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| Baby with stuffed animal |
Secrets to Surviving Life With a New Born--"Swaddle" and "Swing"
I firmly believe that the keys to parenting success in the first three months are the two "S's"--the swaddle and the swing.
No exaggeration, I may have lost my mind during my first few months post-partum without this swing. I was blessed to receive it as a gift from two very thoughtful girl friends. They knew what I didn't, even in the early days of life children require entertainment. It must be all that time in their mothers stomachs where they get constant movement.
Our Swing Entertained the Baby
I don't claim to be a parenting expert, but I am a witness. Our Fisher-Price Little Lamb Swing swing helped me maintain my sanity, helped my baby relax, and stopped me from wringing Andre's neck (out of frustration) when he walked through the door from work. Thanks to this swing we had a relatively orderly and peaceful household very early after our baby was born. As any new parent knows, that is like hitting the lottery!
Swaddling Helped me Get a Good Night's Sleep
The other baby calming tip that I swear by is swaddling. Swaddling our daughter whenever she was supposed to sleep made her sleep four hours at a time fairly early. If you were used to getting eight hours asleep before you gave birth four hour might sound meager. However, if you compare it to only getting one or two hours asleep at a time because the baby keeps waking up, four hours will seem like heaven.
In my experience, "Swaddle Designs" makes the best swaddling blankets. They are large enough to do the job. They're also super soft.
We combined swaddling with "white noise" compliments of our "Cloud B Sleep Sheep" and it worked like a charm.
You Can be a New Mom Without Being Completely Sleep Deprived
I won't lie and say that I enjoyed eight hours of sleep straight. However, I was fortunate that I didn't spend my early mommy days in a sleep drunk haze. Our daughter would sleep for four hours, wake up to breastfeed for about 30 minutes or so and then sleep for another four hours or so. I complained because I didn't know any better. Now that I've spoken to other moms, I know that I had it good.
Enjoy your world!
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