Seton Baby Talk

When I was 6 years old, I decided that newborns were boring. I had eagerly awaited the birth of my brother, but when he arrived, he wasn’t the playful, cute infant I expected. All he did was sleep and eat. BO-ring.

Now that I have a newborn, I realize that they’re not so much boring as they are a puzzle. Like a Rubik’s Baby. Yes, my baby Paloma’s activities are mostly limited to sleeping and eating, but she’s more complicated and mysterious than that.

One large piece of the puzzle relates to sleep. I’ve been advised to sleep when the baby sleeps. Since newborns sleep a lot (roughly 16 hours a day), it would seem that I would have plenty of time for rejuvenating sleep! However, babies wake up to feed every 2.5-3 hours. That means that new parents don’t get to enjoy several consecutive hours of sleep. For people who have problems falling asleep (like my husband), this is a nightmare. As soon as he falls into a deep sleep our darling new alarm cries out.

Also, just because babies need so much sleep doesn’t mean that it’s easy to get them to go to sleep. Babies don’t automatically go into sleep mode as soon as they finish eating. They cry. They need to have their diapers changed. They cry some more. Sometimes I’ll take almost an hour to get my daughter to fall asleep. And then 15 minutes later, she’s awake! It seems that some babies (including my own) prefer to sleep in mommy’s or daddy’s arms. Preferably while sitting in a rocking chair. My daughter will drift into a deep sleep, but as soon as we put her in her bassinet, she awakens with a shocked look on her face. “How can you expect me to sleep in this thing?!” she seems to be thinking.

For someone who has so many issues falling and staying asleep, Paloma sure has a lot of beds. Of course, she has the standard crib and bassinet. However, she doesn’t seem to like to lie down flat. But, she does like to sleep close to (or on top of) me. So, I purchased a co-sleeper that fits in between my husband and me. It has a nightlight and soothing white noise. Paloma will sleep on that for about five minutes before waking up in a crying fit. She does like the bouncer chair, which allows her to sleep more upright. So, my husband and I pushed aside the co-sleeper to make room for the bouncer seat. This worked well for a few weeks. The other day, though, I noticed that she had slid down to the bottom of the bouncer seat, and her head was hanging forward. I just don’t feel comfortable allowing her to sleep like that. So, we bought her a rocker sleeper, which is kind of like a mini-hammock. She’s upright, it meets the standards of safety for bassinets...I think we’ve found a winner! One puzzle solved!

Of course, at this stage, my husband and I are still learning what her different cries mean and what different baby accessories are used for (I’m still trying to figure out what a “receiving blanket” is!). I suppose there will be a lot of trial and error, as well as big failures and successes. I can’t believe I ever thought that parents of newborns were bored!