I am aware I’ve been pretty useless at keeping up with my blog recently and this is mainly because I am completely and utterly sleep deprived and therefore struggle to string a sentence together let alone type any! But as sleep issues are my current obsession, I reckon I can manage a blog post about it before falling asleep!
So as a keen bean pregnant person I read the books, I went to the NCT classes, I watched the tv programmes, I quizzed my mum friends and felt I was pretty clued up as to what to expect in terms of sleep for my new baby – oh how wrong I was!! So here are the myths I wanted to believe or was brainwashed to believe and I now think are just not true! (apologies for any pregnant or new mums reading this but you’ll thank me in the long run for giving you an honest view!)
Myth number 1 – As a new parent, you’ll have a couple of months of sleepless nights then all will settle down!
Ha, if only! 9 months in and we are still battling with ridiculously disturbed nights and I know of many parents with kids much older than Roxy that still don’t sleep well! But new parents/parents to be take heart as there are definitely exceptions to this rule, like, for example my niece and nephew who have slept like angels day and night since they were tiny but I believe this is down to some awesome baby whispering magic powers of my sister in law or possibly some kind of voodoo magic!!!
Myth number 2 – you’ll sleep when they sleep!
Chance would be a fine thing! This is however, vaguely possible if a) your baby will sleep in the cot at home for more than 20 mins and b) you have no housework to do/other kids to look after/meals and bottles to prepare!! Or c) you are prepared to go to bed at 7pm and get a couple of hours of sleep in before the night wakings begin!!
Myth number 3 – Leaving your child to cry for a few minutes in their cot will psychologically scar them for life!
I must admit that I personally am useless at controlled crying because I have no willpower but I have many friends who have successfully mastered this technique and still have completely happy, healthy and well balanced kids!!
Myth number 4 – Newborn babies love to sleep in prams – the motion will send them to sleep easily!
When I spent about 5 months debating the various features and benefits of the prams/pushchairs/travel systems, little did I know that for the first couple of months Roxy was going to scream every single time we put her in it and refuse to go to sleep no matter how much we wandered about pushing it!!
Myth number 5 – Buy yourself a nice Moses basket for the baby to sleep in for the first 6 months.
Firstly, pretty much every baby I know grew to big or too active for their Moses basket long before 6 months and secondly plenty of babies, including Roxy, for some reason seem to hate their Moses basket and resolutely refuse to sleep in it!
Finally, myth number 6 – Swaddle your baby and lay them down on their back to sleep.
Ok so this is ideally how you want them to sleep but this presumes you do not have a fidgety baby! Let me tell you that a fidgety baby will break out of a swaddle no matter how tightly you do it and once capable of rolling will not want to sleep calmly on their backs thy will want to use the nighttime hours to tryout every sleeping position they can think of including sleeping in the corner of the cot face down with the head against the cot bars and their bum stuck up in the air!
So on that note, I’m off to attempt some sleep before the night shift – night all!!
wheredidthatdaygo 