holistically inspired.

In order to read the full articles, visit:

Kellymom Parenting Sleep Studies

Probably one of the main reasons that babies who don’t sleep through the night are such a big issue is that parents don’t have realistic expectations of the sleep patterns of babies. Babies were designed to wake up often at night to feed and cuddle, and keep in mind that many adults wake during the night, too. If our expectations for babies were not so different from our babies’ expectations for themselves, much of this “problem” might disappear.

Following is information on studies that have been done on the typical sleep patterns of babies and young children.
Harrison Y. The relationship between daytime exposure to light and night-time sleep in 6-12-week-old infants.
J Sleep Res. 2004 Dec;13(4):345-52.

Abstract: This project investigated the relationship between exposure to light and 24-h patterns of sleep and crying in young, healthy, full-term babies living at home and following a normal domestic routine. Measures included an ankle worn activity monitor, an external light monitor and the Barr Baby Day Diary in which parents recorded periods of sleep, crying, feeding and other behaviours at 5-min intervals throughout the 24-h period. Fifty-six babies (26 males and 30 females) were monitored across three consecutive days at 6, 9 and 12 weeks of age. There was an early evening peak in crying which was associated with reduced sleep at 6 weeks. Across the trials there was a gradual shift towards a greater proportion of sleep occurring at night. Sleeping well at 6 weeks was a good indication of more night-time sleep at 9 and 12 weeks. Babies who slept well at night were exposed to significantly more light in the early afternoon period. These data suggest that light in the normal domestic setting influences the development of the circadian system.

Goodlin-Jones BL, et al. Night waking, sleep-wake organization, and self-soothing in the first year of life.
J Dev Behav Pediatr 2001 Aug;22(4):226-33

Abstract: Few objective data are available regarding infants’ night waking behaviors and the development of self-soothing during the first year of life. This cross-sectional study examined 80 infants in one of four age groups (3, 6, 9, or 12 mo) for four nights by using videosomnography to code nighttime awakenings and parent-child interactions. A large degree of variability was observed in parents’ putting the infant to bed awake or asleep and in responding to vocalizations after nighttime awakenings. Most infants woke during the night at all ages observed. Younger infants tended to require parental intervention at night to return to sleep, whereas older infants exhibited a greater proportion of self-soothing after nighttime awakenings. However, even in the 12-month-old group, 50% of infants typically required parental intervention to get back to sleep after waking. Results emphasize the individual and contextual factors that effect the development of self-soothing behavior during the first year of life.

Scher A. Attachment and sleep: a study of night waking in 12-month-old infants.
Dev Psychobiol 2001 May;38(4):274-85.

Abstract: Sleep regulation was examined from a mother-child relational perspective. Although the link between sleep and attachment has been previously discussed, empirical support is rather limited. This report, which is a part of a longitudinal investigation of sleep in infancy, examines the association between the child’s sleep pattern and mother-infant attachment in 94 mother-infant dyads. At 12 months each dyad participated in the Strange Situation procedure; 77% were securely attached. Mothers’ description of the infant’s fussiness was not found to predict the attachment pattern, but was associated with the sleep habits. It was found that 55% of the secure and 60% of the ambivalent children were described as night wakers. To a sub-group of 37 infants, a sleep monitor (actigraph) was provided for two nights’ recordings. The frequency of the objective awakenings was higher than what mothers reported but similar for the secure and insecure infants. The findings confirm that night waking at the end of the first year is a common developmental phenomenon. Among this group of non-risk infants, sleep characteristics were only marginally associated with the quality of the child’s attachment relationship.

Sadler S. Sleep: what is normal at six months?
Prof Care Mother Child 1994 Aug-Sep;4(6):166-7.

In this study, part of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood (ALSPAC), researchers surveyed the parents of 640 babies. Some of the results:

* Only 16% slept through the night at six months old — 84% were not sleeping through the night at 6 months
* 17% woke more than once per night, ranging from twice to eight times
* 5% woke once every night
* 9% woke most nights
* 50% woke occasionally
* 16% of six-month-olds had no regular sleeping pattern

Armstrong KL, Quinn RA & Dadds MR. The sleep patterns of normal children.
Medical Journal of Australia 1994 Aug 1;161(3):202-6.

The above study is the definitive work on sleeping habits of (Australian) children to 38 months. The researchers surveyed 3269 parents, with a 96.5% response rate, over a one week period. The parents had to report on their child’s sleeping habits over the past 24 hours, plus answer a few questions related to their perceptions of their child’s sleep behavior.

