Sleep PLEASE

Any one feel like they are sleep deprived? Silly me, all mothers are!! I am one for LOVING my sleep and I am really cranky when I don't get enough. My husband can contest to that! It took me almost a month to get the swing of this whole SLEEPING with a newborn ordeal. Let's just say I learned quickly on what worked and didn't work for me.

Here are some tricks to get your little one to sleep, as soon as you bring him/her home from the hospital.

1. Elevate the bed- I bought one of those crib wedges and put it in her bed. It helped a lot with her acid reflux.

2. Differentiate- Make sure your little one knows day from night. Some ways to do that is.. When they are taking their nap on during the day, leave the light on. Get them used to NOISE, which will happen during the DAY! When it is night time.. PJ only gets a night light. Even if I change her diaper in the middle of the night and feed her.. No lights on, just the night light.. Takes some getting used to at first to make sure you get all the stool off them.. but you will thank me in the long run. When you turn on the light you are waking up just as much as your little one is waking up!

3. Swaddle- In the womb the baby is used to be in a warm tight place. That doesn't change when they are born. They still love it! So PULL that blanket tight baby!!

4. Pat on the back- many babies need burped.. ALOT.. So don't be surprised if you have tried feeding, changing the diaper, rocking, and if your little one is still cranky, chances are that they probably have a gas bubble! So, pat that sucker out!

5. Collic calm- This is an all natural mixture that helps with collic, upset stomach, hiccups, and acid reflux. For a while this was my best friend when it came to PJ. I had a lot of problems with switching her over to formula at first. She was constantly vomiting the regular baby food so we tried soy thinking maybe she is a little lactose intolerant like me, that didn't help! I was about to pull my hair out! We then changed over to gentleease, which worked for a little while maybe a month and then the symptoms got worse. FINALLY I found Enfamil- AR (added rice)

6. Routine- Keep your routine on track as much as you can. It will help her body create a biological alarm clock letting her know when its nap or bedtime! Try to keep the same nap times, bed time routines. (bath, lotion, bottle/boob).

7. Stand your ground- I have problems with this a little bit, PJ will cry some times in the middle of the night. I do use the cry it out method but for a limited amount of time. (Ten minutes) After ten minutes, I know something is wrong that she can't calm herself back down. (which usually means diaper or bottle) But as soon as both are done... It is back to the crib she goes.. But I will be the first to admit.. Some times I break down- When I have had a really busy week and a lack of sleep instead of standing my ground I back down. It maybe happens once a month. Pj ends up cuddling up to me in my bed. What can I say.. Some times a momma does need a wink of sleep!