Baby Laughs: The Naked Truth About the First Year of Mommyhood by McCarthy Jenny

Author:McCarthy, Jenny [McCarthy, Jenny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2006-04-04T00:00:00+00:00

A New Mom’s BIGGEST Fear

(Crib Death)

This is one of the initial fears you will experience as a new mom that will carry on throughout your first year. Every new mom talks about it, and I’m glad they do. The good news is that crib death, otherwise known as SIDS, is way down, but it haunts all moms at night as they lay their little birds to sleep.

The “old” way of having babies sleep was on their tummies. And by old I mean all the way back around 1994. 1994? Wow, that’s like when Britney Spears was actually still a virgin. Anyway, I guess back then they figured babies wouldn’t choke if they spit their milk up in the middle of the night. Then they did a study and found that fewer babies died from crib death when they slept on their backs. And that was that.

Now, when you see the nursery in the hospital, all the babies are on their backs or sometimes on a slant. When I say slant, I mean on a slant cushion or with a blanket tucked along the side of the baby’s back so if he spits up it will slide down the side of his face. I highly recommend using the “slant” method. Just remember to rotate the baby so he doesn’t develop a slanted head. One night slant to the right, then the next night slant to the left. That way you’ll have a safer baby with a pretty-shaped head. Also, experts suggest not using a blanket to lightly cover your baby. Instead, wrap up the baby like a burrito, just like they do in the hospital. Once he grows out of the burrito-wrapping age, just dress him in warm PJs.

The first night home I was terrified. Just imagining anything happening to my bird crushed my insides. The grim reaper of newborns was out there, and I wanted to dice him up in my blender and feed him to my neighbor’s barking dog. I was going to make sure the bastard never got near my kid, even if that meant waking up every hour to check on him, which was exactly what I did in the beginning. I had a twin bed set up in his room, which is where I slept for about two months. I wanted my son to get used to his crib and not become dependent on sleeping in my room, so I joined him in his. I loved staring at him and listening to those inhales and exhales while I fell asleep. Who needs ocean waves crashing or a stream of water to relax you when you’ve got baby breaths? If I could have bottled them up I would have.

So, the first night I got up about every hour to check my son’s breathing. I didn’t set an alarm; I had the old Mommy clock now inside me that told me to wake up every hour. As days passed and I felt a little bit more comfortable, I relied on his feeding-time wake-ups, which were about every three hours.

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