I think all moms and dads go through some long and loud first nights with their newborns. Aya was no exception. She would sleep and sleep and sleep during the day and then cry and cry and cry all night long...which would have been okay if our own day and night schedules were reversed too. When I got in touch with Mary Kay, my lactation consultant and dear friend's mom, I told her how difficult it was to get Aya to settle in at night. I explained that she would cry hard for long periods of time until finally going back to sleep snuggled up against my chest. Mary Kay wondered how often Aya was eating during the day and was surprised when I told her she would easily go 5 hour stretches in the daytime without food. Mary Kay suggested we needed to wake Aya during the day to feed her every two hours if we could, not only to help establish my milk supply, but also to give Aya more tactile touch during the day in hopes she would sleep better at night. After a day or two of getting Aya up to eat during the day, to hold her close and love her, her nights went a lot more smoothly, and so did ours. It is these little tips I wish I had known about. Sweet Aya needed love and affection; she didn't know the difference between 3 pm and 3 am, but I certainly appreciated it when we helped her figure it out.
The following article, The World Through My Child's Eyes, beautifully paints a picture of those first few nights. http://www.llli.org/NB/NBNovDec06p256.html
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