What did they find?

* There is a wide range of normal childhood sleep behavior.
* Circadian rhythm is not well established until four months of age.
* Daytime sleep becomes less regular with increasing age, the most marked reduction in length occurs around 3 months of age. However, a surprising 11% under 3 months of age don’t have a daytime sleep every day.
* Frequent night waking that disturbs parents is common from 4-12 months (12.7% disturb their parents 3 or more times every night).
* Night time settling requires more parental input from 18 months.
* Nearly a third of parents have a significant problem with their child’s sleep behavior.
* Sleeping through the night: 71.4% did this on at least one occasion by 3 months of age, but many of these relapse into more frequent waking in the 4 to 12 month period. It is not until after 24 months that regular night waking (requiring attention) becomes much less common.

Although this study did not address breastfeeding, it is relevant because a lack of understanding of “normal” sleep patterns can lead to supplementing, early solids, belief there is not enough milk, etc. The authors claim it also leads to misdiagnosis of gastro-esophageal reflux (GER) and overuse of sedative medication. A worrying 31% of 25-38 month-old children were disciplined (mostly smacking) to get them to settle. 27% of parents let their children cry, 11% at less than one month.

Scher A. A longitudinal study of night waking in the first year.
Child Care Health Dev 1991 Sep-Oct;17(5):295-302.

Abstract: A longitudinal study of the development of sleep patterns addressed the issue of continuity and change in night waking in the course of the first year. Mothers of 118 infants, who took part in a follow-up study of normal babies, completed a sleep questionnaire at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. Regular night waking was a common characteristic throughout the first year:
Baby’s age

% babies waking at night

3 months – 46%

6 months – 39%

9 months – 58%

12 months – 55%

The number of awakenings per night was a function of age. Following a decline in the number of interruptions from 3 to 6 months, an increase in night waking at age 9 months was recorded. Although the methodology does not lend itself to an objective validation of the changes in sleep-wake states, nor is it suitable for causal explanations, it is, nevertheless, important to note this profile. The increase in night waking towards the end of the first year coincides with significant socio-emotional advances which characterize this developmental stage.

Elias MF, Nicolson NA, Bora C, Johnston J. Sleep/wake patterns of breast-fed infants in the first 2 years of life. Pediatrics. 1986 Mar;77(3):322-9.

Abstract: Published norms for infant sleep/wake patterns during the first 2 years of life include an increase in length of maximum sleep bout from four to five to eight to ten hours by 4 months but little decrease in total sleep in 24 hours from 13 to 15 hours. Thirty-two breast-fed infants were followed for 2 years and data collected on 24-hour patterns of nursing and sleep. Infants who were breast-fed into the second year did not develop sleep/wake patterns in conformance with the norms. Instead of having long unbroken night sleep, they continued to sleep in short bouts with frequent wakings. Their total sleep in 24 hours was less than that of weaned infants. This pattern was most pronounced in infants who both nursed and shared a bed with the mother, common practices in many nonwestern cultures. The sleep/wake development accepted as the physiologic norm may be attributable to the early weaning and separated sleeping practiced in western culture. As prolonged breast-feeding becomes more popular in our society, the norms of sleep/wake patterns in infancy will have to be revised.

More information

* Sleeping through the night (this website)
* Nursing to Sleep and Other Comfort Nursing (this website)
* The Family Bed (this website)
* Gerard CM, Harris KA, Thach BT. Spontaneous Arousals in Supine Infants While Swaddled and Unswaddled During Rapid Eye Movement and Quiet Sleep. Pediatrics 2002; 110: e70. “Swaddling… resulted in shorter arousal duration during REM sleep and more REM sleep…. a safe form of swaddling that allows hip flexion/abduction and chest wall excursion may help parents keep their infants in the supine sleep position and thereby prevent the sudden infant death syndrome risks associated with the prone sleep position.”

Page last modified: 06/05/2005
Written:05/12/1998

No Comments | In: pregnancy & birth - article archive | | #

http://kathydettwyler.org/detsleepthrough.html

by Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.
Department of Anthropology,
Texas A & M University

[This essay was originally directed to one person. It has been edited slightly to make it less specific.]

