Don't Wake The Baby!

by Fran
(Seattle, WA)

My daughter developed problems after she was born and when she was 2 days old she was severely jaundiced and dehydrated. Even after two weeks in the hospital, she was still being force fed 3 ounces of formula (forget the breast feeding after this long a stay!) every 4 hours. It sometimes took almost all of that time to get her to consume her allotment. This meant she was used to 20 minute to 30 minute "power naps" and an exhausted set of parents.

Time went by and our baby was now 4 months old and up to her normal weight but still thriving on those short naps and not sleeping beyond an hour at a time. The doctor had one time given her a suppository that made her sleep but it was something none of us wanted to get her used to so we were just struggling with the problem, hoping nature would take its course.

The three of us had gone to dinner at a friend's house and the baby fell asleep in the car on the way home. We carefully carried her in in her car seat and put her in her crib, car seat and all and decided to fall into bed ourselves. "It will only be for another half hour or so," we said.

Three hours later we woke up frantic! The baby was still asleep! Or was something else wrong? We both ran to the crib and couldn't see her chest moving so we didn't know if she was breathing. We put an ear close to her mouth - no sound! I ran and got my compact mirror and held it under her nose! No sign of breath! Try the mirror again! Finally we made such a racket we woke her up!

After that she did sleep longer but it took a full year before she slept through the night. And then she became a teenager and - well, that's another story!!