Lucy Dubrovsky gave birth to her son early in the morning on a cool November day last year. After spending much of the day holding him and staring at him for hours at a time, she finally went to bed for the night, not quite sure what to expect. As it turned out, she and her baby slept in three-hour chunks, and they both woke up feeling pretty good.
On the second night, back at home, Dubrovsky expected a repeat of the first night. But that’s not what happened. Instead, her son woke every 90 minutes. All. Night. Long.
It was a radical departure from the first night?which is pretty common.
Most mothers will look back on their first night after baby and remember drifting in and out of slumber, but often the second night is a totally different story. ?Night one is a euphoric night,? said Jennifer Howting, a registered nurse in paediatrics based in Kingston, Ont. ?But babies on night two wake up a lot more?they’re more alert and are ready to feed. The second night is when the exhaustion really hits [for parents].”
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