Newborn babies wake every few hours to feed in the first few weeks of their life. Not much you can do about that, but there are some things that can help new moms deal with those night owl nights and make the best of them.
By Kelly Hodgson
Our Thursday mom and baby program ran today with guest speaker Crystal from Precious Dreamers as part of our Every Little Step Program with Walmart Canada. Our topic was sleep which always results in a packed house. Once a baby hits 4 months, there is more you can do in terms of setting a routine and trying to establish some good sleep habits. When you have a newborn, you have no choice but to succumb to their all night feeding schedule and frequent wakings.
I still have a document that I used to track the first few nights that I brought my first child home from the hospital. The chart listed how long he slept consecutively each night and I celebrated anything longer than two and a half hours. I knew he was doing what he needed to do (eat and eat and eat some more!) so I did the best I could to make the nights not seem so bad. I offer this advice to you just as it was offered to me by friends and family who had already experienced this parenting first.
Here is a list of things you may find useful:
1. Water
Breastfeeding made me very thirsty! And its important to keep yourself hydrated as you recover from your delivery. Fill up a water bottle right before you head off to bed (the first time) and leave it in the area where you feed the baby.
2. A Snack
Breastfeeding also made me really hungry. Usually halfway through a middle of the night feed, pangs of hunger would be making themselves loud and clear. I prepped some snacks in containers and also left them where I nursed the baby. Great choices are cut up fruits and vegetables or mini muffins. Munching on something also helped to keep me awake during the long feed cycle that a newborn can have.
3. An LED Touch Light Or A Head Lamp
When you need to go in to feed or change the baby, don't turn on the light. You'll get better at maneuvering around your house in the dark, but for now, you may need some help. The goal is to keep the environment as quiet and dark as possible so that transitioning back to sleep is easy for both the baby and for you. I found that even the table lamp in my baby's room exuded too much light and another fellow mama told me that she used a running head lamp and also had some LED touch lights that were easy to tap on and off and offered a soft light.
4. Use Sleepers With Zippers
So much easier to navigate in the middle of the night then all those snaps! Its a tough task to get the snaps to match up in the middle of the night, in the dark, when you've had only 2 hours of sleep! Keep those cute snap closure sleepers for the daytime and stock your night time sleeper supply full of the ones with zippers.
5. Set Up The Change Table Ready For Quick Changes
You want to keep distractions, interaction and awake time to a minimum in the middle of the night. Make sure you have an ample supply of diapers and wipes ready (its no fun refilling the wipes container at 3 AM!) and even a change pad sheet close at hand too.
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momstown and Today's Parent have partnered with Walmart Canada to help rollout Walmart's new Every Little Step program all about baby basics and the essentials that moms and babies need. Offering convenient free shipping, anytime, with no minimum purchase requirements, Walmart is a one stop online and in-store for all of your baby needs. Did you know that Walmart has over 1,800 products for moms and babies? Join the conversation online! #WMBabyBasics