I am an Adjunct (semi-retired) Associate Professor of Anthropology and Nutrition at Texas A&M University, and I do research on infant/child feeding beliefs/practices both cross-culturally and from an evolutionary perspective, as well as research on children’s health and growth. I know from first-hand experience that being a new parent is a difficult time of adjustment, especially when expectations don’t match reality, especially when our culture has taught us that children should have certain needs/wants/behaviors and then our children don’t seem to fit that mold. This problem of a mismatch between expectations and reality can be very difficult for new parents to accept and adjust to. Sometimes, some children can be encouraged/convinced/forced to fit the mold of cultural expectations, and they do fine. Othertimes, though they do eventually fit the mold, it is at the expense of their sense of who they are, their self-confidence, their view of the world as a safe and trusting place, sometimes, even, at the expense of their health or life. Probably nowhere do cultural expectations and the reality of children’s needs conflict more than in the two areas of breastfeeding frequency and sleeping behaviors.

Human children are designed (whether you believe by millions of years of evolution, or by God, it doesn’t matter) — to nurse *very* frequently, based on the composition of the milk of the species, the fact that all higher primates (Primates are the zoological Order to which humans belong, higher primates include monkeys and apes) keep their offspring in the mother’s arms or on her back for several years, the size of the young child’s stomach, the rapidity with which breast milk is digested, the need for an almost constant source of nutrients to grow that huge brain (in humans, especially), and so on. By very frequently, I mean 3-4 times per hour, for a few minutes each time. The way in which some young infants are fed in our culture — trying to get them to shift to a 3-4 hour schedule, with feedings of 15-20 minutes at a time, goes against our basic physiology. But humans are very adaptable, and some mothers will be able to make sufficient milk with this very infrequent stimulation and draining of the breasts, and some children will be able to adapt to large meals spaced far apart. Unfortunately, some mothers don’t make enough milk with this little nursing, and some babies can’t adjust, and so are fussy, cry a lot, seem to want to nurse “before it is time” and fail to grow and thrive. Of course, usually the mother’s body is blamed — “You can’t make enough milk” — rather than the culturally-imposed expectation that feeding every 3-4 hours should be sufficient, and the mother begins supplementing with formula, which leads to a steady spiral downward to complete weaning from the breast. Human children are also designed to have breast milk be a part of their diet for a minimum of 2.5 years, with many indicators pointing to 6-7 years as the true physiological duration of breastfeeding — regardless of what your cultural beliefs may be. I can provide you with references to my research on this topic if you wish to read more.

The same is true of sleeping. Human children are designed to be sleeping with their parents. The sense of touch is the most important sense to primates, along with sight. Young primates are carried on their mother’s body and sleep with her for years after birth, often until well after weaning. The expected pattern is for mother and child to sleep together, and for child to be able to nurse whenever they want during the night. Normal, healthy, breastfed and co-sleeping children do not sleep “through the night” (say 7-9 hours at a stretch) until they are 3-4 years old, and no longer need night nursing. I repeat — this is NORMAL and HEALTHY. Dr. James McKenna’s research on co-sleeping clearly shows the dangers of solitary sleeping in young infants, who slip into abnormal patterns of very deep sleep from which it is very difficult for them to rouse themselves when they experience an episode of apnea (stop breathing). When co-sleeping, the mother is monitoring the baby’s sleep and breathing patterns, even though she herself is asleep. When the baby has an episode of apnea, she rouses the baby by her movements and touch. This is thought to be the primary mechanism by which co-sleeping protects children from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. In other words, many cases of SIDS in solitary sleeping children are thought to be due to them having learned to sleep for long stretches at a time at a very early age, so they find themselves in these deep troughs of sleep, then they may experience an episode of apnea, and no one is there to notice or rouse them from it, so they just never start breathing again. Co-sleeping also allows a mother to monitor the baby’s temperature during the night, to be there if they spit up and start to choke, and just to provide the normal, safe environment that the baby/child has been designed to expect.

Is this convenient for parents? No!

Is this difficult for some new parents to adjust to? Yes!

No doubt about it, the gap between what our culture teaches us to expect of the sleep patterns of a young child (read them a story, tuck them in, turn out the light, and not see them again for 8 hours) and the reality of how children actually sleep if healthy and normal, yawns widely.

But the first steps to dealing with the fact that your young child doesn’t sleep through the night, or doesn’t want to sleep without you is to realize that:

* (1) Not sleeping through the night until they are 3 or 4 years of age is normal and healthy behavior for human infants.
* (2) Your children are not being difficult or manipulative, they are being normal and healthy, and behaving in ways that are appropriate for our species.

Once you understand these simple truths, it becomes much easier to deal with parenting your child at night. Once you give up the idea that you must have 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep at night, and view these nighttime interactions with your child as precious and fleeting, you get used to them very quickly.

