| The 4th trimester?
Yep, that wasn’t a typo. The 4th trimester is no myth it actually exists! | | | So, what exactly is the 4th trimester you ask?
Well, it’s the first 3 months of your baby’s life, often referred to as “the missing fourth trimester”. This is because it is believed that babies are born earlier than they are developmentally ready, simply because their Mums bodies cannot physically deliver a baby with a brain/skull the size of a 12 month old. | | | | During this phase, our little ones are learning and adjusting to their new life in the outside world. Sleep doesn’t come naturally to them. So, we need to go easy and slow on our new babies, and ourselves. Don’t put pressure on yourself to get your little one self settling and sleeping through the night, this will take time. However, to get you started we have put together our top tips to help you get through the beautifully exhausting 4th trimester. | | | Awake times If you are going to take any piece of advice, this one is it! Newborns can only really manage 45 minutes to 1 hour of awake time before they will need to go to sleep again, for the first 6 weeks of their life. It will then slowly increase to around 1.5 hours over the next 6 weeks. Newborns become overtired very quickly and this makes settling them a lot harder! Crying is often the sign they give once they are well past their ‘window’ to get them down. Try to take note of what little signs they are giving you before this happens. Environment After about the first 3 weeks, it is a great idea to start looking at your newborn's sleep environment. They are now starting to produce their own melatonin (the sleepy hormone), whereas before they were running high off of Mumma’s! An easy way to help the body produce this is by sleeping them in a dark space. White noise is also a game changer. This helps drown out any background noises and allows them to hear the same consistent sound while they sleep. Swaddling is also great and will help your newborn get past those jerky arms and legs they have no control over yet! Day and Night Newborns have little to no concept of day and night while they are establishing their circadian rhythm (internal body clock). To help with this we encourage you to wake your little bundle up after 2 hours or so of sleep to offer them a feed and some awake time. Babies need a certain number of calories every 24 hours. Help them get these during the day as well, or they will need to get them all night long! SURRENDER! When you’re in the thick of broken sleep, feeding, dirty nappies and milk going everywhere, you think it will never end. We promise, it does and quickly. This is such a special time where you and your little one are both learning about each other. Take it all in, sit on the couch, watch Netflix, and marvel at the beautiful life you've built while munching on UberEATS! Forget about the washing, folding and the million other things that are calling your attention. They can wait! | | | Remember Newborn sleep is inconsistent, every day will look different to the next. If you are looking for that extra guidance when it comes to nurturing sleep in the fourth trimester, I'm here to help! Check out my newborn program or book a one-on-one consult. I'll be there with you every step of the way! | | | | |
