Is he breathing?
Most of my past blogs have been about the lighter side of being a dad. Diaper changes, smiling, bath time…they have all been fairly positive and upbeat. For this blog, however, I decided to be a little more serious and talk about one of my fears as a dad. I am sure my wife shares my fears about SIDS, but it has been on my mind recently.
Sound asleep...but I still worry about my baby.
I find myself constantly worrying about whether little Owen is breathing in the middle of the night. I am not sure why I am all worked up about this lately, but it has been on the forefront of my mind. I can count twice during this past week that I have gone to the bathroom, walked by his crib, and camped out there just trying to hear him breathe. On occasion, I have caught myself putting my finger under his nose to feel him breathing. It is slightly amusing, because on one hand I desperately do not want to wake him up from a sound sleep, lest I feel the wrath from my wife who is probably on her second hour of uninterrupted sleep; however, on the other hand, I cannot go back to sleep unless I know that he is still breathing.
Just last night, I was on my way back from the bathroom and went straight back to bed. As I am snug in bed, I realize that I forgot to check on Owen. Suddenly I was faced with a dilemma: do I risk getting out of bed, tripping over my shoes, knocking into the bed post and waking up baby Owen (yes that all went through my head) or do I just accept that he’s had a long day and is enjoying his sleep? Well, fortunately for me, it was almost 5:30am, which happens to be Owen’s wake-up time, so I heard him stirring a few minutes after I got back in bed.
I hope that this feeling is somewhat normal. I think one of the main reasons this has been on my mind is because we are visiting at my mother-in-law’s house. At home, I rarely think about this, but I think being in a new place has caused me to be a little more worried about Owen. I am sure I will stop worrying about this soon…just in time to get on a plane and head back to North Carolina!
Do you worry about your baby when he or she is sleeping?
Totally normal, Paul, in fact I still occasionally check my 13-month old’s breathing while he is asleep (:
I agree with Sarah! It is so normal to do that. If I get up in the middle of the night, I check on Serophina too. There’s always the “what if” in the back of my mind.
Thanks guys! I’m glad I’m not the only one who worries about these things. I did it again last night. When I put him back to bed at 3:30am, I put a little blanket over his sleep sack. When I got back to bed, I couldn’t go to sleep, as I worried that he might flip his legs up, the blanket would go over his face, and…well you know. I had to take the blanket off of him before I could relax and go back to bed.