New Parent Sleep Advice for Beyonce and Jay Z

This post has a happy new couple in mind. Congratulations to Beyonce and Jay-Z on their new baby girl Blue Ivy Carter!

As new parents, the playing field has been leveled when it comes to sleep! Here is a quick guide to getting the most out of your night!

• Your bed is your bed! As cute as the mattress commercials are with the whole family snuggling or waking up together…. It’s not a reality. Your bed needs to be sacred to you. Nursing, and loving are great, but when it comes time to sleep, it’s crib time. (not to mention the safety issues of sleeping with a newborn)
• When your baby sleeps you sleep! It may seem like common sense, but more often then not, parents try to clean, catch up on emails, make phone calls, or do anything else but sleep…. It’s not that we don’t want to sleep it just that we don’t have time to all the other stuff while we are taking care of our new little one. The fact is, sleep needs to be a priority, especially in the beginning. An over exhausted parent can cause more harm than good.
• Schedule nighttime duties! As much as we would like to be the “all in” parent. We all need sleep! By splitting up nighttime changing, and bottle feeding you can help each other catch a few more precious minutes of sleep each night.
• Nap, nap, nap! Seriously, even a 10-minute nap can make all the difference when dealing with a newborn. So, when family or close friends come over to say hello, use some of the time to take a quick nap.
• Crying is OK! It’s understandable that you want to be there for your child, but sometimes babies just cry and are fussy. Check the basics; is something causing pain, is their diaper clean, are they hungry? If all of those are good then let them be. A lot of parents wear themselves out by rushing to the crib every time they hear a noise. It’s OK to wait a few minutes, and see if your child goes back to sleep on their own.

And remember according to Dr. David Rapoport “a tremendous amount of sleep is habit driven. So, if you set up a routine you better be prepared to live with it.”  Making the right choices early, can truly make all the difference.

This includes taking care of yourself and making sure that you are getting all the rest, nutrition, and exercise you need to be an active parent.

So, Good Luck, God Bless and Welcome to Parenthood!

Nathan