Sleeping and Your New Baby.

Babies and moms & dads are bound to encounter considerable problems, especially in the early 'settling in period', for the new baby. Any parent, who will testify the upheaval a new baby can cause, will tell you, in no uncertain terms, that 'babies' and 'sleeping', do not necessarily go, hand-in-hand. This may come as a surprise to the unwary expectant parents, but it is most certainly true. Many people think that all little babies do is sleep, eat and soil diapers. This is far from the truth.

The infant's rest, has to be considered at the same time as the need for the sleep of he parents. Parents vitally require their rest as well. It is important to approach these 'two separate entities', rather than sleep, just as a whole.

When you approach babies and sleeping as a 'paired activity', you see the situation quite differently. If in fact you can, try to have your sleep at the same time as the baby takes his or her rest. This however,is much more difficult than it seems, considering the baby's unique sleep patterns. However, it is well worth the effort.

When I first gave birth to my daughter I considered that I knew everything that there was to know, about babies and baby's sleeping.

After reading everything I could on the subject there was no preparing me for the obstacle of trying to get sufficient rest for myself, with my newborn. My daughter was born in the afternoon so I thought that I would get a good sleep in the hospital during my overnight stay. This just did not happen the way that I expected or planned. The nurse brought my little baby girl to me for feedings every two hours. This was as I expected, because I had read just about every article about babies and their sleeping, that I could lay my hands on, before the big day. What I hadn't expected was that I would not be able to get to sleep myself. I wanted my daughter to be in the room with me all the time and when she was taken away from me, back to the nursery, I was left tossing and turning, upset and crying.

This problem makes babies and sleeping two even more difficult challenges. It also made me feel so overwhelmed, that I just couldn't stop crying. It also meant that I just could not get to sleep. I certainly didn't feel at all like the 'happy' and 'fulfilled', new mother that I expected to be.

There is a delicate and crucial balance between babies and sleeping that at first I found difficult to grasp. At last, I realized, 'sleep when baby sleeps' was the answer. When the realization and the suggestion that 'I myself', should sleep when the baby sleeps eventually entered my mind. I saw this wonderful and successful concept that actually works, giving rest to both the baby and the parents.

Your sleep patterns should 'shadow', those of your baby and in so doing you will benefit from the extra rest that both you and your baby will derive.