What you might worry about when you’re pregnant and lying awake at night.
It’s 3am and you can’t sleep, not because the little being in your belly is kicking you, they have finally settled down.
You’ve built a nest of pillows supporting every joint and you’ve been to the bathroom. You should be able to sleep. But you can’t…
3.10am
Does sleep deprivation hurt growing babies?
What about that pâté you tasted yesterday before your friend said you shouldn’t? Is she right? There’s so much to worry about, so many rules to remember and so much you could get wrong.
3.20am
The baby isn’t even here yet and you don’t know if you’ve got it all wrong.
How much more is there to mess up with a newborn? Do you breastfeed or not? How do you know if they’ve had enough? What happens if they need to burp and you don’t realise? Or if you don’t support the head properly? On TV they always tell people to support the baby’s head and neck. So what happens if the head flops back? Oh my goodness, you’re about to have a baby and you don’t even know how this can harm your baby.
3.30am
You’re going to be the worst mother ever…
What else is there that you don’t know? You’ll make mistakes without even knowing that there was a mistake to be made. It’s all going to be a disaster!
Stop right there.
I know you worry. It’s normal, it shows how much you care and that’s a good thing.
But don’t let it take over. Find someone you trust, it could be a book or a good blog. Someone you follow on social media. It could be your best friend or your mum.
For my clients it’s me.
When worries threaten to take over, turn to that person and seek out information. Let them reassure you that you are going to be a fantastic mother, in fact you already are. Yes, you’ll make the odd mistake, everyone does. But you’ll learn, you’ll handle it and you’ll do an amazing job!
Babies are tougher than you might imagine. Give them love and attention, take care of their basic needs, help them to get the rest they need and they are usually pretty content. Of course sometimes it’s a little harder but if that happens my clients always know they can turn to me.
With my years of experience I have seen most things before and I can normally work out what’s going on. I’ll be there beside you when you first put a wriggly, slippery newborn in the bath, and I’ll show you my special tricks for trimming newborn fingernails. By the time I leave you’ll be as confident as I am.
It will be fine.
Now, put on that relaxation track and get some sleep!