Baby : Co-sleeping

While western culture discourages it, studies have shown that co-sleeping with a breastfeeding infant promotes bonding, regulates the mother and baby's sleep patterns, plays a role in helping the mother to become more responsive to her baby's cues, and gives both the mother and baby needed rest. The co-sleeping environment also assists mothers in the continuation of breastfeeding on demand, an important step in maintaining the mother's milk supply.

There are many ways of co-sleeping. Some mothers keep their babies in bed with them all the time. Other mothers set up the crib or bassinet in the mother's room; their babies are brought to the mother's bed when they wake. Other mothers sleep with their babies on a mattress in the baby's room.

This is a personal decision for every mother. If you decide to co-sleep with your infant, there are some guidelines for doing it effectively and safely.
Parents should not sleep with their babies if they are smokers or have ingested alcohol or drugs. Do not co-sleep if you drink alcohol or medications that make you sleepy, take drugs, or smoke. Co-sleep only on beds, not on couches or recliners. Bedding should be tight fitting to the mattress and the mattress should be tight fitting to the headboard of the bed. There should not be any loose pillows or soft blankets near the baby's face. There should not be any space between the bed and adjoining wall where the baby could roll and become trapped. And of course, the baby should not be placed on its stomach.
There are as many options as there are parents and babies. As babies grow and changes their sleep patterns, families often respond by changing sleeping spaces. The only right choice is what works to give the whole family as much rest as possible.

Baby Stress

Congratulations! You may be pregnant or maybe you just had a baby (and lucky you if actually have time to read this)! There’s no feeling more incredible than when you’ve just had a baby. So why don’t you feel wonderful all the time?

Well, even the best events in life have stress attached to them. Having a baby is exciting for everyone. You’ve been flooded with company practically from the moment of delivery. If you’re a first-time mother, hospitals don’t give you very much help or advice; they send you home with this new little creature with an array of demands that you have to try to interpret. And new babies don’t sleep much. At least not long enough to allow you to get some much needed rest.

Add to that the hormonal changes in your own body, and you have a formula that’s guaranteed to be stressful. Sometimes you think you’ll never get a full night’s sleep again. Until the baby settles into a routine, you probably won’t!

To get through those first few weeks and months, here are a few tips to help you get at least a little more sleep.

First of all, don’t try to be a supermom. When the baby goes down for a nap, take a small nap yourself. The laundry can wait and so can the dishes. You don’t need to have a perfect house. There will be time for all that; give yourself a break whenever you get the opportunity.

If you have a good friend or relative to help out, by all means take advantage of that for an afternoon. Grandma would probably jump at the chance to have the baby all to herself for a few hours!

When you put the baby to bed for the night, take some time to decompress and relax so you have a better chance of falling asleep. Take a bath scented with lavender; put on some soft music and baby yourself a little. Sometimes it’s hard even without a new baby to fall asleep right away. There’s a lot to get used to!