Love to sleep

I have a list as long as my arm of blog posts I'd like to get through, either documenting or sharing tips and experiences of my adventures as a first time mummy.  In no particular order, I have plenty to blab on about!

One of my biggest apprehensions about motherhood was the lack of sleep that lay ahead of me.  I enjoy my sleep, my lie ins, my early nights, pyjama days ... the thought of this being reduced to as little as one hours sleep on any given night literally made me feel sick to the stomach.  How on earth would I cope?

Don't all tut at once but I have been pretty lucky as Sylvie sleeps well ... or at least she sleeps well through the night.  During the day is a different ball game, she rarely naps and I need to get her out and about in the pram or car to really get her asleep for any length of time.  Nighttime, however, is a different kettle of fish.  My little munchkin seemed to just 'get' nighttime from the minute she came home.

From the start, she has slept a minimum 4-5 hours before waking for feeds.  In the early days this was a huge relief as it meant I was able to function each day and be up and ready to face visitors.  This quickly progressed to 6-7 hours and most recently Sylvie has been sleeping 10 hours straight a night - no feeds or settling required in between, just 10 blissful hours.  I must also add, Sylvie is exclusively breast fed (so far) and she still manages to sleep so well.

A lot of this is luck but there are still times when Sylvie will startle herself in her sleep and wake so there have been some sleep aids that I have used along the way that have definitely helped.

White Noise App
There are a plethora of white noise apps for smart phones and I just downloaded one of the free ones. When Sylvie was days old, I would play the womb/heartbeat setting to help her settle for naps and it worked a treat.  This was mostly helpful at the very early stages and I only use it now if she is really struggling to settle.

Ewan the Sheep
Ewan is a cute, cuddly, purple sheep who plays 4 different settings of white noise.  His tummy also glows pink to mimic a womb like environment for baby.  I have used this a few times when Sylvie has been a bit grizzly and unsettled.  The white noise still helps to some extent and when the lighting is just right in the room then the pink glow seems to help.  Most of all, Ewan looks cute in the moses basket.

Air Cocoon swaddle by Ergo Pouch
Sylvie has been swaddled since birth, loosely swaddled that is.  The guidelines on this seems to change often.  We hear stories of overheating or swaddle blankets covering baby's face so I have always played it safe with a fairly loose swaddle.  Although this is worrying to think about, it also isn't helpful when your baby manages to twist their hands out of their swaddles causing them to scratch at themselves or startle themselves awake.  I had used muslins, blankets and pouches designed for swaddling on Sylvie but like David Blaine, she managed to get out of all of these - and some of them were even awkward to get her into!

I stumbled across the ergo cocoon on a trip to TK Maxx. It's a pouch that your baby can still wriggle around in but feel secure and cosy with no risk of startling.  There is a swaddle for each season so you can send baby to bed without having to bulk up on blankets and covers which can again cause overheating.  It's simple to put on, rolling it from the feet up like a sock, creating a baby glow worm ;) The minute we started using the ergo cocoon, Sylvie's sleep pattern changed and we started getting 8 hours sleep straight through the night.  You can buy the ergo cocoon here.

Ergo Pouch AirCocoon

Love to Dream Swaddle Up
I believe i've saved the best for last.  After investigating more about the air cocoon online, I came across the Love to Dream swaddle up.  This is a zip up swaddle and is great for babies who like to starfish as their little arms fit into tiny sleeves within the swaddle sac.  It looks restrictive but Sylvie can still move her arms around somewhat without the worry of startling herself or scratching her face and again reduces the risk of overheating etc.  She even seems to enjoy being in it.  The first night she wore it, she slept 9 hours straight which progressed to 10 hours the next night.  10 hours!!! She was 8 or 9 weeks old!

I now alternate between the air cocoon and the love to dream swaddle but it is the love to dream swaddle that i will repurchase in the next size up as Sylvie sleeps best in it.  It is an absolute gem of a product and I think every new mum needs to know about it!  You can buy a Love to Dream Swaddle Up here.

