Night Nanny - yeah!

We finally got some sleep. We were at our wits end and finally hired a night nanny yesterday. We found a free referral service in our area and she had one for us by 10am on Monday. We called on Sunday after 48 hours noooo sleep. The babies sleep great during the day by the way - nightitme is another story.

She came over and met with me yesterday afternoon, I checked her references and reviewed the criminal check done by the referral company and she started last night. We also set the alarm while she was here and I think that helped me to feel a bit more safe.

She was fabulous and I only went downstairs to check on them once at about 4am. My dd gets into what I call a "scream cycle" and she gets kind of stuck. I could tell she was in it so I went downstairs to help but really the nanny was doing great. She was feeding ds and rocking dd in her boucy with her foot. DD was already fed and changed, just stuck in the cycle. I held her for a bit and she stopped and I went back up to bed and slept some more!!!!

The nanny is coming Mon, Weds., and Fri. from 11pm-6am and we are thrilled. I was so amazed to be actually laying down with my DH in the same bed and the same time last night. I am alone with the babies during the day so this really gives me the energy to keep up with them. And, if we don't sleep tonight I will not panick as I know Weds. is just around the corner and sleep possible then.

It is only costing us $13 an hour which was not as bad as I thought and well worth it for a couple of weeks to regroup. We don't have any family in the area and my mother was already here for a week and a half and said she cannot come back as she has too many "commitments'...meaning tennis, golf, bridge club, etc.... Oh well, I think we figured it out on our own which is better anyway.

Now, does anyone know how to turn 3 week old babies back to a normal day and night schedule? They have been fast asleep since 7am and it is 9:10 now. They really don't do three hour stretches at night like they will during the day.

Thanks,
Amy

 

That's great news ... we almost paid double in the big city ... but it was still worth it!!!

 

Woo-hoo for sleep!!!

 

How nice to finally get some sleep! That makes the biggest difference.
One thing that helped my babies realize the difference between night and day is to not them sleep longer then a 3 hour stretch at a time. I read in an article that newborn babies typically can do a five hour stretch and you want teach them to do that stretch at night.

HTH!

 

How nice to finally get some sleep! That makes the biggest difference.
One thing that helped my babies realize the difference between night and day is to not them sleep longer then a 3 hour stretch at a time. I read in an article that newborn babies typically can do a five hour stretch and you want teach them to do that stretch at night.

HTH!

 

That is so great that you are able to get some sleep (and look forward to getting more!). And that is a very reasonable rate for a night nanny. -Leighann

 

From birth DS has wanted to be a day sleeper so the first dew weeks were hard at night. what worked for us was not letting him sleep for more than 2hrs at a time during the day, "bothering" (stroking his face, wiggling his hands a feet just a little so he would stir) him when he was sleeping closer to that last feeding before we wanted that longer stretch. we also made sure he was washed up, diaper changed, pjs,swaddled etc right before the last feeding so he could drift off right after eating and we could just put him right in his bed.

Glad you found a nanny and are getting some sleep it really helps!

Alyson