Sleeping through the night with a newborn
Are you wondering how to get enough sleep once you bring your newborn home? One solution, a postpartum doula who works overnight! When you think about a doula, you may picture a very “granola” woman who meets you for your at home, “all-natural” birth. It turns out, the doula world has grown so far beyond this, thank goodness. While that absolutely CAN be the doula for your birth experience, it’s not the ONLY option. Doulas come from all types of backgrounds, should support your birth no matter if it’s at home or a hospital, and they can even be men. Most importantly, we don’t just support pregnancy and birth. A postpartum doula is there to help parents adjust to their new life and baby once everyone is home. An overnight doula, specifically, is there to ensure you catch up on your much needed sleep.
According to this article published in Medical News Today, new parents lose a total of 6 months of sleep during their baby’s first 2 years of life. According to my own calculations that’s…too much. You don’t just get tired when you miss out on that much sleep. You can end up with memory issues, increased irritability, weakened immunity, and more.
You can hire an overnight doula to be there on your first night home or you can reach out for help one to two nights a week just to feel some sort of balance. Everyone has their own style but I personally like to ask people how they are feeling in general, see what their sleeping goals are, and get them off to bed as quickly as possible. Most doulas do have 8-10 hour minimum shifts which is just enough time to take a shower, catch up on a little trash tv, read, whatever you want plus SLEEP! Glorious, glorious sleep. When your baby wakes up for those nighttime feeds, or is fussy, gassy, needs a diaper change, or just wants to be held, your doula is right there! If you’re breastfeeding, your doula will bring baby to you for feeding, plus a snack and a glass of water for you. Then the doula will do the burping and soothe the baby back to sleep.
When morning arrives, you get an update on how the night went and start your day well rested as your doula heads out the door. Doesn’t that seem magical? And don’t you deserve that kind of magic in your life?! I think yes.
