Sleep And Babies
Getting a Good Night’s Sleep Despite Having a Baby Night Owl
It is morning in the house of the New Baby. Dad jumps up, tired, sure, but pretty much in shape to go to work. And then there’s New Mom… Checking her watch and counting…
"Well, the fifth time I breastfed I was almost asleep, so counting that as real sleep, I did manage to get 4 hours of sleep this night. Not too bad.
Then why am I so tired? I’ve learned that some hormones in new moms make them require less sleep?!"
Even new moms need to sleep
Hey mom, that won’t do! Women, just like any adult human beings need at least 6 hours of sleep every night for their bodies and minds to function. (And you thought it was the breastfeeding that made you kind of slow…)
Being a new mom, it is so easy to take the lack of sleep for granted. But you don’t have to!
Even if your baby wakes up - and most do - there are several steps you can take to improve your own sleep.
Just waiting for your little one to start sleeping through the night will make you tired, slow, possibly depressed, lower your libido, make it harder to loose that baby fat, give you wrinkles… Do I need to go on?
Also, as many as 50% of all babies still wake up at night when they are 1 year old.
Now are you convinced to take charge of your own sleep?
Great!
Dad’s Night Up
So let me introduce you to the best way of getting at least one or two good nights’ sleep every week. (That should be an improvement of 15-30% by just implementing one single tip)
I call it "Dad’s night up"
Because that’s exactly what it is.
It is simply not fair if you are two adults in the house that one is totally exhausted and the other one isn’t.
So here’s the deal.
Before starting, invest in a couple of good earplugs. Very important! Also make sure you arrange with a mattress, bed, sofa or anything that will create some space between you and your baby. Done? Ok.
Prescription: Do this at least once every week
Now, at least once every week (twice is better), go to bed early with your new earplugs and if possible in your own room (or at least not in the same bed as your baby and certainly further away from your little one than usual).
Now dad has a really important assignment. He is to be the one responsible for your baby at night.
This means waking up when the baby starts to cry or fuss. It means being responsible for that the baby is safe. It also means carrying the baby to you for nursing if needed or actually do the bottle feeding at night. He also gets to take care of the burping after feeding and for putting the baby back to sleep.
But my hubby…
Now I can hear your objections:
"But my hubby doesn’t wake up when our baby starts to fuss, I do."
Well, that’s what the earplugs are for! And the sofa or guest room. And you’ll be amazed by how much a bit of responsibility can improve someone’s hearing at night…
Your partner will wake up, trust me!
What you’ll gain
Did you know that some studies indicate that new moms tend to wake up every three minutes to check on their babies? The moms don’t remember most of these brief waken moments, but no wonder you’re tired!
"Dad’s night up" should improve your chances of waking up only a few times instead of 160…
And dad? Well, he will be a little bit more tired, but with a much happier Mom around the house. And he’ll bond better with the Baby too.
That’s what I call a win-win-win situation!
Author: Paula Dennholt
Paula Dennholt is an enthusiastic mom helper and parent advisor. Her website Easy Baby Life is jam packed with tips and advice for moms and moms-to-be. If you want to sleep even better, you’ll find 7 more great sleep tips for mom here. You can also subscribe to her monthly baby tips newsletter Have An Easy Baby Life!"
Does your baby cry…a lot? You can’t put it down? Are you wondering why does my baby not sleep or act like other babies?
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