Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Advice from the Doctor

Some random photos of Matthew watching his sign language video


OK...so I had my annual exam today. Sidenote: You know how there are "touchless car washes?" Well, I have the "touchless gynocologist." Seriously, he is the greatest and, if you didn't walk out of the office with a receipt, you wouldn't even know you had just had an exam. If you are in my area, I highly recommend him. Anyway, on to the real topic! The Dr. asked how our sleep is with a new baby in the house. HAHA! He obviously hasn't been reading my blog. I explained a little bit of Matthew's crazy sleeping patterns, and he told me to TURN OFF THE MONITOR! He said that if we can hear him from our room when he cries, we don't need to be awaken by his stirrings and night play. This was good news to me since I often lay awake listening to see how long Matthew stays awake. BTW, the good Dr. also has a baby Matthew's age and, of course, he sleeps through the night 12 hours straight!

I want to pass on to all you moms, college students, nightowls, etc. that he also reminded me that sleep deprivation is a huge factor in stress, anxiety, and depression. He recommends getting up and going to bed at approximately the same times every day (at least within an hour)...including weekends. This schedule is true for eating, too. He said to eat at regular times every day even if you aren't hungry.

And the best part of the visit was that he told me to eat more ice cream! Isn't that great?!

3 comments:

Michele M said...

Hi Tish, Just wanted to say I love reading your blog and Matthew is absolutely adorable. What a sweetie!

Yvonne Crawford said...

First of all, I so want to pinch Matthew's cheeks. (but a soft pinch). And 2nd, go for it with the turning off the monitor, you deserve to sleep and if he really is crying you will hear it. I don't sleep with the monitor on anymore. I just couldn't handle the constant little cries and such and she always goes back to bed. And like I said if she or he need me they cry or scream loud enough that I can't sleep through it.

Remind me of this in about 1 year. :) I'm a big whimp until the baby turns 1 year old. :) Then all is fair. :-)

Sherry said...

More ice cream... now that sounds like a good doctor! LOL! I gotta say I never used the baby monitor. I'd listen to the "Good Doc" & try it out. Trust me sleep is important:)

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