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Prepping for newborn life, or being in that newly postpartum phase can be stressful enough. Here are a few less things to worry about!

If it helps, these don't even really matter much in the first year. The fourth trimester is just especially difficult and should be a time to focus on rest, feeding, contact and that precious little human of yours. If this isn't your first you also have to juggle siblings in all of this. Let go of those things that don't matter and give yourself some grace. It's cliche, but it does get better!

What did you feel pressured to do in the fourth trimester? Any advice for our fourth trimester mamas?

Comment below ❤️and share this with a pregnant or freshly postpartum friend!

Babies want to be near us ALL THE TIME. As exhausting as this is, it is completely normal.

Separation anxiety occurs when a baby fears they will never see you again. Due to their underdeveloped brains, babies do not understand that when you leave, you are coming back. The trickiest times of peak separation anxiety tend to occur at 9, 12, 18 and 24 months.

Night is typically the longest period of separation for babies, which is why many babies do not like to sleep in a crib or away from their parents. Since they attach through the senses, if they can't see, smell or touch you they do not understand that you are going to return.

It is important to remember that babies are designed to be in close proximity to their caregivers. We are meant to be there for support. At a peak in separation anxiety, it can be very trying on a parent as it can feel like they cannot get a moment to breathe. When we go through this, we need to do some work on self-reflection and have a plan for supporting our baby’s emotions with empathy and compassion and also make sure that we are calling on our village to help - you cannot do it all on your own.

Know that this is normal, that it is a phase, and that with the right response, you can continue to build that attachment and connection, which will be critical for fostering independence down the road.

We have lots of tips to help with easing separation anxiety in infants and toddlers. It can make a big difference for sleep if you can recognize and ease that stressful experience for them!

This one I hear all too often - so many parents are worried about their little ones waking at night because they've been told or have read that babies need to be sleeping through the night by 'x' age in order to get the sleep they need to develop and be healthy. That the 'gift of sleep' is so important for their little one's health.

This is why I struggle with this one. Based on sleep science, even adults do not sleep through the night. As we move through the cycles of sleep we all experience partial arousals, although as adults we rarely remember this and quickly go to the next stage of sleep. Or, for adults that will mean a quick trip to the bathroom, a sip of water, or moving positions, and/or adjusting a pillow/blankets and going back to sleep.

Babies tend to have shorter sleep cycles and spend more time in active sleep which is a light sleep. This allows them to wake more easily if their airways are restricted, or if they are hungry, cold, hot, wet or not breathing. Waking is a protective mechanism that they have built in for their own safety and this lighter sleep cycle is also ideal for brain development. Nutrition at night is also important so they get the calories necessary for growth and development.

The quiet state of sleep, when babies are less likely to wake, is when there is an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

When babies wake, they tend to call for their caregiver for help with whatever need they have at that time because they are unable to meet that need themselves. They also have no idea about time so they are not waking at night to manipulate you in any way. In fact, sleeping through the night for babies is considered to be 6 hours. Not 10-12 hours straight.

Now, there is also a difference between developmentally normal wakes and waking hourly. Typically hourly wakes are a red flag of something more going on!

But otherwise, sometimes understanding why babies don't 'sleep through the night' helps us to frame night wakings differently. Instead of seeing it as a problem, we can see this as a way of staying alive and doing what is normal.