Why We Hired a Night Nurse for Our Newborn
When we had our first child, it goes without saying that life changed.
Less spontaneity, less sleep, less time to do just nothing. But once we got through the first 3 months of the newborn stage, our first born developed into a happy, easy baby that slept pretty much through the night on a consistent basis. When we had our second child 2 years later, our lives seemed to be turned upside down. We were somewhat caught off guard at the reality of having a 25-month-old and a newborn, and it certainly didn't help that by the 6 week mark our son was fussy morning, noon and night, and woke up every hour all night long. After several weeks of walking around like zombies, we decided to get help, in a somewhat unconventional way; we hired a night nurse.
I honestly can't even recall where or how we got the idea to hire a night nurse, but I know that once the idea entered my head, it seemed like the only reasonable solution. For those that aren't familiar with a night nurse, it's basically a midwife, doula or sometimes a retired RN, that comes into your home and helps you care for your baby in the middle of the night. I don't think they're used as often here in the US as they are in Europe, and I certainly never knew anyone personally that had used one before, but by the time we decided to hire a night nurse, I was willing to try anything to get some rest.
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My son was 11 weeks-old when I decided to hire a night nurse. His sleeping patterns had progressively declined since birth, going from decent to bad to torturous. Right before we found Peggy, our night nurse pictured above, our son was waking up every 30-45 minutes consistently throughout the night. On top of that he was fussy all day and slept very little. I felt hopeless and helpless.
I had discussed the possibility that he might have reflux with our pediatrician on several occasions, but because he continued to gain weight and didn't visibly spit up or projectile vomit, he dismissed it as it just being a case of having a "tough baby", and he assured me it would get better with age and time. But when you have a newborn and a toddler to take care of full time and you're getting virtually no sleep, you tend to have a hard time with patience.
We found Peggy through a local list of practicing doulas that also were willing to help out at night. She had great references, was an experienced mother of 5 herself, and had a soothing nature about her that just felt right. After calling her references and confirming a background check, we hired Peggy to come and help us out 3-4 nights a week for 6-8 hour stretches at a time. Financially it was a stretch for us, but for our sanity, we decided to scrimp and cut back in other places for a few weeks so we could just catch up on some sleep. Plus, I was due to go back to work when he turned 4-months-old and I knew I couldn't go back and function like as I was. The goal was to get us through the next 3-4 weeks when our son would be technically out of the 3-month-old "newborn" phase, and by then we just hoped that things would turn around and he would miraculously grow and mature into better sleeping habits.
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I'll be honest, we encountered some skepticism from friends and family when we told them we were hiring help. I personally felt a bit uneasy that I needed to hire help in the first place. I felt like I was failing, since millions of mothers did this every day without help. The most common question from others was, "How can you sleep at night when there is a stranger in your house taking care of your baby?" Someone even suggested that perhaps the night nurse would kidnap our son, our daughter, or both! People asked about the money and how we could afford it. We told them at this point we couldn't not afford her, because I would quickly fail at my job if I returned in the state I was in. With everything, I guess there just has to be a level of trust. The first couple of nights were a little uneasy, but we quickly got used to Peggy being there and, very quickly got used to the extra sleep.
Because I was nursing and pumping, Peggy would feed my son a bottle of pumped breast milk for one of his nighttime feedings. For the other 2-3 feedings, she would bring him to me to nurse, then once I was finished would take him out of the room, change and burp him, and put him back to sleep. If he woke in between feedings, which he always did, she would try to settle him down and soothe him until it was time for his next feeding. I still woke up at the sound of his cries, but I didn't have to get out of bed and I was able to fall back asleep knowing Peggy was taking care of him, allowing me to rest and recover.
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After about 4 weeks his sleep had not improved, nor did his fussiness. Even Peggy was perplexed by his unsettled behavior. Upon her suggestion to get his neck checked out because it seemed to be leaning to the side a bit, I took him into his pediatrician. It was confirmed that he had torticollis, a condition where the muscles in the neck are basically strained and pulled too tight so that the neck leans or tilts to one side, and the baby has trouble turning his neck. It's not serious, but can be uncomfortable for Baby. The doctor also confirmed that he might have reflux because he had lost some weight since his last check up. We put him on some acid reflux medication, and started him in physical therapy to help stretch out the neck muscles. The poor guy was in fact miserable, which hadn't helped his mood or his sleeping! Within a week of his new treatments, he was like a different baby, and his sleeping started to improve!!
The lessons I learned from our whole experience with my son's sleeping and hiring help is twofold. First, never beat yourself up about needing help. Having a newborn is beautiful and cherished time, but it can also be very, very hard. There is nothing wrong with admitting that you can't do it all on your own, and there's certainly nothing wrong with finding help in new and different ways that may not be the most "conventional" of ways. Second, always trust your mother's intuition. I knew deep down that my son's fussiness and sleep habits indicated that something was not right. I'm so glad I didn't back down and we got my son the help he needed to be a happier, more comfortable baby. After he started his treatments, his little personality started to come through, and I felt like we were finally able to get to know each other a bit more and truly bond.
- By Andrea Howe
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