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You are here: Home / Hearsay / Infants and sleep deprivation

Infants and sleep deprivation

By Ryan Hurd

In the coming weeks, I may change the title of this blog from dream studies to sleep deprivation studies.

Why? Because my wife just gave birth last week to our son Connor Dungan ! Here he is only a few hours after delivery.

Both Connor and Wendy are doing well, safely ensconced at home. We are feeling so blessed by a healthy baby (over 8lbs, y’all) and a relatively easy delivery. 

I’m also overcome with gratitude for the midwives of The Bryn Mawr Birth Center, and my friends and family who have helped us make this transition into parenthood with their gifts of dinner,  errand-running, and infant wisdom.

Our sleep patterns have indeed shifted dramically as we adapt to sleep deprivation.  Once we realized that time doesn’t matter anymore, and that the baby is calling the shots, we have watched with fascination as we become untethered from the diurnal world.

[pullquote] sleep is opportunistic when you’re caring for a newborn[/pullquote]

That’s my take away so far: sleep is opportunistic when you’re caring for a newborn.  There’s no choice but to adapt. But we are designed for this: it’s actually not that hard once my own rigid self-constraints of what “good sleep” means has fallen away.

My dreaming in particular has become filled with intensity, no doubt due to the pressure of REM deprivation, which results in instant REM rebound anytime I close my eyes. 

It’s really trippy.

That’s all I have time for today, but I hope to be adding new content to DreamStudies soon. 

And my new lucid dreaming program —the Lucid Immersion Blueprint — is still ready to birth Jan 2, 2012.  (Just had to birth a real baby first.)

Filed Under: Hearsay Tagged With: babies, infant sleep, REM rebound, sleep deprivation

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Comments

  1. Kalmer Marimaa says

    December 21, 2011 at 9:16 am

    Good luck and have a strength!

    My son turns 3 next month, but our sleep schedule is still much dominated by him (or by job in working days). So better don’t have great hopes to have your normal (dream) life back soon :oP But at least you can expect more WBTB (wake-back-to-bed) lucid dreams when your sleep is regularly disturbed every night :o)

    • Kalmer Marimaa says

      December 21, 2011 at 9:18 am

      Sorry for the typos because my emoticons went all wrong.

    • Ryan Hurd says

      January 2, 2012 at 1:25 pm

      so far not too many dreams, but those I remember are often prelucid! vigilance must play a huge role here.

  2. Pete says

    December 21, 2011 at 10:06 am

    Beautiful baby Ryan! I’m happy to hear everything went well and glad you’ve shared this adorable picture. I wish you and your family great holidays and look forward to your book.

    • Ryan Hurd says

      January 2, 2012 at 1:25 pm

      thanks Pete. hope the holidays were restful for you too.

  3. danielle says

    December 21, 2011 at 11:27 am

    I like your style, Ryan. I do have friends with very young babies, and those babies sleep through the night. Keep the faith. Connor is a looker, btw.

    • Ryan Hurd says

      January 2, 2012 at 1:26 pm

      a looker? well, he is my son. 🙂 which means he will be quite modest as well.

  4. Aunt Chris says

    December 21, 2011 at 12:01 pm

    Very wise, Ryan, and so early into the parenthood life! Connor is gorgeous and you and Wendy are so blessed 🙂

    • Ryan Hurd says

      January 2, 2012 at 1:31 pm

      we feel so blessed, especially after all the support in the last weeks from friends and family. my heart is continuously bursting wide open. hope you can meet him soon!

  5. Renee says

    December 21, 2011 at 2:15 pm

    Congratulations Ryan! I’m sure you’ve had your share of advice, but I can’t resist offering my own, from experience (though you might already be on to this). I found that the best way to maintain good quality sleep during this time is to keep the baby in bed with the parents for now (there are triangular pillows designed to protect against rolling over on baby, if you’re concerned about that–but I never rolled over on my baby, for the record, and she slept in my bed for her first 3 months). When baby is hungry, no one has to get up, turn on lights, disrupt the melatonin flow, etc. Baby gets “plugged in” for milk and then goes back to sleep. Cuddling together brings a sense of safety, comfort, and unity to your family. 🙂

    • Ryan Hurd says

      January 2, 2012 at 1:27 pm

      thanks Renee! we are cosleeping for these early days. I’m really into the anthropology of child rearing and it’s this is how 99% of the world does it. 🙂 I’ll have to check out those pillows.

  6. Liam says

    December 22, 2011 at 3:40 pm

    Well done Ryan, he’s a lovely boy. Don’t worry you’ve only got about six weeks of no sleep and then it starts improving.

    Looking forward to the book.

    • Ryan Hurd says

      January 2, 2012 at 1:30 pm

      appreciate it Liam! I know you just went through this stage last year. cheers!

  7. Laura says

    December 22, 2011 at 7:30 pm

    Congratulations!

    I did the family bed thing as Renee mentions above. Mine did not sleep through the night until he was 18 months old so this was a matter of survival for us. Do what works best for your particular family. My baby is now going into high school and looking at colleges! It goes fast!

    • Ryan Hurd says

      January 2, 2012 at 1:30 pm

      thanks Laura. time has already become very surreal.

  8. Laurie says

    December 23, 2011 at 9:54 pm

    Congratulations to you and your wife! You are beginning an incredible journey with Connor. Every stage includes both joy and challenge.

    Read “The Happiest Baby on the Block” by Dr Harvey Karp. This book explains why young infants cry and fuss, and how to calm and soothe them. I am a pediatrician and recommend this book to all expectant and new parents.

    • Ryan Hurd says

      January 2, 2012 at 1:29 pm

      thanks for the tip!! We watched Karp’s video for the first time last week and it was amazingly helpful. Discovered the wonders of the pacifier just 2 nights ago too. So far Connor is doing a great job expressing his needs. 🙂

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