BATON ROUGE - On Christmas Eve, some parents found it difficult to keep their children asleep for Santa's arrival due to their children constantly waking up to the sounds of fireworks.

While Santa was trying to make his stops at children's homes, parents say he couldn't because Christmas Eve fireworks were keeping their children awake.

Cherie Burks said instead of helping Santa that night, she spent most of it putting her 5-year-old daughter back to bed. 

“2, 3 o'clock in the morning, I would get her to sleep, and they'd start going off again and it'd wake her right back up," Burks said. "I almost got busted several times, but thankfully I jumped up, got back in bed, laid with her, tried to console her, let her watch her tablet for 5 minutes and said 'Let's try to go back to sleep. Santa's on his way.'"

These are just some of the complaints we found online of people saying they wish the fireworks would stop. 

In Baton Rouge, it is illegal to set off fireworks within the city limits. Baton Rouge police say they received 11 complaints on Christmas Eve but could not confirm if any citations were given. 

Brandon O'Neill, who lives in Baton Rouge, said his children are seven years old and nine years old, a prime age for Santa's magic.

"It's 10 o'clock Christmas Eve, and we're trying to throw everything together for Christmas to become Christmas, and I'm worried about my kids coming out because they're getting woken up by fireworks," O'Neill said.

He says he wishes people would save the fireworks for New Year instead of keeping kids awake on Christmas Eve.

"Just wait one week, New Year's Eve is in one week, pop off as many as you want," O'Neill said.

Although lighting fireworks is traditional for New Year’s Eve, it is illegal in East Baton Rouge Parish. Surrounding parishes should check with their local law enforcement.