Human Pacifier

Okay, I know newborns really do crave contact, and I love holding my
daughter, but I also want her to get better sleep and let me go take a
shower or sleep without worrying about moving and waking her (we've been
co-sleeping *on a couch* most nights and we cosleep a nap in the bed
during the day.) She often falls asleep at the end of feeding, but then
she wakes up about 5 minutes later. To add to the mix, I'm pretty sure
she's got thrush again -- which means we're going to be doing the topical
ointment on me/drops in her mouth thing after feedings again.

I'm just wondering if there's something more I should be doing or if this
is just a phase and I'm just being paranoid....

"T Flynn" wrote in message
...
I'm just wondering if there's something more I should be doing or if this
is just a phase and I'm just being paranoid....

Try swaddling snugly. Works for most babies I know. Problem is, most
parents don't swaddle tightly enough. Doesn't work if it's too loose. You
could get one of those swaddle blankets with velcro. We have one of those
and it makes swaddling much easier.

"T Flynn" wrote in message
Okay, I know newborns really do crave contact, and I love holding my
daughter, but I also want her to get better sleep and let me go take a
shower or sleep without worrying about moving and waking her (we've been
co-sleeping *on a couch* most nights and we cosleep a nap in the bed
during the day.) She often falls asleep at the end of feeding, but then
she wakes up about 5 minutes later. To add to the mix, I'm pretty sure
she's got thrush again -- which means we're going to be doing the topical
ointment on me/drops in her mouth thing after feedings again.

I'm not sure how old your DD is, but for the first two months of DS's life,
he slept best during the day if I wore him in the sling. He would sleep for
2+ hours at a time and I would spend most of that time using the computer to
email, work on my books, check newsgroups, renew library books, online
banking, etc. I know that doesn't help with your need to sleep or take a
shower, but it does allow you not to be trapped in one place! At night,
after he was sound asleep after nursing, I could sometimes get back up and
do some things, but after a while I found it was better for my sleep to just
go to bed when he did and read for while before dropping off on my own. I
found that I slept a lot more soundly when I went to bed with him, instead
of getting in later--almost like we were in a better "rhythm" if we went to
bed together. After he was about two months old and I noticed that he was
taking more regular naps as opposed to just sleeping a lot during the day, I
started lying down with him in our bed and nursing him to sleep at those nap
times (1.5 hours after he wakes up in the morning and then again 2 hours
after he wakes up from that nap). After he is asleep for about 15 to 30
minutes and has unlatched himself, I get up and go about my merry way. This
is what we still do--for a morning nap and afternoon nap (about 1.5 hours
each, though sometimes as short as 45 minutes or as long as 3 hours). He is
almost 6 months old now. If I try to get up before the 15 minutes is up, he
wakes up. If I wait until it has passed (reading a book or something while I
wait), he sleeps peacefully away! Sometimes I sleep a little while he is
napping too, but I have discovered that for me, I benefit more from going to
bed earlier (like at 9:00 when he does) than I do from trying to "catch up"
on sleep during the day by napping.

I am lucky I guess in that I have a baby that will unlatch himself when he
is through nursing and does not want to just comfort suck for eons. My best
suggestion for you right now if your baby is still quite young, is to try a
sling for day time sleeping. Oh, a little trick that often works for me if
DS starts wiggling and seems restless and like he is going to wake up after
nursing is to put my palm rather firmly on his stomach, sometimes with one
of his hands pinned under it as well--that seems to quiet and soothe him if
his hands are starting to flop around and disturb himself.

Best wishes!

--
Em
mama to L-baby, almost 6 months old!

T Flynn wrote:
(we've
been co-sleeping *on a couch* most nights and we cosleep a nap in the
bed during the day.)

Please do not do this. Couches are NOT considered at all safe for
cosleeping.

She often falls asleep at the end of feeding,
but then she wakes up about 5 minutes later.

Don't get up until she's truly asleep with floppy limbs; it should help cut
down on her waking when you get up.

--
tristyn
www.tristyn.net

On Wed, 10 Mar 2004, iphigenia wrote:

T Flynn wrote:
(we've
been co-sleeping *on a couch* most nights and we cosleep a nap in the
bed during the day.)

Please do not do this. Couches are NOT considered at all safe for
cosleeping.

Let's call it "pass out exhausted on the couch at 4:30 a.m. waiting for
her to be deeply asleep". She rarely sleeps in her crib... she's a month
old and really likes contact.

On Wed, 10 Mar 2004, iphigenia wrote:

T Flynn wrote:
(we've
been co-sleeping *on a couch* most nights and we cosleep a nap in the
bed during the day.)

Please do not do this. Couches are NOT considered at all safe for
cosleeping.

Let's call it "pass out exhausted on the couch at 4:30 a.m. waiting for
her to be deeply asleep". She rarely sleeps in her crib... she's a month
old and really likes contact.


If you know you're likely to pass out exhausted at 4:30 a.m. (and what mother
of a newborn isn't?), go to BED. Don't use the couch. That was Tristyn's
point. It's not safe to sleep with your baby on the couch, but (assuming you
take a few basic precautions with the pillows and covers) it is safe in your
bed. If for some reason you can't sit or lie down in bed, use the floor rather
than a couch.

Holly
Mom to Camden, 3yo
EDD #2 6/8/04