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Friday, May 31, 2013

3 AM Routine

It's 3am and the monitor lights up. She's awake. G sleeps very well in my book and I can't really complain, especially because C was a hot mess and I know how lucky we are this time around. Regardless, every night around 3am, she wakes up to eat.

Fortunately, when G wakes up she stirs, grunts, and lets out a little groan. It's only if we don't hear her that she starts wailing. This is appreciated by everyone in the house. Since I'm breastfeeding her, I pull night duty. Woo. You know when you are woken up in the middle of a deep sleep and you literally can't open your eyes? And when you do it feels like your eyelids are sandpaper? Yeah...I'm a mess when I'm woken up at this hour. My saving grace is that when you breastfeed, food is always ready! Who knows what would happen if I needed to do math and make a bottle in that state of being.

After picking her up (and forgetting to turn off the Angel Care monitor half the time), I change her diaper, and we settle into the glider for a midnight snack. The hard part? Staying awake. If you didn't know, breastfeeding and the hormones it releases creates a nice calming effect for Mom and baby. This makes staying awake at 3am especially hard.

All I have to say is thank goodness for my iPad. When C was an infant, I had an iPod Touch, which worked the same, but if you're going to be up late nursing a baby I highly recommend some kind of back lit entertainment device. You don't want any other lights on in the room, so reading a book isn't really possible and watching TV can be too stimulating. A Kindle, Nook, iPad, smart phone, however? Perfect.

I read baby related articles, peruse The Bump, play Candy Crush, check various Tumblr sites, read my favorite blogs, surf Pinterest, and the occasional list on Buzz Feed. To help G settle back into sleep, I play the Lullaby Theme station on Pandora as I look at other things. Love that multi-app capability! It can take between 20 and 60 minutes to get G fed and back to bed, depending on how cooperative she is feeling.

So far, I've been successful at staying awake while I feed her - its safer for her and insures that I am awake when she falls asleep so I can get back in my comfy bed ASAP!


What do/did you do to stay awake for night feedings?

3 comments:

  1. I did nothing. I didn't want any lights or sounds to distract her from doing what she needed to do and go back to bed. I would sometimes catch myself falling asleep- you know, the head bob- maybe next time ill bring in the iPad.

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    1. You are good! I would pass out in a hot second! I just keep the brightness low and since she's facing the other way, it doesn't seem to distract her. Thank goodness!

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  2. I fall asleep ALL the time, even when I'm trying to stay awake with my iPhone. In fact I've accidentally dropped the phone on the baby while falling asleep a time or two, and then she's definitely awake. The middle of the night is an interesting time, isn't it?? :)

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