- Babies don’t naturally want to sleep.
- Not all babies can breastfeed.
- Nighttime breast milk hack.
- Parenthood = Reflex Upgrade.
- Babies have to learn to eat solid foods.
1. Babies Don’t Naturally Want to Sleep
A month or two after birth, babies naturally stop wanting to sleep all the time. This fact confused me a lot.
Why wouldn’t my baby go to sleep when he was clearly very tired? Why would my baby choose to stay awake even though it was making him miserable, or overtired? The truth is… young children are a lot like puppies. Puppies need potty training and exercise, and babies need sleep training.
I quickly learned that letting him dictate his own naptimes does not work. If babies stay up too long, they become overtired. When your baby stays up past their internal naptime, its little brain sends adrenaline all through the body. Baby becomes much more stressed, agitated, and frustrated. This makes going to sleep very difficult for baby.
2. Not All Babies Can Breastfeed
What? But isn’t breastfeeding natural??
Breastfeeding does not come naturally to all babies OR all mothers. For some, it’s very difficult at first, for others it’s impossible.
Why is it difficult? There are hundreds of answers to that question. With my baby personally, his problem was that my nipples were too short. No matter what I did, no matter how I positioned him, no matter how badly we both wanted to succeed– he couldn’t feel my breast in his mouth. If you’d like to know how baby and I beat this fact, click here.
3. Nighttime Breast Milk Hack
Did you know that breast milk pumped at night helps baby sleep? I didn’t! Your mom-bod can tell time! When it’s dark outside and you’re tired from a long day, your brain adds an extra dose or two of melatonin to help you out!
So what’s the hack? Pump extra milk at night, throw it in the freezer, and wait until your little cutey is refusing to take that nap. It’ll calm him or her right down. This hack works wonders!
4. Parenthood = Reflex Upgrade
What does this mean? It means your reflex speed just dropped by ten seconds (thirty for me) at least. See someone’s glass tipping from across the counter? You can suddenly catch it! Is the fun-loving dog about to fall off the porch? Not with you around!
For someone who was not good at playing sports growing up, this was huge. I felt like a superhuman! Not only was I rocking this motherhood thing, but I was preventing so many more accidents!
5. Babies Have to Learn to Eat Solid Foods.
At six months, I gave my baby his first bite of avocado. He stared at me and laughed! What a silly game Mommy and him were playing. I was horrified. I watched him smoosh this poor avocado slice for probably ten minutes. He got it in his mouth! Was he going to get the idea and eat?! … He spit it out… Turns out, not only did my baby not know how to eat but he didn’t even know he was supposed to. Hunger meant bottle time, not solid food time. Babies have to learn to eat solid foods.
If you’re interested in learning the method that worked for me, click here.
Thank you for reading!
About the Author
Hello! I’m Rose.
Thank you for reading my blog!
I’m a single mother to a beautiful baby boy. Every day I jungle being a college student, growing my relationship with Jesus, implementing positive parenting, and being present with my child.
I love to share my experiences raising my rosebud and the lessons life has taught me along the way. Have a blessed day and remember: You are NOT alone.