I once encountered a mother who fell asleep on a rocking chair while burping her baby, causing the infant to fall and be rushed to the hospital for work up.
LACK OF SLEEP. This is one struggle I believe many mothers like myself encounter immediately after delivery.
Why do we experience lack of sleep?
Here is a chart I would like to share to parents out there:
As you can see, your baby's night time sleep requirement for the first month is quite short (8-8.5 hrs) and is comparable to that of an adolescent. This sleep is interrupted by brief awake feeding periods about every 2 to 3 hours.
Why does your baby feed this often?
One reason is: breast milk is easily digested. Another reason: A newborn has a small stomach capacity of about 20 ml or 4 teaspoons only. So an infant will signal a need to eat at least EIGHT times every 24 hours. This means, waking up almost every 3 hours to feed your baby! Imagine the exhaustion of a breastfeeding mom- who is also still going through hormonal normalization and physical recovery from delivery!
So what can we do to prevent a scenario such as the story I mentioned at the beginning of this article?
During the immediate newborn period, I recommend a TAG TEAM. In this system, the father or any other adult family member can help facilitate burping or participate in holding the infant "skin to skin" - a practice of unclothing your newborn infant and placing exposed skin to the skin of the mother- which studies show allows for successful breastfeeding. This will give time for the mother to sleep and attend to other needs (nothing beats a refreshing bath!). Remember, when a trusted adult is consistently available to meet your baby's urgent needs, a condition of security is created for your infant (1st of Erikson's psychological stages). In addition, "Infants who are consistently picked up and held in response to distress cry less at 1 year and show less aggressive behavior at 2 yr." (Source: Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics-Chapter 8, The First Year)
I challenge all new parents to join us and discover the story behind your stories of parenthood so that you may enjoy and not merely endure your journey.
- Katrina Rey MD
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