Love to Dream Swaddle Up

If there was only one thing I could recommend to new parents from a sleep perspective, it would be to buy the Love to Dream Swaddle Up, it really has been fantastic and anyone who follows me on twitter will have heard me sing its praises and recommend it to all the twitter mamma's!

Don't get me wrong, I am sure Sylvie's sleep pattern will continue to change and the swaddle may not always work but for now it is working a treat.

What sleep aids would you recommend?

This happened.

Since taking up blogging again and converting this particular blog to all things parenthood, I have been positively lax with keeping it up to date.  I have had little time to sit at my laptop because 11 weeks ago today, this happened:

This little angel came into our lives.  Sylvie Florence Paterson Read came into our world on Sunday 8 June, weighing in at 7lb 13oz.  With a thick mass of dark hair, plump cheeks, rosy lips and a pair of lungs that made my heart burst the minute I heard her cry ... Sylvie Read had arrived! 

I was 41+2 weeks when she decided it was time.  I was feeling impatient, fed up and downright demented by that stage.  I had so hoped she would come on time or even a few days early, so as you can imagine the waiting was driving me insane. 

I had a dream pregnancy but had trained hard for the birth, consuming my evenings reading about the nature of childbirth as well as going to hypnotherapy classes and practising relaxation techniques, visualisation and breathing.  I had planned on a water birth and had the tankini at the ready along with my aromatherapy oils and music playlist in my hospital bag.  

I wasn't naive enough to think that all would go to plan but I hadn't banked on what was ahead of me.  2 days before Sylvie's arrival and after a week of birth ball bouncing, eating pineapple and curries and going vigorous county walks, my waters at last started to show! I was elated and was sure this was the start of what I thought would be a beautiful journey to birthing my baby.

In actual fact my waters were leaking and when I merrily called the midwife to let her know, it transpired this wasn't actually a good thing as it meant there was a risk of infection.  They asked me to go to the hospital to be checked out which I admit I dilly dallied about as I really wanted to avoid any medical intervention (induction, drugs, monitoring etc).  At hospital, they confirmed my waters were leaking and they booked me in for induction the next morning, I was distraught.  I did not want this.  It was so off plan it broke my heart.  Just as I was about to leave hospital, they did one more check of my waters and this time it showed meconium. This is when your baby's poo is in your waters and can sometimes signal foetal distress.  They kept me in and cut to 12 hours later after a long night of contractions and monitoring, one thing led to another and Sylvie arrived by Caesarean section at 12:16 in the afternoon. 

I will never forget the emotional torment as I made my way to theatre.  I was so upset that things had gone way off plan and that I was now missing out on a natural birth.  Everything I had learned about over the past 9 months was all about how nature should run its course and not to accept medical interventions, in fact, I would go as far to say that everything I had read in terms of positive birthing put real shame and disgust on a c-section birth.  I was positive I would feel sorrowful and possibly resentful of how Sylvie had arrived. 

Thankfully, this couldn't have been further from the truth.  My c-section, although unplanned turned out to be a pleasant experience.  Nothing like the violent, unnatural, disgusting process that many mummy forums, positive birthing sites and even some Mothers had painted it to be.  Sylvie arrived within minutes and before I knew it, I was in the recovery room lapping up my wonderful new baby.  We had skin on skin contact at the earliest opportunity and she breastfed while in recovery.  Any fears  of not bonding or breastfeeding being hindered went out the window.  I had a very alert baby (not drugged up) who was already exceeding all my expectations.

My own recovery has been absolutely fine, I never felt too uncomfortable or in pain.  I was up and walking about, holding my baby within 6 hours of delivery (as soon as spinal had worn off) and I was back home within 48 hours.  Although it is major abdominal surgery, I do believe are a lot of myths surrounding c-sections and their recovery that didn't ring true for me but everyone is different.  

Anyway, that's my birth story of sorts and now that I can reflect 11 weeks on, the scariest part of it all is how quickly your baby grows and progresses.  I already feel like I have lost my newborn baby so my advice to any new mums is soak it all up.  Don't miss a minute of your baby because it all passes in a flash! 

Sylvie at 10 weeks