How I would optimise my son’s sleep- Take 2!

If you missed take one, it was all about the things I did that impacted and ultimately improved my son’s sleep quality. Part two is a step by step guide for everything I would do if I had my time again.

Step 1- Pre-conception

Yep, sleep quality starts with mum to be in peak condition. I would do testing beyond your standard blood test to make sure my nutrition and gut health were in tip top condition before getting pregnant. Rigorous testing isn’t really necessary, but I know just how wrong things can go, and I wouldn’t want a repeat.

I would also make sure I would getting really good quality sleep and that my nervous system was functioning well.

Step 2- Pregnancy

Babies in the womb are technically parasites. This means they take what they need from the host without a care in the world about what happens to the host. That means, you need to be putting in what is being sucked out, ideally through a really good, well-balanced diet. But with things like morning sickness and fatigue, it can be really hard. So supplementing where needed. Having gone through really bad pregnancy nausea, and knowing what I know now, I do think that if I did step one well (AKA prepare my body), my pregnancy symptoms would probably be significantly reduced.

The other really important factor while pregnant is stress levels. It does impact the baby, so I would do whatever I needed to do to make sure the stress in my life was minimised.

Step 3- Labour and birth

Labour and birth is completely unpredictable but there is no harm is having a plan.

Firstly, as few interventions as possible. I’m talking inductions, drugs, medication, antibiotics. Delayed cord clamping if possible and then straight onto the chest. These things are usually out of our control and bub’s health at the time is always the most important thing.

If I had my time again, I would have no visitors for the first week at least so I had the time and space to bond and get use to the new life.

Step 4- Fourth Trimester

Regardless of whether I was having any trouble establishing breastfeeding, I would have a good IBCLC on hand and have an oral function assessment done. It impacts way more than just breastfeeding, so I would want to know what were dealing with, right from the start. If I had trouble with breastfeeding and there were signs of oral dysfunction, I wouldn’t hesitate to have any oral ties released.

In addition to that, imagine if you were cramped up in a tiny space for 9 months. You would probably have some tight muslces here and there. As soon as I possibly could, I would take bub for some chiropractic work to iron out any kinks.

The same as in pregnancy, breastmilk is your babies entire source of nutrition, so you need to be putting the good stuff back in that is being taken out. A well balanced diet is so important.

Step 5- The next baby

See step one! Give your body a bit of a break. It has grown and sustained an entire human! Get your minerals and vitamins back up by having a significant break between breastfeeding and the next bub. Nutrition affects everything so if you are starting depleted, you are going to grow a baby that is starting off nutritionally depleted, and if you ask me, THAT’S where all my problems started.