VeLenz

With both my children I fed whenever they wanted to the first four weeks or so. It was pretty erratic and I gave myself as much time to relax as possible (many times sleeping whilst they fed in the middle of the night!). As soon as I felt ready for it, i began to introduce the concept of night time and day time. I decided that seven o'clock sounded like a good time for babies to go to sleep, so at around six thirty i began a routine of bathing/cleaning, changing into a sleep suit, feeding, and putting down to bed at the same time, irrespective of his/her mood or state of sleepiness or wakefulness. I did try and put them down awake, talking to them softly and explaining the situation. I also did not sleep with my children in my own room. They sleep adjacent to our room and I've never had any trouble hearing them in the middle of the night. I believe this made me more relaxed and as a result i was more rested. By 12 and 16 weeks respectively, both my children slept through the night.

I had my daughter at Kings at Christmas and had a wonderful experience. The midwives were very caring despite being understaffed due to holiday period. I too had an instrumental delivery (foreceps) and quite a lot of tearing, but I felt the medical team was very well prepared and expert in their care. Once in the post natal ward, a midwife helped me thourout the entire night and was a truly calming angel. I would do it all over again at Kings!

My daughetr was born in December and I remember the most important thing for me was having a thermometer in the room, monitoring temp. at a constant 18 degrees C. She slept in a vest and a sleep suit and into a think sleeping bag almost from day one. HOWEVER- she did not like being swaddled. I would try swaddleing your new born first, as it makes falling asleep a lot easier.

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