Best Tips for Surviving 4th Trimester

[Anonymous]

Any and all advice welcome!

[Anonymous]

1. Sleep train from day one. I had good success with a combo of the methods in Moms on Call and Taking Cara Babies.
2. Move them to their own crib if they're not sleeping well in the first couple of weeks. I thought we'd have him in our room longer, but it turned out he slept way better in his own room.
3. Stop breastfeeding/pumping if you're miserable. Formula is great.
4. Nap as much as you can during the day.
5. Get outside for short walks when you can.
6. Buy comforting things for yourself for just this time -- new soft pajamas, robes or lounge wear, new soft bras, any fun skin care or stuff that makes you feel good, new cute water bottle, whatever.
7. Have a friend set up a meal train for you -- best thing ever. Best for it to start about a week after so you have time to get your sea legs.
8. Go easy on the booze at first. Your tolerance will be nonexistent and it will feel horrible to get tipsy when you're not sleeping. Drink tons of water.
9. Read super easy beach reads and watch light reality TV. Your emotions are insane. I wasn't able to tolerate anything remotely heavy.
10. Accept help for sure, yet use the time to get to know and bond with your baby. Just take them everywhere you go, look at them, talk to them, lay on the floor with them, etc. It really is the longest shortest time.
11. Best advice I got -- EVERYTHING is a phase. Even the parts that confuse you or annoy you will be over soon. And, every phase has good and bad. For example, they're not sleeping well yet, but they also can't move, so you can rest during the day while they just lay there.

For immediately after:
1. REST. Don't clean up, etc. when the baby is sleeping. Just chill.
2. Wear the ice packs for a solid 48 hours post (vaginal) birth. The hospital may tell you only 24 hours is fine, but trust me. Just keep one on the area at ALL times for two straight days, minimum. I had a second degree tear and hemmies the size of golf balls yet was virtually painless due to this.
3. COLACE.
4. Beware of night sweats. I had to sleep on a towel and change PJs multiple times a night.
5. Day four post-delivery was the big hormone crash for me. Oh, the tears. But, it was over by about day 8. It was baby blues, not PPD. PPD should be taken seriously, but I also think we're all scared into thinking we will all have it. Just watch for it but don't be scared.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

This too, shall pass.

[Anonymous]

Find a comfortable carrier/wrap for baby wearing. Life gets a lot easier when you have your hands free again.

[Anonymous]

Never put baby to sleep anywhere other than a bassinet or crib. Get them used to sleeping on their backs on a solid surface. It’s easier when you start from day 1 vs transition later.

[Anonymous]

I treated, for myself, around 10/11pm until about 2 or 3pm as the middle of the night. Baby wakes, I tend to his needs, I get him back to sleep, have a quick snack, pee, then I go back to bed and go back to sleep. Repeat, repeat. At 11am just as at 2am. You have to be careful that you're showing the BABY that it's daytime (light and the right amount of activity and all) but for me - it was night. Anything else that needs to get done can either 1) be done by my husband or 2) can be done by me when the baby is sleeping in the late afternoon and evening (like showering or having real meals or whatever).

[Anonymous]

12:17 poster - do not sleep train a newborn!! Are you crazy??

[Anonymous]

Omg who sleep trains from day one?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. Sleep train from day one. I had good success with a combo of the methods in Moms on Call and Taking Cara Babies.
2. Move them to their own crib if they're not sleeping well in the first couple of weeks. I thought we'd have him in our room longer, but it turned out he slept way better in his own room.
3. Stop breastfeeding/pumping if you're miserable. Formula is great.
4. Nap as much as you can during the day.
5. Get outside for short walks when you can.
6. Buy comforting things for yourself for just this time -- new soft pajamas, robes or lounge wear, new soft bras, any fun skin care or stuff that makes you feel good, new cute water bottle, whatever.
7. Have a friend set up a meal train for you -- best thing ever. Best for it to start about a week after so you have time to get your sea legs.
8. Go easy on the booze at first. Your tolerance will be nonexistent and it will feel horrible to get tipsy when you're not sleeping. Drink tons of water.
9. Read super easy beach reads and watch light reality TV. Your emotions are insane. I wasn't able to tolerate anything remotely heavy.
10. Accept help for sure, yet use the time to get to know and bond with your baby. Just take them everywhere you go, look at them, talk to them, lay on the floor with them, etc. It really is the longest shortest time.
11. Best advice I got -- EVERYTHING is a phase. Even the parts that confuse you or annoy you will be over soon. And, every phase has good and bad. For example, they're not sleeping well yet, but they also can't move, so you can rest during the day while they just lay there.

For immediately after:
1. REST. Don't clean up, etc. when the baby is sleeping. Just chill.
2. Wear the ice packs for a solid 48 hours post (vaginal) birth. The hospital may tell you only 24 hours is fine, but trust me. Just keep one on the area at ALL times for two straight days, minimum. I had a second degree tear and hemmies the size of golf balls yet was virtually painless due to this.
3. COLACE.
4. Beware of night sweats. I had to sleep on a towel and change PJs multiple times a night.
5. Day four post-delivery was the big hormone crash for me. Oh, the tears. But, it was over by about day 8. It was baby blues, not PPD. PPD should be taken seriously, but I also think we're all scared into thinking we will all have it. Just watch for it but don't be scared.

Good luck!

