Better late than never ... right?
As most of my Facebook friends know, I have had a crazy year thus far. Although I had every intention of keeping my blog going on a regular basis, things became a little chaotic in my life. For starters, I just had a baby 7 weeks ago. He was our sweet little surprise, but we're thrilled he's here! He is keeping me busy and making sure that I stay up to speed on my Babywise skills. Just like all others, he likes to challenge me : ) Also, my husband and I decided to sell our home because, with new baby in tow, we needed more space. Our house sold a few months ago, and we just moved into our new home a few weeks ago. Basically, my life lately=crazy! Although I can't promise blog entries as often as I'd like, I will try my best to roll out a few each month (fingers crossed).
In my last blog I mentioned that I want to write about beginning Babywise in older babies/toddlers, and I will get to that topic.... just not today. My focus today is solely on newborns since this is fresh on my mind - as you can imagine.
When my son was born at the end of July (3 weeks early), I immediately tried to set up a routine that would help accustom him to healthy sleep patterns. Newborns are especially sleepy, so sometimes this is difficult. One of the things that I have learned to do and certainly helps is letting your newborn lay in a bassinet, crib, pack n play, etc. to sleep. I know some new moms want to hold their babies while they sleep because they're so cuddly, and although this is tempting to do often, I find the strength to refrain. From day 1 in the hospital, I lay my baby down to sleep. For those of you who breastfeed, you know that babies LOVE to fall asleep while eating. The bond that they are creating with you is a comfort to your baby, and he/she becomes lulled to sleep by the contact and action of sucking. Not to be a buzz kill, but you shouldn't let this be a habit since this is often the first step to baby needing mommy to go to sleep. Sleep crutches are the worst, especially when that crutch happens to be Mom ... it's not cute when baby is 6 months old. True story. This also leads to unnecessary snacking which DESTROYS routine; trust this mom on that fact! If baby does fall asleep while eating, then lay him/her down. This will most likely accomplish 1 of 2 things, both infinitely better than what I just mentioned. 1. He/she will sleep on a surface that is not you. 2. He/she will wake back up to complete a FULL FEEDING (refer to an earlier blog, in which I discussed this vs. snacking in more depth).
The same is true for bottle-fed babies. Because feedings, in general, require baby to be held, he/she tends to fall asleep while eating. I will say for a bottle-fed baby, because I am familiar with both, pay attention to how many ounces of formula he/she takes. If your newborn is only taking 2 oz. at every feeding, but is hungry after only 1 hour, then try 3 oz. to see if this helps extend feeding time. There is nothing more daunting than when your baby takes a whopping 1 oz. in the middle of the night only to wake up prematurely due to hunger. Watch for true hunger signs also. Just because your baby is crying and it is "time" to eat, does not mean you should stick a bottle in his/her mouth. Newborns especially will start sucking on their hands or make noises that let you know he/she is hungry. You will learn your baby's tendencies if you pay attention and know what to look for. I usually have my babies down to a T by the time he/she is a few months old because I know each baby's signs for hunger, sleepiness, sickness, etc. Besides the sleep, this is the greatest advantage of Babywise: learning your baby's needs, all due to the predictability of routine.
Before I shut this down I have to give a shout out to my little man for sleeping a whopping 7 hours last night for the first time! He went to bed at 9:30 p.m. and woke up to eat at 4:30 a.m. The best part, besides the fact that my husband got up with him (whoop! whoop!), is that he only took 2 oz. at 4:30 a.m. and went back to sleep until almost 8 a.m. For the record, this does not contradict what I said earlier about not taking full bottles because it was evident he was completely satisfied and content when he went back to sleep. What this tells me, at this point, is that he is requiring less milk at night because he eats enough during the day to tide him over. With the exception of some nights, this should become the norm and his natural pattern for night time. My 7 week old can now distinguish day from night and this is quite an accomplishment!
((I want to make a quick note that, in my experiences, babies born early take longer to become Babywise. My middle child was only 2 weeks early, and he caught on almost immediately. My other 2 were 3 weeks early, and they slept more, which messed with the routine in the beginning, and needed to eat more often. Just food for thought and worth mentioning to moms that might be in the same boat.))
Thanks for reading ... I will be back sooner this time; I promise!
As always - Happy Sleeping!
Lindsey
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