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Do you look after babies during the night?

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glammanana Sat 10-Mar-12 16:48:05

My DGCs have always stayed with us since birth and whenever DD was recovering from a delivery they stayed full time until DD was up and about again,I am not a believer in having a new baby then getting on with things I believe that a good weeks rest is what is called for and think that this is why DD has never had any problems with PND.I can think of nothing nicer than cuddling up with your DGC if they are night feed and having that bond with them it's magical.

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Greatnan Sat 10-Mar-12 16:31:33

When my daughter's last child was born, No. 5 was only 14 months old. The birth was supposed to be a Domino, in and out of hospital, but the baby was breech and DD had to have an emergency cesarean. She was in hospital for a week, and I looked after No. 5 as Dad was working, visiting hospital and not as experienced as I was in looking after babies (he is step father to the first four).
I have to say it was pretty horrendous - we took her to visit her mum every day but she was still partly breast fed and it was very hard to explain why she had to come home with me and leave mum with that new baby. I had to walk the floor for many hours, singing 'Hush Little Baby' repeatedly.
I have often had toddlers to stay overnight, but not very young babies.

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GrandmaRoo Sat 10-Mar-12 16:21:51

I stay with my DD and SIL for part of the week, and have always offered to do night feeds for at least one of the nights. My lovely grandaughter (9 weeks) totally refused to breastfeed, but is thriving on Mummy's expressed milk via a bottle, so I can do this for them. I remember how hard those early weeks were when my babies were little, and my Mum was 200 miles away - I would have just loved a whole night's sleep! Last week a good friend of mine came to stay too, and we sent the young couple out for dinner, then back for a good night's sleep while we enjoyed ourselves doing everything from evening bath through to morning bath. DGD was very well behaved and went back to sleep nice and quickly after feeds and changes.

However, when I told my sister this, she was horrified. She is Grandma to 4, and says she draws the line at night-shifts (which I can well understand as she has 4 but I only have 1!)

What do you all think? I have to say I just enjoy having her all to myself for those few hours...

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