My Secret to a Sleeping Baby!

The trick behind getting your baby to have a full night’s sleep has always been a mystery.

Many say that it depends on the baby and whether or not the baby is a “sleeping baby,” which does not sound all that medical.

I couldn’t exactly agree or disagree to whether or not it’s true because I only have had the one baby.

I was told by many that I should sleep whenever the baby sleeps to make sure that I am fresh and ready at any point that Melody is awake, but when was the last time that any of us were able to sleep on cue?

Ok, maybe some of you guys can, but I have a slight problem: I don’t know how to sleep during the day time.

Once I wake up, I am up for the rest of the day; so, having a baby that doesn’t sleep at all at night was something I couldn’t risk.

Now, some may agree with how I went about my experience with Melody and some may not agree but here it is anyway.

So, when Melody was born, as you all already know, I was very much pressured into breastfeeding, which I very reluctantly did.

Anyway, Mel’s pediatrician, who not only was my pediatrician but has also had over 30 years of experience, asked me a simple question when we first met: “Mandy, would you like to have a sleepless lifestyle or a normal lifestyle?”

Of course, I wanted as much normalcy in my life as I possibly could have after having a baby, since we all know that having a baby can be a major change.

So, she said that I needed to make sure to breastfeed Mel all day and at any time that the baby wants, but the secret is that at 11 pm I would give Melody only one bottle of formula to make sure that she is fully fed.

What many women don’t know or refuse to accept, is that when a baby is born they do not know how to latch on properly to the breast making it very hard for the baby to eat or get enough nutrients to keep him or her full.

They also get very tired from the amount of effort it takes for them to get milk so they fall asleep on your breast and again not get enough food, which leads them to waking up in the middle of the night.

Think of it this way, if you got hungry in the middle of the night, wouldn’t you wake up for that cursed midnight snack?

Following the words of the pediatrician, I gave Melody all of the breastmilk nutrients I possibly could from the moment she woke up and then gave her the formula at night which resulted in her sleeping.

Ten days in, she began to sleep from 11pm until around 6 or 7am, and her sleep cycle began to grow as she did.

Once I had to stop breastfeeding for reasons I mentioned in my previous blog post, she began to sleep even more.

She would eat around four times a day and it was amazing.

Currently at 5 months old, I am introducing mashed solid foods, which definitely deserves an article on its own later on, but she is also sleeping from around 9:45 at night until around 8 in the morning.

I am not sure if this sleep cycle is due to the secrets of Melody’s pediatrician but I sure know that I have been sleeping through the night for quite some time now and it’s the best blessing I could have asked for.

In her sleeping, I get to sleep just as much, look fresh and rested, and have all the energy I possibly need during the day to be able to play and entertain her.

If you are having trouble with a restless baby then you are more than welcome to give this a try but be warned that it’s not magic, so give it a week or two.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and we have entire lifetimes with our children.

Mama Shugar OUT!