Читать книгу Help Your Baby to Sleep - Penney Hames - Страница 19

• Pessimistic?

• Lacking in energy?

• Upset over trivialities?

• Can’t see the wood for the trees?

Maybe you’re not getting enough REM sleep. When you have a baby you may need more REM sleep than usual to help your brain ‘organize’ your thoughts and feelings, and file away yesterday’s business.

People who are deprived of REM sleep for a long time become depressed and disorganized. They are unable to focus on what is important because they haven’t been able to deal with the debris of the previous day before they start the next. Try to arrange things so that you can get a block of REM sleep at least every other night – you’ll feel more energetic, optimistic and self-confident the next day. Try the following:

• Go to bed earlier than usual, so that you get to your REM sleep before your baby gets to you.

• Ask your partner to be responsible for the early morning shift from 4am onwards – at least once in a while.

• If you’re breastfeeding ask your partner to listen out for the baby and to bring him to you in the early hours.

Researchers have found that when adults are woken while in light sleep it makes little or no difference to their day; when woken from deep sleep they tend to be a little tired; but when woken from dream sleep they find it extremely difficult to cope with their tasks the next day (Ferber, 1985, and Rotenberg, 1992).

Babies cope with frequent night-time wakings better than their parents because they set the pace.