I highly recommend Dr. Sears’ book on Nighttime Parenting [available from the La Leche League International Catalogue]. Our children’s early years represent the most important and influential time of their lives. It passes all too quickly. But meeting your child’s needs during these first few years will pay off in many ways in the years to come.

Prepared August 25, 1997.

No Comments | In: pregnancy & birth - article archive | | #

Breastfeeding, Evolution, Safe Infant Sleep & Psychology
© Barb Hacker
June 15, 2008
From Suite101.com: http://ethics-parenting.suite101.com/article.cfm/reasons_not_to_sleep_train

Practicing cry-it-out sleep training methods with a baby may result in early weaning from the breast and can lead to post traumatic stress disorder.

Babies were meant to be nurtured to sleep, not forced to cry-it-out and trained to sleep on their own. Humans have been co-sleeping and breastfeeding on demand during sleep for millennia. Sleep training is a modern notion that can result in early weaning and can be psychologically damaging to infants.
What is Sleep Training?

Sleep training generally refers to a method of teaching infants to fall asleep on their own, in their own room, with no parental help. Many families that practice sleep training resort to the cry-it-out method, which means that the baby is left alone in a crib to cry until he falls asleep. Supposedly, each night, he cries a little less than the night before until he is finally sleeping on his own with minimal crying.

Proponents of sleep training claim that both mother and baby will sleep better and longer at night. They insist that babies should be sleeping through the night and sleep training is the way to achieve that goal.
Breastfeeding on Demand Rules Out Sleep Training

Sleep training is not for mothers who breastfeed on demand. Many breastfeeding mothers choose to let the baby nurse as often and for as long as he wants. Trying to regulate nursing with a set schedule to have uninterrupted sleep at night may result in engorgement, breast infections and eventually, decreased milk production. This can lead to early weaning.
Human Evolution Points to Co-sleeping

Sleep training when the infant is asleep alone in a crib in another room is not in line with how humans have evolved. Human babies have spent thousands of years sleeping next to their mothers. There, they have ready access to the breast, are warm and are safe. Before families lived in houses and other permanent dwellings, an infant sleeping alone was vulnerable to predators, freezing temperatures and other hazards.

Of course, modern babies are not vulnerable to the same risks that our ancestors were. Still, babies have evolved to be nurtured in a certain way and, one could argue, they are still hard-wired to be nurtured in that same way, despite current sleep training practices.
Sleep Training Raises Safety Concerns

As reported on the Dr. Sears website in “The Scientific Benefits of Co-sleeping”, worldwide research has shown that babies who sleep with their mothers are less vulnerable to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Mothers who co-sleep with their infants are very aware of their infants nighttime needs and are able to help regulate infant breathing by virtue of their proximity.

Even the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that young babies sleep in the same room as their parents. They have determined that the risk of SIDS is decreased when the infant sleeps in close proximity to the mother. Though they advise against co-sleeping, the AAP does recognize the increase in safety that occurs when an infant is in the same room as the mother.

Sleep training in which a baby is placed in a crib and left alone to cry-it-out is incompatible with both of these recommendations.
Sleep Training and Psychology

Babies who are trained to sleep through a cry-it-out method are taught that their needs are not important. They learn that no one is listening to them. According to researchers at Harvard University Medical School’s Department of Psychology, children and adults who were forced to cry-it-out as infants are more likely to suffer from emotional issues, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, than children and adults who were not forced to cry-it-out as babies.

It stands to reason that children who carry emotional baggage from having been trained to sleep as an infant would have more behavior problems than children who have been nurtured to sleep. Likewise, the parent/child relationship will suffer when a family practices sleep training. It is possible that the mother will feel detached from her child and vice versa.

Sleep training interferes with a breastfeeding relationship and, as evidenced by early humans, is not a natural parenting method. Babies who are trained to sleep away from their parents are more vulnerable to SIDS and are likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Sources:

Ask Dr. Sears website; “Sleep-training – Not for Breastfeeding Mothers” & “The Scientific Benefits of Co-sleeping”

Wright, Robin; “Go Ahead – Sleep with Your Kids: The Urge is Natural, Surrender to It”; Slate website; Originally published March 28, 1997; Re-published June 23, 2006.

Powell, Alvin; “Children Need Touching and Attention: Harvard Researchers Say”; The Harvard University Gazette; April 9, 1998.

American Academy of Pediatrics; Policy Statement; “The Changing Concept of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome”; Pediatrics, Vol. 116, No. 5; November 2005; page 1252.

