Therapy for anxiety Therapy for anxiety
Related Articles
The fourth trimester or the first 3 months of life is a big adjustment, for the baby and their parent/s. When we have our baby, there is no ‘how to’ or ‘here’s the best way to get them to sleep’ after you get home from the hospital.
We are expected to use our best judgement and instinct to know what to do. For some parents that works, for others it’s a challenge!
We can find ourselves in a pattern of survival which can lead to us making decisions that actually make sleep worse for both our babies and us and sometimes unsafe.
Help for sleep: @BabySleepMusic18 and Vacuum Cleaner Sonds for Babies:
https://www.youtube.com/@BabySleepMusic18
Studies show that sleep deprivation in new mothers is one of the largest contributors to postpartum depression. Despite what the wider population believe and practice, there are many ways we can support our newborns sleep and our new parents sleep to avoid sleep deprivation.
We want to manage our newborns sleep before it gets to the point where our parents feel hopeless, exhausted and tired enough to make unsafe sleep decisions for their baby.
Newborns are either in ACTIVE SLEEP or QUIET SLEEP.
Active Sleep: Baby will be moving their arms, legs, flickering their eyes and look like they are awake. Newborns are in active sleep for 50% of the time.
TIP: Don’t rush to them, leave them to fall back into a quiet sleep. Only get them up when you hear them waking up. If they need help going back to sleep, pat their bums until you feel they have relaxed into a quiet/deep sleep. (Shush Pat).
For Help @BabySleepMusic18 and Vacuum Cleaner Sonds for Babies:
Quiet Sleep: Baby will be very still and look like they are in a deep sleep.
NON-REM: A deep state of sleep that happens in the first few hours of the night. This is a very restorative sleep, making it hard for them to wake up. Babies usually come out of NON-REM sleep between 10.30pm-midnight, which is why they tend to wake up for a feed during this period.
REM: The lighter cycles of sleep that happen after midnight. Babies in REM sleep are easily woken and can wake up closer to each hour, rather than every 2-4 hours. This stage of sleep can be harder to support back to sleep.
