Surviving the first few weeks

Adapting to life with a new baby can be hard work. After a physically tiring nine months of pregnancy, the reality of your dependent little red-faced bundle can be daunting and exhausting. You’ll likely be reeling from a range of different emotions and feelings: the exhausting, mind-blowing experience that was labor, the bewildering knowledge that your life will never be quite the same again, and the overwhelming fear that you won’t cope with being a mom. So, how do you cope? The answer is: one day at a time.

Before your baby has adapted to a more adult routine, she’ll be getting used to the baffling world around her. This means that basic human functions like sleep operate rather haphazardly for a while. Immediately following the birth, your baby will (thankfully for you) sleep most of the available hours there are for a few days, which offers you a chance to catch up after the labor. But before long she’ll be waking more often and, at first, at seemingly random times. Newborn babies spend double the time that adults do in REM (dream) sleep, which means they’re easily disturbed. They also sleep in much shorter cycles than adults because their stomachs are very small and they need to feed often. This means that although she’ll sleep a lot at first, your baby will probably wake frequently to feed or be comforted in between.

If you’re lucky your baby will sleep for longer at night but in reality most babies don’t differentiate between night and day for at least the first few months, and this means disturbed nights for a while. Make sure you have lots of support from your partner, family and friends, and don’t refuse any help that’s offered. Grab sleep in snatches and don’t overdo things – this is an emotionally and physically demanding time for you and you should not underestimate its effects on your mind and body. Look after yourself!

Finally, remember, that although at times it’s tough this stage won’t last forever and there will come a day when you’re misty-eyed and nostalgic about this sleep deprived time (honestly!). Investigate our advice on sleep deprivation too. ??

Why not chat to other moms about this, or other topics, by leaving a message on our chat forum. Alternately, if you want to meet other mums in your area with similar age babies, visit our people section to find out what’s happening in your area. If you have any unanswered questions, use our questions page to gain wisdom from other moms or our resident experts for all those pregnancy or baby-related niggles. Have a look at our kit section where we list our favorite baby gear.