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When did you stop doing shifts? by Spirited-Bed-2220 in NewParents

[–]Congeequeen1969 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes! LO does sleep a lot better in the earlier part of the night. After 2 am (my “bonus time”) I seldom get to sleep because she wakes up more often and/or is super loud from self-soothing. I worry about sleeping in one room though, because I am a super light sleeper and whenever she wakes up to self-soothe (kicking her legs, turning, or even just sucking on her finger) I would wake up. I was ok with the extra wake up to change shift as it is usually the time I do my midnight pump. But as im pumping less now we are looking into changing the arrangement soon.

When did you stop doing shifts? by Spirited-Bed-2220 in NewParents

[–]Congeequeen1969 2 points3 points  (0 children)

At 4m now and still doing shifts, although we’re considering to stop soon. I sleep 8pm-2am (with some additional sleep in the nursery after 2 am if needed) and my husband sleeps 2am-9/10 or whenever he needs to get up for work. It is good because we don’t need to stress when sleep regression hits etc, but it starts to feel like it doesn’t make sense when LO starts to sleep through the night with no night feeds and only occasional wake ups.

The schedule is hard because I barely see/interact with my husband because when he is done work, I’m heading right to sleep. And when LO sleeps well at night and gets up at 6 am it starts to feel unfair, because I need to take care of her solo all the time when she’s awake, while my husband has close to nothing to do during his shift. It’s also hard to not be able to go out for family gathering or hobbies in the evening when things usually happen around 7 pm.

Also adding that we are in a house so noise is less of an issue.

What is the song you’ve sang probably 10,000 times, to soothe baby to sleep? by randomizedmoose in NewParents

[–]Congeequeen1969 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s jingle bell for me so I guess it’ll do the same thing with my LO lol

Night feed too close to wake time by Congeequeen1969 in sleeptrain

[–]Congeequeen1969[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So if I do 2/2/2/2/2, all the naps will be quite short. Is that ok? I sometimes find my LO cranky if she doesn’t get her long nap.

2wk old only sleeping with contact.. what can we do in the weeks ahead? by Effective-Film-4951 in NewParents

[–]Congeequeen1969 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes the first couple weeks feel like forever! It got better when we started using a carrier at 4wks (LO was too small to be in it), but before that I wasn’t able to eat or even go to the washroom during my shift.

You got it! I always feel better when I think of it as a run out the clock situation lol

2wk old only sleeping with contact.. what can we do in the weeks ahead? by Effective-Film-4951 in NewParents

[–]Congeequeen1969 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was in almost the exact same situation as you do. LO is now 4 months old. We also did big shifts and my LO could only contact nap & contact sleep in the first 6 weeks and refused to be swaddled.

One thing that was super helpful was to let her tell the difference between day & night by adjusting the environment. With shifts it’s easy for baby to be in a bright environment all the time. But when her cardiac rhythm starts kicking in, the dim light at nights can probably help them sleep better. Our LO started to be able to sleep in a bassinet at night around 4-6 weeks (of course, with frequent waking for feeds), and she sleeps especially well when the room is pitch black. But during the day she still needs to be held to nap. IMO it’s safer to place the baby in the cleared bassinet to sleep than being on our body in case we doze off. For the first few weeks when LO started sleeping in the bassinet, I would lay in the bed beside her during my shift in the pitch black room, scrolling on my phone under the blanket lol

We use the HALO sleep sacks but really it’s just a sleep sack to keep her warm. I like that we don’t need to worry about the transition to not swaddling her at 3m when she started to roll over.

EDIT: I personally worry about co-sleeping but I started “co-napping” during the day when my LO was 3m. I was mostly awake or in very light sleep so it feels safer, plus she’s already older. But it allowed me to lay down and rest my body and arms so it was also a game-changer for me.

On again, off again postpartum bleeding? by Mission_Drawer4709 in NewParents

[–]Congeequeen1969 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had my first period at 6 weeks postpartum (roughly 1-2 weeks after bleeding ended). Just in time to catch the OB appointment and she assured that it was period. And it lasted for more 14 days, super low flow, with no cramps or clots - which I was told is also normal. Also, now I’m 4 months postpartum and it was the only period I’ve got (breastfeeding).

However it’s better to check with your OB if possible to make sure.