Ignore this, do not sweat sleep training until minimum 4 months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. Sleep train from day one. I had good success with a combo of the methods in Moms on Call and Taking Cara Babies.
2. Move them to their own crib if they're not sleeping well in the first couple of weeks. I thought we'd have him in our room longer, but it turned out he slept way better in his own room.
3. Stop breastfeeding/pumping if you're miserable. Formula is great.
4. Nap as much as you can during the day.
5. Get outside for short walks when you can.
6. Buy comforting things for yourself for just this time -- new soft pajamas, robes or lounge wear, new soft bras, any fun skin care or stuff that makes you feel good, new cute water bottle, whatever.
7. Have a friend set up a meal train for you -- best thing ever. Best for it to start about a week after so you have time to get your sea legs.
8. Go easy on the booze at first. Your tolerance will be nonexistent and it will feel horrible to get tipsy when you're not sleeping. Drink tons of water.
9. Read super easy beach reads and watch light reality TV. Your emotions are insane. I wasn't able to tolerate anything remotely heavy.
10. Accept help for sure, yet use the time to get to know and bond with your baby. Just take them everywhere you go, look at them, talk to them, lay on the floor with them, etc. It really is the longest shortest time.
11. Best advice I got -- EVERYTHING is a phase. Even the parts that confuse you or annoy you will be over soon. And, every phase has good and bad. For example, they're not sleeping well yet, but they also can't move, so you can rest during the day while they just lay there.

For immediately after:
1. REST. Don't clean up, etc. when the baby is sleeping. Just chill.
2. Wear the ice packs for a solid 48 hours post (vaginal) birth. The hospital may tell you only 24 hours is fine, but trust me. Just keep one on the area at ALL times for two straight days, minimum. I had a second degree tear and hemmies the size of golf balls yet was virtually painless due to this.

np I disagree with the bolded. Why rush to sleep train a baby just born? Why watch trashy novels? I like only non-fiction and am bored to tears by reality tv shows and "beech" reads.
3. COLACE.
4. Beware of night sweats. I had to sleep on a towel and change PJs multiple times a night.
5. Day four post-delivery was the big hormone crash for me. Oh, the tears. But, it was over by about day 8. It was baby blues, not PPD. PPD should be taken seriously, but I also think we're all scared into thinking we will all have it. Just watch for it but don't be scared.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Being a new mom is tough but I would not recommend sleep training a newborn unless you have an exceptionally easy baby who likes to sleep. Babies typically need to eat every few hours. Better to try to sleep when the baby sleeps and accept that you’ll have a chaotic messy house for a little while.

[Anonymous]

12:17 here. I meant that I followed what those two methods said about setting a good foundation for sleep from day one. I.e. establishing a bedtime routine, getting enough calories during the day, daytime naps with plenty of sunlight and night feedings with lights very low, etc.

All that to say, I did start to do soothing rounds rather than night feeds by about 12 weeks, and my baby slept through the night 7-7 consistently very shortly after that. Maybe a week, max. And because of the foundation I set from day one, my baby slept from 7-4 or 5 am by about 8 weeks. Not consistently, but soon enough it was consistent.

So, shame me all you want but I have an excellent sleeper, a happy baby and a healthy, well rested family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:12:17 here. I meant that I followed what those two methods said about setting a good foundation for sleep from day one. I.e. establishing a bedtime routine, getting enough calories during the day, daytime naps with plenty of sunlight and night feedings with lights very low, etc.

All that to say, I did start to do soothing rounds rather than night feeds by about 12 weeks, and my baby slept through the night 7-7 consistently very shortly after that. Maybe a week, max. And because of the foundation I set from day one, my baby slept from 7-4 or 5 am by about 8 weeks. Not consistently, but soon enough it was consistent.

So, shame me all you want but I have an excellent sleeper, a happy baby and a healthy, well rested family.

+1 I'm with you. I think people are reading "sleep train" as CIO, which I agree you can't do until 4 months. But there are lots of things you can do as far as no cry, gentle sleep training and learning, from essentially day one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:12:17 here. I meant that I followed what those two methods said about setting a good foundation for sleep from day one. I.e. establishing a bedtime routine, getting enough calories during the day, daytime naps with plenty of sunlight and night feedings with lights very low, etc.

All that to say, I did start to do soothing rounds rather than night feeds by about 12 weeks, and my baby slept through the night 7-7 consistently very shortly after that. Maybe a week, max. And because of the foundation I set from day one, my baby slept from 7-4 or 5 am by about 8 weeks. Not consistently, but soon enough it was consistent.

So, shame me all you want but I have an excellent sleeper, a happy baby and a healthy, well rested family.

Lol let me guess a first time parent? Because you can fall all those from day zero and still have a crappy sleeping baby

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:12:17 here. I meant that I followed what those two methods said about setting a good foundation for sleep from day one. I.e. establishing a bedtime routine, getting enough calories during the day, daytime naps with plenty of sunlight and night feedings with lights very low, etc.

All that to say, I did start to do soothing rounds rather than night feeds by about 12 weeks, and my baby slept through the night 7-7 consistently very shortly after that. Maybe a week, max. And because of the foundation I set from day one, my baby slept from 7-4 or 5 am by about 8 weeks. Not consistently, but soon enough it was consistent.

So, shame me all you want but I have an excellent sleeper, a happy baby and a healthy, well rested family.

+1 I'm with you. I think people are reading "sleep train" as CIO, which I agree you can't do until 4 months. But there are lots of things you can do as far as no cry, gentle sleep training and learning, from essentially day one.

Another +1