1 Comment | In: pregnancy & birth - article archive | | #

From Birth With Confidence Blog (http://birthwithconfidence.blogs.lamaze.org/?p=106)

Recently I had the pleasure of being a doula for a woman who had a very strong desire for a natural birth, free of routine interventions. As luck would have it, she ended up with a long, tough labor. She perservered through many hours. It took every ounce of patience, strength and creativity she had, and slowly but surely she progressed. After a particularly tough contraction, her kind and well-intentioned nurse came up close to her and said gently, “Why don’t you consider some pain medication? Times have changed. There is no reason for labor to hurt anymore. We don’t need any heroes here.”

I don’t know why that comment got to me like it did: We don’t need any heroes here.” For me that statment more than any other I can think of sums up the difference between those of us who believe that there is power in birth, and those who don’t.

Maybe we do need heroes here. Giving birth is heroic. Having life pass through you is heroic. Becoming a mother is heroic. That woman was birthing a baby under difficult circumstances. Intuitively moaning and moving and rocking and working that baby from her womb into her arms. What she was doing was nothing less than heroic. And I wanted her to feel like a hero.

What is it about our culture that wants to take that away? That not only doesn’t value the process of working through a tough labor, but in many ways demeans it? When did we as a culture decide that birth should be easy? Decide that it doesn’t matter how we birth? That if we get an outcome of “healthy mother and healthy baby” — that’s quite enough, thank you very much.

Giving birth is meant to be overwhelming, and I mean that in a most positive way. The physical and emotional upheaval of labor are a normal and necessary part of nature’s grand design. Challenges of all kinds — physical, emotional, and spiritual — help us to discover that we have within ourselves the wisdom and the capability to deal with whatever trials come our way. Giving birth is supposed to shake us right down to our roots and leave us in awe of the power of the experience – and of the power in ourselves for getting through it. Useful qualities for a new mother.

As much as we might want to rescue women from the pain and upheaval of labor, we can’t. And in fact, we shouldn’t. ”Times have changed” the nurse said. “There is no reason for labor to hurt anymore.” I’ve given a lot of thought since then, and I’m now convinced. That nurse was wrong.

No Comments | In: pregnancy & birth - article archive | | #

From Aphrodite Women’s Health (http://www.aphroditewomenshealth.com/news/pregnancy_secrets.shtml)
3 April 2006

by Katherine Burnett-Watson

When you announce to the world you’re having a baby, the initial responses you get will be ones of surprise, excitement and congratulations. And once the initial baby frenzy dies down, be prepared for nine months of you and your body becoming public property. Although almost every woman will have a child at some point in her life, it’s amazing that pregnancy is seen as an oddity; something to be gazed at, pondered, commented upon and queried.

And while everyone will give you advice on your pregnancy, from the helpful (“rest while you can because you won’t get any when the baby comes”), to the ludicrous (“make sure you ask for an epidural because my sister’s obstetrician said women’s bodies aren’t made to have their babies naturally the first time”); nothing can prepare you for the journey that lays ahead of you.

Although some women will cheerfully tell you about the agonizing 20 hour labor they went through when the anesthetist put the epidural in wrong and the baby was born via emergency caesarian section, or the umbilical cord was wrapped around its neck three times, or the baby was a forceps delivery and their vagina has never been the same since; there are some things about pregnancy that people won’t tell you.

You are the elected spokesperson for your kind.
As a pregnant woman, you will become the spokesperson for all pregnant women. Your opinion on pregnancy, labor, birthing plans, pain relief during labor and generally anything vaguely to do with pregnancy will be sought, and comparisons between you and any other known pregnant women will be mandatory.

Your body is no longer your own.
And I’m not talking about that littler person living inside you. As if it’s not enough that your body has been robbed to nourish and grow this tiny human inside you, you’re external body is now public property. Be prepared for your body shape and size to be constantly compared to other pregnant women, and for people to comment on whether you are bigger or smaller than other pregnant women. “Kath’s seven months pregnant like Sarah, but Kath’s a fair bit bigger, I think.” And get ready for the grabby hands that want to touch and feel “the baby”. Never mind that your body is between their hands and the baby – that doesn’t seem to matter. Acquaintances and strangers will coo in wonder over your expanding belly, and often reach out for a touch. If I was feeling particularly protective of myself and my baby, I’d fend the hands away, often receiving looks of hurt indignation. Or if I was feeling cheeky I’d reach out and give their stomach a rub too, or I’d offer my swollen breasts for a touch, because “Hey, they’ve grown as well!”

