A sleeping baby with an alarm clock (Photo: ShutterStock)
If you recently had a baby, you've probably already had to deal with the issue of family gatherings that are out of sync, what to do, with your baby's sleeping hours.
Friday dinners, holiday dinners, nephews' birthdays or even a wedding - so many events can be part of your family routine, but when a baby is born the way you look at them changes.
Many meetings "fall" in the evening hours, and for you they give rise to a new challenge: dealing with the time of the meeting, which is also exactly the time when the baby starts rubbing his ears and eyes, complaining, grumbling, yawning rhythmically or in short: telling him that he is really tired and wants to sleep.
So what can you do when you are torn between meeting the dear families and your desire not to disturb the baby's sleeping hours, when you know that any such change will result in a rough night for both of you?
Here are some ways to deal with exactly this situation:
ask to change, temporarily, the times of family meetings
Not for every family it will work, and certainly not for every event, but you can try to apply a certain change in the times of your family meetings and who knows?
Maybe it will work.
If it is possible for the families to have meals on Saturday at noon instead of on Friday (or simply add another meeting so that you can attend with the baby) - take this offer with both hands.
That way you will get a baby that is awake, at least some of the time, and more positive and everyone can enjoy it.
If the family dinners are taboo and you can't touch them, try to ask to advance the meal time, or at least the meeting time before it.
When the baby signals that he is tired, you will know that it is time to put him to sleep or go home.
do a night over at the host's house
If you don't feel like rocking the baby in the evening and you want to provide him with quality sleep, you might consider staying to sleep at your grandparents' house or with whoever is hosting the family meal.
Don't forget to provide the baby with a comfortable and quiet place to sleep after he falls asleep, cozy pajamas and maybe also a monitor so you can hear him from a distance if he wakes up.
falls asleep?
Kololo!
Now go get some fresh air with the whole family, you need it.
Advanced tip: if you don't have a monitor, you can make a WhatsApp video call from two phones - one is placed in the room where the baby is sleeping (don't forget to switch to mute mode), and the other is with you.
That way you can hear every tweet and respond immediately.
invite the families to your home
If you think that your home field will be more comfortable for you and baby - go for this option.
Invite the families over and make sure that the evening routine is not interrupted, as much as possible.
This means that you go to sleep more or less at the fixed time, in a room or bed that the baby already knows and loves.
Since the meeting is at your place, you will be able to control the event more and make sure that the baby is as comfortable as possible.
One downside, though: when people are staying with you it's harder to control what time they go home.
So take slow clearance into account and use elegant or thick cues when necessary.
to lightly accept the departure from the routine
Isn't it annoying when people around you "flow"?
So in this case, maybe you should try sometimes to accept the departure from the routine and see it as a blessing, even for the baby.
Just as you are used to feeling the change between the weekdays and the weekend, it is also allowed for the baby to get out of his own schedule and fall asleep in a different way, even if it means taking a bath earlier before you go out, putting him to sleep in a different house, moving him to the car (and praying he doesn't wake up) and dealing with With a state of difficulty sleeping following all of this. Family warmth is an asset and it is as important to you as it is to the baby, therefore, even at the cost of some discomfort, it is important to be a part of it. Try to take it easy, remember that this is just another evening out of many and that someday it will be easier and flow for Everyone.
To the jungle between all together
You don't have to choose one course of action.
You can decide that each time you will behave in a way that suits you and the baby, depending on the mood or the occasion.
One time you can stay to sleep, another time to invite you and at the next family meal?
Flow with whatever or just move her to lunch.
Let's see each other only happily!
A baby sleeping in a crib (Photo: ShutterStock)
The Jama application was established with the aim of responding to mothers of babies between the ages of birth and three, and to gather for them content, activities, tips from experts and videos that will accompany them throughout this challenging period.
All the content in the application "grows" together with the baby and is precisely adapted to the stages of his development, so that the mothers receive only what is relevant to them and interests them at any given moment.
The Jama app is the place for mothers in Israel to meet and get to know other mothers around them, and to create new and exciting friendships in the fascinating journey.
Search us on Google: https://app.jama.co.il/
Daniel Saranetsky, in collaboration with JAMA
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