Sleep such an amazing thing when you’re getting it! After 31 years of enjoying my sleep and getting used to a firm 8-hours before baby arrived, I knew that the lack of sleep was going to hit hard!
In recent years I have have had a love/hate relationship with sleep, which has derived from a period of stress and anxiety that I suffered back in 2015. The symptoms of this stress, among a few, were mainly the inability to drop off to sleep and to stay asleep! After seeking help from my GP and investing some time in mindfulness and positive affirmations, I was able to get my sleep back into a routine and I have learnt my own coping mechanisms to deal with the sleep anxiety itself and to prevent me getting anxious over sleep, or the lack of!
So based on this I attempted to mentally prepare myself for a rough ride – especially the first 12 weeks! I think this did work to a certain extent, along with sleeping when the baby napped. Note: this wasn’t proper sleep, this was light napping and waking at every murmur, groan and noise I heard. Thankfully my sleep anxiety has not returned – probably as my brain now has other things to get anxious over!
But enough about me – there is no magic potion to help with your own sleep, just never be too proud to accept help and to remember that you have to look after you in order to look after your baby!
When it comes to baby’s sleep, there have definitely been items that have gotten us through. Products that have enabled us to create a safe and secure sleep haven for our little one and has even helped with encouraging good sleep associations.
At 6 months, George typically has 3 naps in the daytime and at night sleeps from 7pm(ish) to 7-7.30am with one feed at 10.30pm. We have not simply fallen into this routine by chance, we have worked to structure feed times to encourage nap and sleep times. However, I know mums whose babies have similar sleeping patterns that have not derived from any set routine. So each to their own and each mother will ultimately make decisions that feel right for them and their child.
Because ‘sleep’ is such a huge area to cover the blog will be posted in bitesize reads:
Disclaimer: Please be advised that this blog talks about the things that have gotten us through up until this point. During which we have had good days and bad days, signs of great sleep patterns and sometimes no pattern at all!
WelshMummySteph 