When to check on baby

[CoreyLewis25]

Hello all!.

Hopefully I am allowed here!, I have just become a father to my first child, who is a baby girl and were born yesterday.

I am just a slight over thinker and throughout pregnancy I used this app for advise and compared scenarios etc which helped a lot!.

I am hoping anyone can help. I am trying my best to help out my girlfriend who bless her hasn’t slept for 2 days she were left alone on a ward with our daughter over night as I wasn’t allowed to stay. We’ve now come home and I’ve forced her to sleep.

I’ve managed to change and feed my baby (hopefully done a good job lol) but my problem is every time I put her down to try have a nap she makes noises or moans or heavy breathing and I run over straight away and by the time I’ve got over she’s completely fine.

Obviously I don’t want to leave her but for future so I can get sleep is this okay and should I only be worried when cries?.

I am really sorry I hope this makes sense I’ve not really slept myself I am just trying my best to be a good dad but I need my sleep as I have type 1 diabetes.

Look forward to your responses. Any other advice/tips would be appreciated!!.

Corey

Congratulations on your little one!
I think its perfectly normal in the first few days to jump up as soon as little one makes a sound - you will soon get used to their little noises and snuffles!
The main thing is to make sure you're following safe sleeping guidelines - baby on flat safe space, no loose bedding, not too hot and feet at the bottom. Also someone should be in room with baby for at least first 6 months.
If you're unsure I'd visit the lullaby trust website.
As long as the baby is safe you will prob spend the next few days getting used to them and you will soon know when they need you.
But it is OK to have a nap and try to sleel whenever they do- in fact its pretty vital!
Good luck!

Babies can be noisy little buggers when they sleep!

And yes, check if crying. You'll start to know more over time.

You'll have to sleep as well, you both need to!

Congratulations!! So in the first weeks (sometimes months) babies can make some pretty crazy grunting and moaning noises while they sleep. We had this both times but especially with our second. This is totally normal and usually because of their immature digestive system - they are learning to adjust to the milk. Honestly, the sounds they make can be sooo loud, unusual and sounds uncomfortable for them at times. We would constantly think our DD had woken up when making these sounds but would look to find her sleeping and with time she would quieten again on her own during the sleep cycle. So you don't have to rush to pick them up each time they make a noise - especially when they are still asleep. I think it's a learning process in those first few days and weeks working out what their different moans and cries mean but I promise you will figure it out when they need picking up and attending to. You will also learn to sleep through the sounds that you don't have to worry about. So if they are asleep and making strange noises definitely leave them to figure it out. Also babies will make similar sorts of noises when they are settling themselves to sleep - so when they do wake, it's always worth leaving them for a little minutes to see if they can drift back off again. You will know/learn if their moans/grunts turns into more of a 'help me' cry.

In the first few days, in my experience, babies are often up quite a lot in the night for feeds and sometimes want cluster feeding, which means they will either keep breastfeeding a lot or take on a few bottles at a time. So it's not unusual for it to be quite tricky to settle them early on and not unusual for them to take on a lot of milk in one go or at frequent intervals. Sometimes though babies are still quite sleepy from birth and will have some really great sleeps in the first days.

Babies can need a lot of help setting in the first weeks/months usually as they are used to the conditions of the womb - so replicating those is usually ideal. For example swaddling (we used the velcro ones and they were fab), white noise, rocking and patting the bottom (to mimic heartbeat).

I hope this helps and makes sense, feel free to ask any questions. You both sound like a great team!

Thank you all so much for everything it really assures me a lot!