[blparent] falling asleep?

Wed Feb 3 15:11:53 UTC 2010

Hi,

Yes and it's not just being warn either, Remus helps me dress him or undress 
him now, and he's so proud when he helps.  I should start putting hihm on my 
back soon and see how he likes it.

Tammy
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dena Wainwright" <dena at envogueaccess.com>
To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2010 4:54 AM
Subject: Re: [blparent] falling asleep?

>I have an Ergo Sport, too, and have been very pleased with it. I use it on 
>my back, as Elise is now 22 pounds, and she will stay happily in there for 
>1.5 hours while I shop or do things around the house. The other thing to 
>note is that once babies have been worn a lot, they start to know how to 
>"help" you get them on.
> Dena
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Tammy, Paul and Colyn" <tcl189 at rogers.com>
> To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2010 8:47 PM
> Subject: Re: [blparent] falling asleep?
>
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I totally agree with all of the suggestions and advice in the below post. 
>> I never put my first son in to bed with me, and I got a basinette for my 
>> second son to sleep in, but it was not used very much.  Most of the time 
>> he slept with us in our bed, especially during the day when I needed 
>> sleep and taking him to bed was the only way I could get some.  Also, we 
>> nursed a lot in bed as well which helped my milk supply and allowed him 
>> to eat whenever he wanted to.  Now he sleeps all through the night in his 
>> own crib.
>> I also have a baby carrier that I use when he wants to be carried but I 
>> need to get stuff done.  I tried all the baby carriers I could find to 
>> try, snugglies, slings, wraps, and I didn't like any of them, mainly 
>> because either I felt like my baby was close to falling out all the time, 
>> or because after awhile my back started to hurt and I couldn't wear them 
>> anymore. After tons of experimenting and research I bought the Ergo baby 
>> carrier, and although it's a little pricey it's well worth the money. 
>> If you go that route though, you'll need to buy the infant insert, and 
>> buy the sport model of the carrier because it's more comfortable.  The 
>> thing I really like about the carrier is that it can carry your baby on 
>> your front, hip or back, and there are optional accessories like a 
>> backpack and diaper bag that attach to it to make life easier while 
>> you're carrying your little one.  Also, when you're baby's in the carrier 
>> he's being well supported in a little seat shaped thing instead of just 
>> hanging there by his crotch like most pack carriers.
>> The carrier was a Godsend because I could fall asleep sometimes with him 
>> in there and I didn't have to worry about him falling out.
>>
>> hth
>>
>> Tammy
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Dena Wainwright" <dena at envogueaccess.com>
>> To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2010 3:42 PM
>> 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
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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