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Many first-time moms don’t quite understand when more experienced moms tell them when they are pregnant, to enjoy sleep. However, after the baby is born it is more than a practical test of how tired the mother is after the baby is born, whether due to night feedings, colic etc. Specialist Michele Melão and Marcia Benalia tell the secret of how to get through this phase without much suffering.We left the maternity hospital with a series of instructions on how to bathe the baby, change, clean the stump and breastfeed. Although these instructions are given quickly and the mother has virtually no time to recover physically and emotionally and learn everything, we still manage to get out of there with a vague idea of what will happen.
But what about sleeping? The only thing we hear often is “take the time to sleep before the baby is born because things will get tough afterwards “. It’s not that? But nobody can accumulate sleep to “use” that rest afterwards, right? Think that with a baby up to 3 months, you will have time to sleep, but you can’t always get quality sleep for hours on end. In today’s post, Michele Melão and Marcia Benalia will give 5 precious tips for mothers to prepare for new sleep patterns that will be part of their lives for a short period (time needed for the baby to start adjusting his circadian cycle and spend longer sleeping at night than during the day).
The first (and most important) tip is: nap during the day while your baby is napping too. It seems impossible, but it is something that mothers should get used to doing. If you’re lucky, your baby can sleep 90 to 120 minutes during the day and sleeping at least once a day with your baby can help a lot in fighting your tiredness.
Ask for help: If you can count on your mother, mother-in-law or any other trusted person, be sure to ask for help to get at least 2 hours of sleep during the day. Another excellent alternative is to hire a postpartum doula, who is a professional prepared to provide the necessary support, without interfering with your preferences , as different from the mother or mother-in-law, she is not emotionally involved with you and therefore will be able to help you impartially. The important thing is to have someone with whom you have 100% confidence to certainly be able to “hang up” for a few minutes.
If possible, milk your milk and ask your husband / partner to have an early night feeding. This will ensure that you sleep for at least 5 hours straight. For most mothers, this is “one night” and enough to wake up with the necessary disposition for the rest of the day. To avoid any problem with exclusive breastfeeding, the tip here is to try a cup, thus avoiding the use of the bottle .
Try early to create healthy sleeping habits for your baby. A great tip in this case is to teach the differences between day and night by lighting the environments, sounds, colors and stimuli. At the end of the day, slow down the house for your baby to realize it’s time to rest. This will help your child to stretch his night’s sleep more and more, reaching 4 months sleeping for up to 8 hours straight.Create a routine for your baby. During the day or at night, having a routine gives the baby security, reduces crying and irritation and consequently helps in sleep.
It is important to know that taking care of the mother’s sleep is closely linked to the quality of the relationship between mother and child. More rested, the mother is able to perform better daily activities with the baby in addition to another very important factor: the production of breast milk. The stressed mother has difficulty breastfeeding and consequently the baby who does not eat properly gives much more work. Thus a cycle is formed that seems to have no end. Right now, more important than taking care of the house and keeping things in order, is taking care of the mother’s health and well-being so that she can dedicate herself to the child with love and enjoy every moment with her baby!
Michele Melão is an infant sleep consultant and baby planner certified by the International Academy of Baby Planner Professionals (IABPP) and International Maternity Institute (IMI), California. Marcia Benalia is a doula, breastfeeding consultant and shantala instructor certified by GAMA (Active Maternity Support Group), an aromatherapy consultant for pregnant women and babies, studying graduate studies in psychology and motherhood. They are partners of Maternity Coach ( www.maternitycoach.com.br ) – a consultancy specialized in various services for pregnant women and babies.
See also: Sleep Disorders in Children 5 to 12 Years Old
My name is Dr. Alexis Hart I am 38 years old, I am the mother of 3 beautiful children! Different ages, different phases 16 years, 12 years and 7 years. In love with motherhood since always, I found it difficult to make my dreams come true, and also some more after I was already a mother.
Since I imagined myself as a mother, in my thoughts everything seemed to be much easier and simpler than it really was, I expected to get pregnant as soon as I wished, but it wasn’t that simple. The first pregnancy was smooth, but my daughter’s birth was very troubled. Joana was born in 2002 with a weight of 2930kg and 45cm, from a very peaceful cesarean delivery but she had already been born with congenital pneumonia due to a broken bag not treated with antibiotics even before delivery.