You are now “Mom”.
This one was particularly hard for me to handle, with the pregnancy of my first child. Everyone wants to call you “Mom”. The first time our receptionist at work said, “Hi Mommy!” as I walked into the office in the morning, I thought it was quite sweet. However, when work colleagues from a different department started calling me “Mom” I was mortified. Although people think it’s funny and cute, I found it frightening (some day soon I was going to be a mother, I wouldn’t be my own person any more) and annoying (I wasn’t their mother, was I?).

Trapped!
When you’re pregnant, you’re completely beholden to a person who isn’t even a person yet. You change your lifestyle: you give up drinking and/or smoking, you cut back on caffeine, you don’t eat soft cheeses or raw fish, and your body starts to tell you in no uncertain way that you are not in charge any more. Morning sickness, which actually means throwing up every morning and then feeling vaguely queasy with heart burn for the rest of the day, and constant trips to the bathroom in the early days of pregnancy slowly give way to an expanding waistline, shortness of breath, tiredness, irritability and general discomfort at being the size of a house. The excitement of impending birth is mixed with feelings of fear and dread, as you wonder just how much longer you can keep functioning as a human incubator.

Stretch Marks : On My What?
We all know about stretch marks. In fact, many women get stretch marks just going through puberty. So I was all prepared for the fact that in the last few months of pregnancy, I might get stretch marks on my stomach. But what I wasn’t prepared for was stretch marks on my breasts! In the early weeks of my pregnancy my small and pert breasts took on a life of their own, growing from a 32B to a 34D in the space of two weeks. Not only was I in agony as my skin battled to accommodate the rapid change in volume, but I suddenly had to deal with tiny little silver snail-trails creeping their way across my ever-expanding bosom. Although I finally had the big boobs I’d spent so many nights as a flat-chested teenager dreaming about, they were now so sore and swollen I couldn’t bare to touch them!

Gross Out!
If you don’t want to be grossed out, stop reading here, but if you’re about to have a baby, you need to know the truth. Hemorrhoids are the bane of a pregnant woman’s life. Because there’s so much pressure from your growing baby constantly bearing down, and the fact that many pregnant women experience constipation, you’re probably going to have to deal with hemorrhoids. The best thing you can do is take the pressure off when you can, (lying down with your feet up helps) and invest in one of those kiddy steps for the toilet. Ask any ergonomics expert : our toilets are too high off the ground for comfortable “evacuation”. By using the kiddy stool you’re raising your feet and knees, which helps to open up any cavities that need a little help.

Swollen genitals. there, I said it! Of all the things other women won’t tell you about pregnancy, this is the big one. The amount of blood in your body increases by 50 percent during pregnancy, and this, combined with weight gain and fluid retention, can lead to swollen, sensitive genitals. My obstetrician referred to it as “getting juicy” which I found a little disturbing in itself, but incredibly accurate. Just like fruit ripening, as you grow into your pregnancy everything about your body gets softer, and looser and, well, juicier!

Hurry Up, Already!
The last four weeks of my first pregnancy felt like four years. Having a summer baby meant long hot days with my own personal furnace keeping me boiling hot, and never being able to get comfortable. The insomnia that meant I spent hours awake at night seemed like a cruel joke on the part of Mother Nature, given that I knew I’d be without sleep once the baby arrived, and just added to the seemingly endless days of waiting for this new person to arrive. Just like a long-awaited holiday, the final lead up to the birth of a baby is often a time of annoyance and irritability.

Pure and Unadulterated Love.
OK, it might sound schmaltzy and sentimental, but I’ve saved the best for last. I don’t want you to think all the secrets about pregnancy and childbirth are negative ones. All the discomfort, the doubts and the bad things I’ve mentioned about pregnancy are swept away when you first see your new baby, and even if they wanted to, no-one can accurately tell you what this feels like.

After the physical and emotional journey you’ve spent nine months traveling, culminating in one of the most life-altering moments you’ll ever go through, and one of the last purely “animal” experiences we as civilized people encounter in our lives, there are no words to describe the mixture of relief, exhaustion, pride, excitement, happiness, sadness, joy and love you feel upon meeting this new human being. Sure, the sleepless nights, the crying jags (both you and the baby), the endless feedings and the mountain of dirty nappies can put a dampener on all this, but for that first moment, that pure feeling of knowing that you created this person is indescribable.

No Comments | In: pregnancy & birth - article archive | | #