[blparent] falling asleep?

Wed Feb 3 03:14:26 UTC 2010

Hi Leslie,
I have a tendency to doze off if I'm sitting still, too, and while nursing 
it happens a lot.  Something I have found is that if I really don't want to 
fall asleep, I have to keep myself moving.  Sitting still, even if the TV or 
a book is on, I will inevitably fall asleep.  I would even nurse standing up 
with the baby in a wrap in order to keep myself awake.
I also co-slept with my babies though, and took precautions as Dena said.  I 
had a child, like Dena's, who absolutely would not sleep without being held, 
so she slept with me every night until she was 18 months old.  Ironically, 
she is my best sleeper now. *smile*
I think you have to decide what you are most comfortable with.  If you are 
ok with letting your baby fall asleep on your chest, then just do what you 
can to make him as safe as possible and take a nap with him.  If you're not, 
keep yourself as active as possible.  Rock in a rocking chair while singing, 
stand up, use your free hand that is not holding the baby to do something... 
Just don't sit still in a comfortable position or you've lost the battle. 
*smile*
Hope that helps.
Leanne
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Leslie Hamric" <lhamric930 at comcast.net>
To: "'NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List'" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2010 5:46 PM
Subject: Re: [blparent] falling asleep?


> Thanks Dena.  Your points are well taken but like Sharon said, I've had 
> this
> sleep issue since way back.  I love this list because I can get so many
> ideas about things I never even thought of before.
> Leslie
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Dena Wainwright
> Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2010 2:43 PM
> To: NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [blparent] falling asleep?
>
> OK...First, falling asleep while holding your baby isn't necessarily a bad
> thing if you prepare for that possibility. Yes, you absolutely must be 
> more
> careful initially, both because he is extra tiny, and because he lacks 
> head
> control. Yes, you could smother him - if you fell asleep with blankets 
> over
> you both, tons of fluffy pillows all around you, with his face smushed 
> into
> your body or clothing so he couldn't breathe, etc., but falling asleep 
> with
> your baby in your arms does not automatically equate to a suffocation
> hazard.
>
> For the first several months of Elise's life, the only way she would sleep
> is literally on my body. Maybe there are those who would disagree with 
> this
> strategy, but if you've never had a child who absolutely would not sleep
> without physical contact (I mean for more than 10 minutes at a 
> time...ever)
> then I'm not really interested in hearing how horrible you think it is. I
> thought (before I had this kind of baby) that cosleeping was stupid. I
> couldn't understand why anyone in their right mind would want to do it,
> especially when their child had a perfectly good crib or bassinette... 
> Then
> I found myself in the situation where I probably wouldn't have gotten more
> than 2 hours of sleep a day if I wasn't holding my baby, and suddenly it
> didn't seem so dumb.
>
> Here are a couple of things you can do.
>
> If you do want to sleep with him:
> First, you can lay in the middle of your bed (with every blanket but the
> fitted sheet taken off of it). You can place a very firm pillow under your
> head (no other pillows of any kind should be on the bed). You can wear 
> warm
> (but non-bulky) clothing to keep yourself from getting cold. If you really
> want to, you can put a bed rail on the bed, but I found that given that I
> was a good couple of feet from the edges, I didn't really need to. 
> However,
> if you don't have the luxury of your own bed (we have a guest room, which
> made shift-taking easier in the beginning), you might want a rail on your
> side. Then you can place your baby on your stomach. He will be laying 
> tummy
> to tummy with you, with his head between your breasts. This is very 
> soothing
>
> for mom and baby, and can increase milk production if done skin to skin. 
> You
>
> won't need to put a lot of clothing on him if you're doing this, as your
> combined body heat will keep him very warm, and it is actually better to
> keep babies on the cooler side as opposed to the warmer side.
>
> Another thing you can do is wear him in a pouch on your front. This would
> allow you to sit up with him, but still be able to hold him securely. I 
> will
>
> preface the pouch suggestion by saying that you should *never* *never* put 
> a
>
> newborn baby with no head control into a sling of any kind in the cradle
> position. The cradle position is where he is laying on his back across the
> front of your body (like he would be if you had one of your arms behind 
> his
> head, and one under his bum and knees. This is an extremely dangerous
> position for such a young baby, because their chin can be pushed forward
> into their chest - cutting off their air supply. Because they are not able
> to move their head to accommodate this decreased air supply, they can
> literally suffocate to death in your arms. If you think I'm being
> overly-dramatic, my friend saw a 2 week old baby die in front of her 
> because
>
> of this exact thing. If you want to use a pouch, the safest way to wear 
> your
>
> baby is to put him in so that his body is parallel to yours. His stomach
> will be against your chest, his head will be under your chin, and his legs
> will be folded froggy-style (with his heels resting against his bum and 
> his
> knees bowed outward). Even very tiny babies have the ability to minimally
> shift their head from side to side, even if they can't lift it up on their
> own. This position makes it less likely that his chin will be pushed down
> into his chest, and it will also make it easier for you to hear him
> breathing, because his face will be about 8 inches away from your own.
> Again, he won't need more than a onesie if he's in a pouch, as they are 
> very
>
> warm. I got mine from
> www.kangarookorner.com
> Their staff is very helpful at describing their products, and assisting 
> you
> with placing your order. They actually apologized to me that their site
> wasn't easier for me to use.
>
> Hope some of this helps.
>
> Dena
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Leslie Hamric" <lhamric930 at comcast.net>
> To: "'NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List'" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2010 8:54 AM
> Subject: [blparent] falling asleep?
>
>
>> Hi All.  I was wondering if you could give me any ideas, as I'm running
>> into
>> a problem that could be potentially serious.  Its happened a few times
>> where
>> I've fallen asleep with my baby in my arms.  The first time it happened,
>> one
>> of the nurses saw it and she informed me that I could potentially
>> suffocate
>> my baby by doing this. The problem is that I don't always know I'm 
>> getting
>> sleepy unless someone tells me I am or until I start nodding off.  I had 
>> a
>> sleep study done in 2004 and the specialist said I have a non 24 hour
>> sleep
>> cycle and the only way to remedy that is to get a full 8 hours of sleep 
>> at
>> the same time every night.  Well, we both know that's virtually 
>> impossible
>> now that I'm a new mom.  Have you ever had this problem and if so, what
>> kinds of things did you do to stay awake while holding your baby?  One
>> thing
>> I've tried was having the radio on and that doesn't seem to help.  Andy's
>> really worried about me too. He doesn't want me to fall asleep and
>> accidentally smother the baby.  I don't want that either.  I'm just at a
>> loss of how to solve this issue.  I've heard other blind people having 
>> the
>> same problem since they don't get the light stimulation.
>>
>> Leslie
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> blparent mailing list
>> blparent at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> blparent:
>>
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/dena%40envogueacce
> ss.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> blparent mailing list
> blparent at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> blparent:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/lhamric930%40comca
> st.net
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> blparent mailing list
> blparent at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> blparent:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/leemer02%40gmail.com