When you have a baby, unless you decide to have the baby room in with you, he or she spends the entire night in the nursery where there are nurses who feed, change, and comfort them. In the morning you can request your baby whenever you desire, so if you choose to sleep in you're able to and you're not woken up by your infant. This is a wonderful luxury and should be taken advantage of by every mother. You've body has just gone through a traumatic experience and you need your rest especially since you need to be ready in a couple of days to do it on your own. You should never feel guilty about sending your baby back to the nursery in the evening. They're going to spend most of the time sleeping as well and if you have chosen to breastfeed, you can ask the nurse to bring you your baby during the night when he or she needs to eat. You could also do this if you're bottle feeding if you wish to be the one you feeds your child in his first few days.
When you do arrive home the first week or so can be misleading. Newborns spend most of their days and nights sleeping off the trauma of their birth. Even the easiest deliveries are a shock to a baby and can tire them out. You may become spoiled very quickly when your little one goes to bed with ease and only wakes to be changed, eat, and then they go directly back to sleep with no trouble at all. Infants are simply just so tired that they don't need much comforting to fall into a deep sleep. They just need to have their basic needs fulfilled and they're set for a few more hours. Take advantage of these days and get as much sleep as you can. A good idea, if possible, is to have your spouse take over the majority of the work in the middle of the night so you can spend at least a few days resting and recovering from delivery. You will feel better sooner and you'll be able to care for your child better. If you're breastfeeding, your spouse can bring the baby to you to be fed, and can then take the baby back when you're done.
After the first week or so of baby being home you will start to get a better understanding of the type of baby your son or daughter is going to be. A large majority of babies have their days and nights mixed up for quite some time. This doesn't mean they are going to be up for 8 hours in the middle of the night, but you may find they wake more frequently in the middle of the night to be changed, fed, or to be rocked back to sleep. There may be a few wakeful moments where you look down at your baby and they stare right back at you with their eyes wide open, wide awake. This can be a stressful situation for all parents, so it's wise to take a deep breath, and remember that this little human being needs you, and is relying on you to care for them and comfort them. You can make up for the sleep later so try not to worry about that too much at that exact moment- it can drive any parent crazy. Slowly you'll learn what comforts your baby best, what sounds or positions he or she prefers, how much your baby prefers to eat at one time, what time he or she likes to be put down for the night, and you'll slowly figure out what situations are going to work best for your family. Your initial plan of action may not be exactly what ends up working out, so remain open to changing the game plan. At first I was very much opposed to co-sleeping with our child but I found that once my husband left for work in the morning, my choice was to either get up with my son at 6:30 in the morning and remain up for the rest of the day, or I could bring him into the bed with me and have the potential for sleeping a few more hours. My son slept ten times better in bed with us then he did in his crib, so while we didn't co-sleep on a consistent basis, we did utilize it here and there on nights when our son was refusing to go back to sleep and we had only gotten a couple of hours and were feeling pretty irritable and exhausted. It made for a much happier and well rested family. At the end of two months some babies begin to sleep a little longer at a time during the night (If you're lucky). If you baby doesn't seem to be budging on his or her routine, don't worry, it will get better!
Something you can't really plan ahead for is issues like colic or acid reflux. It didn't occur to me that our child could have a problem with keeping his formula down, but at around 3 weeks of age, he began throwing up an entire bottle every few days. He also suffered from some nasal congestion which we found out was all due to acid reflux issues. His pediatrician's office suggested thickening his formula to help keep his food down, and we tried every product and technique we could to try and help clear up his nasal congestion. We made trip after to trip to pick up gas drops, saline drops, wedges for him to sleep on, different bottles and so on. The initial formula I had stocked up on, and the bottles I had purchased ended up being thrown in the garbage and we used things that worked a lot better for our son. The best thing you can do is be prepared with a few bottles, and a small can of formula, but be prepared to ditch those products and use something else if it may work better. If you're going to attempt breastfeeding it's wise to be prepared with information. The problems I ran into with breastfeeding required last minute trips to the store to deal with specific problems that I could have never really prepared for before my baby arrived. There is no way of knowing if your child is going to have a difficult time with taking to the breast and what it is that might make it easier for you. I had a nursing pillow ready for breastfeeding and I found that even that was useless. I held him a lot easier in my arms and the pillow just got in the way. Besides that, he didn't even find it comfortable and fussed when I would try to use it.
A newborn baby, even if he or she was born full term, is under developed. This can cause some issues with feeding, nursing, sleeping, breathing and so on. It's usually nothing to worry or stress out about, but keep in mind some unforeseen circumstances may creep up. Be open to this and handle things as they come and you'll find things going much smoother. Be prepared for trips to buy different products, clothes that fit better, sweaters and extra blankets if the weather is cooler than normal, carriers or slings that work better and are tolerated better than the ones you had previously bought, thermometers that work better than what you have and trips to the pediatrician to make sure that pesky symptom is perfectly normal. Keep in mind that you're starting to learn your child's personality as it develops, and they have their own set of needs and wants that you'll grow to understand and care for. You can only plan so much for the journey you are about to embark on. The first two months definitely have the potential for being stressful and challenging. If you stay calm and work out a plan that you and your spouse can share, you have the greatest chance at being successful parents and having a happy baby. As far as the first two months goes, expect the unexpected!
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