Rest Assured: How to Get Better Sleep With Your Newborn Baby
*This Post is sponsored by Owlet Care. All opinions are 100% my own. Thank you for supporting those brands that support Afternoon Espresso.*
You just had your baby and after spending a few nights in the hospital you are ready to go home. Panic sets in. They are letting you leave the hospital with this tiny human to take care of?! You’ve never taken care of a baby before. You had so many questions while you were at the hospital, what are you going to do when you get home? How will you ever get enough sleep?
This is exactly how I felt. To tell you the truth, I ended up being quite emotional sitting in my wheelchair with the baby as we were heading out. The poor nurse probably thought I was crazy. I was overfilled with joy, I was scared, worried, and nervous all at the same time. I quickly learned that this was just the start of all of my mom worries.
The biggest worry I had, though, was my fear of what could happen while we were all sleeping. I’ll give you a little backstory because I wasn’t always concerned with this. I was that person that said, “no, the baby isn’t going to sleep in our room” prior to becoming a parent. The months went on during pregnancy and my BFF Google started popping things up on my Facebook about “SIDS” and things like “Safe Sleep Habits for Your Baby.” I became curious and started reading more about these important topics. I immediately became petrified. To add to my concern, a dear friend of mine’s nephew passed away from SIDS at the age of 4 months old. She was supposed to call me that day but didn’t. And for some reason, I felt compelled to call her because I had this feeling something was wrong and then she told me the news. I felt sick. Tears began to fill my eyes. My heart literally is broken for this family. The thought of this happening to someone is so, so sad. You can learn more about Callen and support his cause here.
Flash forward to our first few nights at home. Everything was new. The sounds Charlotte was making, our routine, and our new sleep schedule (or lack there of). Sleep when the baby sleeps, they say. I was so anxious whenever the night time would come around. I would hear the slightest noise and wake up in a panic. Sometimes I would just wake up and make sure her chest was rising. I was not getting much sleep at all between Charlotte waking up and me waking myself up scared something was wrong.
How can I get better sleep and not be so anxious? This prompted me to look into the Owlet Smart Sock I had been hearing about. I needed some peace of mind so I could get some peaceful rest.
The Owlet Smart Sock 2 comes with a sock that the baby wears while she sleeps to track the oxygen and heart rate of the baby. The sock even knows when the baby is wiggling. We have the disk (from above) sitting on our nightstand. This disk will sound a notification and show a different light color depending on the issue. If the sock fell off the baby (which is quite difficult due to the innovative new design the Smart Sock 2 has now), it would notify you with a yellow light to let you know. We initially had problems with Charlotte kicking off her sock (she kicks like crazy). We switched it to the other foot and it’s been on every single night since then! If the baby’s heart rate or oxygen levels go below 80% or a specific heart rate it will notify you with a red light!
The sock also comes equipped with the Owlet app that allows you to view the heart rate and oxygen level readings when you want to see them. The Connected Care app is the second app that allows you to view analytical data of your baby’s sleep patterns, average oxygen levels through the night, and average heart rates. You can actually see the patterns of sleep like how much deep sleep vs. light sleep your baby is getting and the times they are awake, hour by hour. Being an accountant in my previous occupation, I love data like this!!
Ever since we started using the Owlet Smart Sock, I can get better sleep now. Even when I wake up in an occasional panic because Charlotte makes some crazy sound, I can pull up the app and know exactly what her oxygen and heart rates are!
I can truthfully say this is one of the BEST baby products we own. It is worth every penny to have this peace of mind every evening when we go to bed or before a nap. I would highly recommend an Owlet sock for every baby!
