Having a baby is exhausting. We all know that, even those who don’t have kids. Sleep when the baby sleeps they say. Try to nap as much as you can. I’m sure we can all agree that’s easier said than done.
As soon as those babies are asleep in their cots it’s all hands on deck right? Eat, clean, shower, work, play with Lamb, catch up on TV, everything you can’t do with a baby in tow.
In the early days our time is spent having lots of newborn snuggles. We all hear parents talk about babies sleeping on their chests and it being the best thing ever. But are we making the most of these snuggles?
Probably not.
You see, I hate to say it, but it doesn’t last forever; not all babies sleep.
Like mine. So far I’ve had one baby sleep through the night from 6 months until his first birthday. Then woke every night until he turned 3. And one baby who’s 8 months old and has yet to sleep through. (I’m clutching at the thought he might be the opposite to his big brother and start sleeping through at 1).
According to research commissioned by Water Wipes, parents voted ‘when baby fell asleep on me’ as one of their favourite moments with their baby. I’ve been asked to think about how I spend my sleepie times with Bear and share my favourite #Sleepie photo with you.
Our Sleepie Time
As a blogger I spend a huge amount of time on my phone. There’s an app for everything to ensure I can work with one hand. However, having a rather active 8 month old means the convenience of working via my smartphone isn’t that beneficial. I can’t take my eyes off him for 1 minute without him crawling to the radiator/pulling the cats fur/eating paper, fluff, cat food/trying to climb the stairs.
This is where his ‘sleepie time’ comes in. As I’m still breastfeeding I am guaranteed at least 2 hours a day/night to ‘work’. That’s approx 20 mins each feed.
This is when I can reply to emails, update social media, even write blog posts.
As Bear is getting older, it’s getting harder to even do this while feeding as he doesn’t fall asleep on the boob as much.
Over Christmas I took a break from blogging and told myself to make use of the sleepie time. I would take Bear upstairs for a feed and leave Lamb with daddy.
Snuggling in bed while he fed I closed my eyes and tried to switch off from the hectic world we live in. Falling asleep on me, I’d hold him close and try to soak up the stillness (because, lets face it, he’d soon be awake and crawling to the cat food again!)
The first year of your baby’s life goes in a flash. You blink and they’ve reached milestone after milestone.
The newborn phase didn’t last that long for us and I suddenly found myself chasing a crawling 5 month old around!
When you do get those moments of peace during sleepie time, make sure you use them to your full advantage, and sometimes that’s simply cuddling your baby close and closing your eyes.
~A~
*PR collaboration
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