I know for certain that the person who coined the phrase "sleep when the baby sleeps" does not have children. There is no way because anyone who has ever had a newborn knows that this is the worst advice ever. I have a suspicion that this is the same person who came up with the"glowing skin" business regarding pregnancy. (Unless the glow was from my collective zits...) First of all, this advice when given to pregnant women is deceptive and misleading. It made me think that I would have some amount of control over my new life..."Oh, that makes sense...I will just sleep when he does!" Before I realized this was garbage advice, I actually stressed about it-adding it to my mental to-do list...shower, change diaper, feed him, change diaper, sleep when he sleeps...this is obviously a joke as anyone who has had a newborn knows you don't actually have time to shower..but I would get all nervous when he fell asleep and try to make myself sleep only to be interrupted by dogs barking, phone calls or the most frequent event-Anderson waking up! See, we are forunate enough to have a baby that loves to sleep. He will sleep anytime and anywhere, as long as someone's arms are involved. He will sleep with you sitting, standing, rocking him, bouncing him, walking him around Target wrapped in your fleece because you forgot to bring a blanket and he threw a fit in his carseat while you were in the pharmacy line....What he will not do is sleep actually laying down. This poses an obstacle for the sleeping when he is sleeping advice.
Here he is asleep in the baby carrier snuggling against me. I'm pretty sure that if I fell asleep with him in here it would not go over well.
This is pretty much the only option we have for sleeping...he loves it. (both of them!)
Here he is sleeping on his GG with creeper Uncle Curtis in the background...
A variation of the sleeping on the couch position
Sleeping in the car seat...we are oviously driving and therefore cannot be "sleeping while he sleeps"
A moment of calm before he realized he was not being held and started screaming. Of course he is so ridiculously cute you don't really mind it:)
As you can see, he is a ridiculously good sleeper...but notice that he is being held and there is no way that I can sleep through this!
Here he is sleeping on his GG with creeper Uncle Curtis in the background...
Ok, So I am a little partial, but he is sooo cute..... Brandon may come home at lunch so Anderson can sleep.ha.
ReplyDeleteHe is so adorable. Why am I not there???? I want him to sleep on me! He was used to the sisters' barking from the womb, so is no big deal to him. I love him. And th girls.
ReplyDeleteFYI, I'm coming on Saturday and you will sleep darn it! Even if I have to make you. I will hold him and you can take a nap at least. Saturday should be somewhat restful for you, if it isn't I'm not a very good friend! :-)
ReplyDeleteIt gets better! Once they figure out night vs day it is lovely. Our weirdo kid loved the car seat, so we put the car seat in his crib and he slept in that the first three months! The doctor said it made him cozy the way our arms did, since he was also a good sleeper if being held but not otherwise.
ReplyDeleteHey Melissa - i got your blog address from Nicole. Congrats on Anderson, he is a handsome man. Maybe he and my little Molly can have an arranged marriage! Glad to see you are doing so well. And yes, the sleep when they sleep is total crap! If i did that I would never brush my teeth or go to the bathroom. It gets better though, I promise!
ReplyDeleteI wish I was there and you could nap. I know you can't see it now but these sleepless nights holding him are precious. Before you know it he won't even wake you up when he's been throwing up all night. That's our latest Noah milestone and it was sad.
ReplyDeleteAunt Manda
He is so stinkin' cute!!!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Manda, cherish these times! Seriously they arent going to last long, and coming from a momma who doesnt have kids who like to sleep ON people. I wish I could get some snuggle time in, but they both just want their beds.
but if you are desperate, Ive heard a few secrets lately that moms have tried to get their kiddos to "like" to sleep in their bed/ craddle/ bassinet (whatever)....before placing Anderson in his bed try putting a heating pad in to warm it up a bit (dont forget to remove it before putting him in), try swaddling him (my kids LOVED to be swaddled, the tighter the better for them at least), after putting him down keep gentle firm pressure on him for a couple of minutes to make him "think" that you are still holding him, and this is the biggest thing that my kids love still to this day - white noise. We use a fan that makes a sorta loud monotonous "fan" noise and it is great, there are also CD's or sound machine you can get too. Off the top of my head those are the biggest things that Ive heard of or tried myself......hope something helps.
Go get some rest girl!
i used to sleep on our chair with an ottoman, with the boppy on my lap, jake wedged into it and against me, and a hundred pillows wedged around us because he wanted to sleep while being held also
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