Guest blog from Emma, Mum of 3
We are excited to have our first guest mummy blogger , Emma a mum to 3, please see her blog below which talks about her experiences of the magic word.. sleep !
Sleep is probably the hot topic by many new and not so new parents. Mostly how much sleep you are getting compared with OH and how much sleep the baby is getting. I personally have experienced both extremes. My first was a non sleeper. I remember bringing home this gorgeous little bundle. I expected to put her in a moses basket and watch her sleep. How wrong I was! She just stared right back at me. Unfortunately that was the way of things to go for the next two years. We had little sleep and lots of bed swapping around in our house. I was determined not to let this happen again and no2 was a little better. But I still spent many a night until he was 8 months laid on the floor in his bedroom. I would keep a spare blanket under the cot in his room and lay on that whilst I fed him. That way he was safe on the floor with me if I did drop off. I freely admit my husband found me and no2 asleep on the floor in that position on many a morning!
No 3 though has been an amazing. She slept through from five weeks, has never spent any time sleeping in our room. I have never once slept in her room and it’s not a fluke as she is now nearly nine months and honestly hasn’t woken in the night since two months. So what is the magic ingredient? I wish I knew and could make millions by writing the book!! All I do know is that she was different from the minute she was born. In hospital she slept, when I bought her home she did get put in a moses basket and just sleep. For many a week she fed and slept, fed and slept. I finally understood that phrase sleeping like a baby. But I did do some things differently. I swaddled, I used these from birth, it stopped her startling herself and I recommend swaddling to everyone I can. No3 was also the only one of my children I bottlefed. Now I am certainly not suggesting bottle feeding in order to get a full nights sleep. Breastfeeding is beautiful and full of extra benefits for baby and mum. For me it wasn’t a choice I made but No3 could not and would not take a breast (I feel another blog post coming to explain!) which was a huge shock after successfully feeding the other two for nine months each.
The third thing I did which was different was that no3 was put to sleep awake, if she woke we left her to see if she would settle herself ( I never let her cry – she wasn’t and isn’t a crying baby. and most of the time she did. When she did wake I never rushed in, if she was awake but content I left her relaxing.
Lastly I use a baby monitor with a music feature. I always use the same song (in our case twinkle twinkle) this I believe gives her a cue to sleep.
The result is a very calm little girl. She now sleeps from 6.30 pm till 6.30 am. This time suits us as I have two others at school and on three days of the week we leave the house at 7.40 to get to the childminders. Just as importantly she has a bright eyed bushy tailed mummy during the day who can do her paid work, run a house and actually hold a conversation past 7pm herself!!
Tags: Baby, blanket, breastfeeding, dad, fed, Just Another Baby, Mum, sleep, sleeping, slept, swaddle, swaddling
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