Heavy Sleeper

[BrendenRagan]

My son was born about a week and a half ago. He comes home with us and I have problems waking up with him. This has caused problems with me and my girlfriend. I have no problem waking up to an alarm clock. I asked to to wake me but she says she has tried multiple times to wake me and has had no such luck cause i won't wake up. I wake up to her changing him and feeding him after I hear him screaming to him being changed. It's not that I don't hear him crying and sometimes can even hear her talking. (Starting to wake up). I wake up early for work in the mornings and on the regular I get about 6-7 hours of sleep a night. I'm 18 years of age and I just seem to think that I shouldn't have this problem. I have had no problem waking up to noises in the past and movement of the bed tend to wake me up. I just don't wake up to noises anymore. I take a men's health vitamin to  try and help with my low energy throughout the day. I don't fall asleep until about midnight every night. I think it might be my sleep habit, a chemical imbalance, or something psychological. If you can give me feed back to a mediocre diagnosis or even help that would be great! I have tried telling my self I would wake up to him crying before I fall asleep. Please help so I can wake up and help my girlfriend out as much as possible. Thanks

[allmymarbles]

You are quite right to want to help your girlfriend with the baby. After all, it is your baby too. I can see where the sleep thing is a problem because I was a very heavy sleeper. But as soon as my first baby was born, even the slightest sound from her woke me. But not my husband. And he was a very understanding and helpful father.

Is your baby breastfed? That is much easier on the mother because there is no business about heating bottles in the middle of the night. You just tuck baby in bed with you and everyone gets a good rest.

[Caryopteris]

Luckily for you (and your need for sleep), you do not have hormones that have made you hypersensitive to the needs of a baby.  Women's bodies prepare them for caring for an infant.  So it is wrong for her to make you feel guilty that you aren't just like her, popping out of bed at the first cries.  You and she need to work out a system where you help her, but she can't expect you to automatically be just like her and hear a baby cry in the night.