“It is common for newborns to wake their parents up at all hours of the night”.
Wow! What an opening line. Really? Do you think a newborn has the capacity to deliberately wake his parents every 2-3hrs day and night?
This interview and the ideas in this book are deeply disturbing and irresponsible.
Do you think the baby is badly behaved?
Do you think the baby is punishing his parents by making them sleep deprived?
Do you think this is NOT normal?
Let’s look at some facts:
• At birth a baby experiences a profound disruption in his environment – from a warm, totally secure and safe, nutritionally sound, loving womb to the outside world. So where does a baby most want to be when he is born? In the arms of his loving parents. That meeting on the outside is hugely important and how he comes into contact sets patterns for the rest of his life.
• The size of a newborn’s tummy = the size of a marble (approximately). By about 8 weeks old, it is the size of a golf ball (approximately). It is a ‘no-brainer’ that with a tummy the size of a marble, it needs to be filled on a regular basis, 1-3hrs. (approximately).
• No doubt that breastmilk is best for baby
• A newborn baby sleeps and feeds on a regular/irregular basis for the first few months of his life as he adjusts to his strange new world.
If you do a web search for ‘how to get my baby to sleep through the night’, hundreds of well-meaning articles, books, news items, stories will present themselves. It is so confusing for new parents. Who do you trust? Is this normal? What should I try and for how long?
I find it very disturbing that there is so much written about this topic. And yet there is nothing more distressing than sleep deprivation. So what should new parents do?
MY TOP TIPS
• Understand about normal newborn behaviour
• Understand about normal newborn breastfeeding patterns
• Accept, preferably before you conceive, that having a baby WILL change your life, especially your sleeping habits
• Welcome to parenthood! It is most definitely the best decision you will ever make. Yes, having a baby will change your life – FOR THE BETTER! It changes you as a person. You discover a very deep and different love, that you were previously unaware existed. You will become a more giving person.
• BE PREPARED! For sleepless nights, for overwhelming floods of emotion, for being overjoyed, for feelings of pure pride to overtake you, and for feeling engulfed by the commitment of being a new parent
• TRUST that all this is normal, and most importantly TRUST that you know what is best for you and your baby. Tips about childhood development can be a helpful guideline, but the rest of it you will know, intuitively.
ENJOY YOUR NEWBORN BABY, and suggest you read James McKenna – a person of authority, who makes a lot of sense.
