Teaching your baby to sleep, and love it, is one of the most important things you're going to do IN HIS LIFE. I'm speaking as the wife of a 34 year old bloke who apparently still hasn't learned this lesson, sigh. And yes, I'm including learning to relate to other humans, learning to read, learning to drive a car... First and foremost: SLEEP. My advice is to start working on it (teeny weeny baby steps) early and you'll save you both a lot of pain in the long run!
If you're not yet a parent there's probably A LOT you don't know about sleep, including exactly how poorly you function on very little sleep. And here's the thing, even as a new parent you can always aspire to getting 8 hours sleep in 24 hours, BUT there is a difference between eight individual hours of sleep, four two hour blocks, two four hour blocks, or (the HOLY GRAIL) eight glorious hours in a row!
Eight individual hours - Think Guantanamo Bay.
Four two hour blocks - Why do you hate me Baby?
Two four hour blocks - Not the best, but at least you wake up feeling like you've slept.
Eight hours ALL IN A ROW - Holy crap, who am I? Am I superwoman???
As a pre-parent you probably know how hard it is to cope when you've been up all night studying for an exam, or out late drinking and dancing. What you know less about is what it's like to have to get up at an unknown arbitrary time and do something demanding, regardless of whether you feel like doing it. Most of us in the past have had the option to call in sick, or power through the exam and then go home to bed. We don't know what it's like to feel completely bled dry, and still have to get up to answer your little one's cries. You lie down, spent, unable to move. I could't possibly do another thing. I MUST sleep. For many MANY MANY hours... "Waaaaaaaaaaahhh!" Well, here we go again... You are constantly finding and depleting hidden reserves of energy within you. You always feel like you have no energy, and any energy you can find is going straight into the baby, because it must! You can't simply switch the baby off for a couple of days and come back to it once you feel ready! Ha! More's the pity!
I happen to believe that the lack of sleep, and associated coping mechanisms, are character building for us parents! When your baby hits his next milestone you'll feel like you've achieved something too because you've put all this effort into keeping him alive!! It is definitely a feat of endurance!
What I don't subscribe to is the self-martyrdom of getting up to baby's every snuffle in the night. I don't believe that a baby who sleeps through the night before the age of two has been neglected into submission. I don't think you're a hero because you're still doing night feeds for a baby who's well-established on his solids. I think* that once the first three months, that precious "fourth trimester" period, is over, you can really start to DO something about sleep. Yes, your baby might still take months to get the hang of it, but there's no reason not to try!
Because you and your baby will both function better when you've both had plenty of good-quality sleep.
*and once again, I admit I have no medical qualifications, only my own experience, chats with other mums, a shelf full of books, and extensive reading on Pinterest boards on the subject... :P
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