Sleep Like a Baby: Part 1
“Ohh, your little one is so darling! How well do they sleep?”
It’s the most common first interaction for new parents, or mostly any parent who has a baby.
Sleep has become the qualifying factor by which society determines if you have a “good baby,” or if you’re doing the whole new parenting thing right. Baby that sleeps =’s You get all the gold stars!
Sleep is a beautiful thing. But also, it can be a complicated thing- especially if you’re a household with a baby in it. As Doulas we get asked a lot of questions about sleep, and the spectrum in which the questions vary is vast.
“When do I lay them down?” “How long should my baby be sleeping at 4 weeks?” “When will they sleep through the night?” “Should the baby breastfeed all night long?” “When will I get to sleep again?”
We like to look at newborn and infant sleep like a puzzle. It is important to consider a few components when it comes to deciphering the baby sleep puzzle. Most people start puzzles by assembling the edges, baby sleep can be just like this! Use this acronym to help you survive the first four weeks of newborn sleep: C.O.Z.Y.
Collect! Gathering information on what newborn sleep looks like and what you expect. This can be a great way to lay a foundation for good baby sleep. Ask yourself the following questions before you have your baby, “Where will they sleep? What do I want the night time workload to look like? What will we do when the baby just won’t sleep? What do I know about infant sleep, and where can I get more information?” Once you’ve assembled those pieces of information you’ve gotten an idea of how you’d like baby sleep to go.
Observe!! Take into account what your baby's disposition is like. Does your baby have any outlying health concerns that would make sleep different than what is expected? How is feeding going? What’s the sleep environment like?
Zzzzz’s! Yep, we want the third thing you do is to get sleep. Nothing ever got done well in this world without a good night's sleep. If you’re struggling to get enough sleep, hire a postpartum doula or get some support from family. It’s okay to ask for help here, you’ll find that you are better suited to solve the baby sleep issue if you’ve had some rest yourself.
Yawn! A yawn is an indicator that someone is experiencing tiredness. Yawning is one of your newborn baby's sleep cues. Before you make any kind of sleep schedule in your new baby’s life, learn about hunger and sleep cues. Sometimes they can hold a similar likeness that tricks the tired parent. Having a basic understanding of what to watch for when it comes to sleep cues helps to establish better sleep.
Here at Pacific Northwest Doulas we like to help make things easier for the new parents and babies of the world, in fact we want you to know that the first four weeks of a new baby's life are about surviving. Consider that getting C.O.Z.Y. is a great way to navigate those beginning days as you start to create habits for healthy baby sleep.