An Easy Baby

I am often reminded about what an easy baby she is.  This happened recently while I was responding to another parent’s email on a mailing list.

The original email:

My newborn, Henry, (almost 3 weeks old) sleeps great if I am carrying him in the sling.  But as soon as I put him down in the bassinet or within 15 minutes of putting him down, he wakes up and fuses.  This isn’t so much of a problem during the day when I can carry him.  But at night I am having the hardest time sleeping because he won’t sleep without being held or carried.

Last night I tried walking with him in the sling for about 20 minutes after feeding him and then putting him down.  This worked for 2 of our night time feedings, but the other ones it didn’t work for.  Plus by the time I nurse him and walk him it is practically time for his next feeding, leaving me very little sleep.  Help, please

My response:

I had a similar issue with my daughter the first night we came home.  She would fall asleep in my arms, but wake up within 10-20 minutes of being put in the cradle.  I did not get much sleep that night.  For the next few nights, I slept with her on my abdomen.  She slept in two hour increments – but at least I could sleep too.  (I found that I was fine / functional after sleeping in two hour increments so long as I got many such sleep increments in during the night.)  

At her next check-up, my pediatrician strongly discouraged us from allowing the baby to sleep face down on my abdomen . . . so I only did this for less than a week . . . but she subsequently slept fine when I put her down.  (Interestingly, she did not have any day/ night confusion.)  Ultimately, I am rather confused about whether allowing children to sleep face down is truly a problem or not since several postpartum professionals have advised us that the risks associated with sleeping face down are overblown, and they disagree with our pediatrician’s advice. . . please do your own due diligence before you decide to let your baby sleep face down.

There you have it folks -sleeping in two hour increments is in fact easy! Parenthood indeed changes us.