Our top tips for surviving those nights
The first few weeks of night feeds and soothing your newborn can pass in a bit of a blur. You may feel like you’re the only one awake at 2am but you're not alone!
Some nights you may want to chat to a fellow mum pal (there'll always be at least one also awake!), other times what you need is to find a moment of calm, and sometimes you need to sit back and enjoy some funny mum shows that make you giggle and feel like you’re not doing such a bad job after all!
We’ve put together our top tips for surviving those nights and helping you to feel a little lighter.
Chat to someone who gets it!
There’ll always be another mum up in the middle of the night going through the same feed/wind/change/soothe motions as you and it can be so helpful and reassuring to talk to another mum who just gets it. If you’ve been to our antenatal classes you’ll already have a Bambino Club group that you can reach out to. There are also facebook groups, mumsnet forums and apps to match you with other new mums - so get chatting!
Find a moment of calm
Waking overnight to feed your baby can be exhausting and this sleep deprivation coupled with dealing with a newborn baby can leave you feeling worn out. There are some great apps such as Calm and Headspace which offer guided meditations, stories and specific ones to help with sleep that you may find really useful. If that’s not your thing you could choose whatever music makes you feel most relaxed and pop your headphones in and take some long relaxing breaths. Let your partner know when you need to take a break and even if it's just for 5 minutes shut yourself away and take a moment.
Have a giggle watching some of our best ‘mum life’ shows
Sometimes you feel like you’ve only just finished feeding and put your baby down to sleep and yet they’re up again looking for some more! For those nights when you’re bleary eyed and need a pick me up, pop one of these shows on and have a good comedy binge…
Workin Moms
Catastrophe
The Letdown
Motherland
Pop the headphones in and listen to a podcast
There are some really fantastic podcasts out there and they can be great to dip into in the middle of the night. Top tip - wireless headphones are amazing when you’re rocking your baby/doing a strange jig thing that seems to soothe them, and avoids them grabbing the wires and pulling the earphones out. Whilst you may prefer to listen to non mum related things, the following list is of our favourite mum podcasts as they’re relatable and easy listening which is what most people need at 3am!
Happy Mum, Happy Baby
Motherkind
Scrummy Mummies
We hope this helps and makes some of those nights a little easier. Remember those night wakes won’t last forever and the most important thing is to reach out if you’re feeling overwhelmed. This may be to your partner, loved ones, or to a helpline such as Cry-sis (08451228669), there’s always someone to talk to.
