture pieces are not your only choice for muffling noise in the nursery; curtains and other fabric items also help. Perhaps you may opt to switch from vinyl blinds to thick draperies. Cushions and throw pillows also help absorb noise. Why not set up a corner to act as a reading or quiet corner for when your baby grows up and starts crawling? You may also opt to hang canvas mounted on frames on a shared wall, as this can help muffle the noise. An area rug also offers a big help, as do rubber mats. For an area rug, opt for those made of wool instead of cotton, and tufts are preferred over flatter ones. If you can afford wall-to-wall carpeting, that would be even better.

Step 4. If these still won’t work, you might want to consider installing egg trays on the shared walls, though these would require more concealment so as not to destroy the décor of your baby’s room. You might choose to cover up your work with draperies or other decorations, but hopefully you will not even have to resort to these more serious soundproofing items!