Soothing a Newborn

This topic is lovingly dedicated to one of my best friends who is about to receive a new baby into her life. I love you (you know who you are :) ).

Skin-to-Skin

Even if your baby isn't hard to console, having a naked baby lie on your naked chest is one of the most soothing and natural things in the world. For both of you.

It promotes healthy sleep, it helps regulate a baby's breathing and it soothes him to hear your heartbeat. This is some of the best cuddle time for both parents with a newborn. I hope every new mama gets to snuggle with her newborn like this.

Here is my testimonial... My son was screaming his head off on day 1 or 2 or 3 (can't remember which anymore). My husband and I were at our wits end with no sleep and I didn't know how to calm my baby - we tried the usual stuff, of course. I finally remembered hearing from someone about skin-to-skin and took all his clothes off (except diaper), took off my shirt, and laid him on my chest. Heartbeat to heartbeat. He quieted immediately. And I mean immediately, and settled in for some much-needed sleep.

My husband, who was sleeping on a mattress on the floor at the time, popped his bleary-eyed head up and said, "Wow. What the hell did you do?"

For us it worked. Maybe it's not for everyone, but it was wonderful and necessary in our house. With my daughter, she didn't practice screaming her little head off nearly as much as her older brother, but we still had our naked cuddle time.

Sigh... Coo... Bliss. Some of my favorite memories from the first few weeks.