Lynn News journalist Rebekah Chilvers: Newborn trenches left us sleep deprived but there are so many special moments

In her monthly column, new mum Rebekah Chilvers discusses her first couple of months of motherhood.

What’s a full night of sleep like, again? It seems like I’ve forgotten already.

It’s been just over six weeks since Clara was born, and the sleep deprivation is unlike any tiredness I have ever experienced, thanks to consistently broken bouts of rest.

In that short space of time, though, our little one has improved her sleeping pattern, but it’s not quite a proper routine yet - we’re told that will come later down the line, and I’m hopeful that it will.

On a good night, she’ll snooze for five hours in the first burst of sleep. I never would have thought I’d say that five hours equalled a good night prior to motherhood, but that’s just one of the significant changes we’ve experienced.

In some moments, we’re fully in the newborn bubble - loving getting to know our baby girl and admiring the fact that we have created a perfect little human with the cutest little toes and eyelashes.

In others, we’re deep in the newborn trenches and hoping to pull through the sleep deprivation and times when you can’t work out why they’re so upset, as their little cries break your heart.

All I can say is that I’m thankful for the UK’s statutory maternity leave policy. I really can’t imagine having to work while being this exhausted.

It’s shocking that, if I were living in the US, I could be in the depths of that struggle right now, as there is no national statutory paid maternity, paternity or parental leave.

Saying that, the UK’s statutory paternity leave system - allowing most new fathers and second parents to take up to two weeks off - is among the “worst in the developed world” and in urgent need of reform according to a report recently published by the Women and Equalities Committee (a group of cross-party MPs).

I can definitely appreciate now that two weeks feels like no time at all, especially when the first few are the hardest and sort of merge into one big blur, so it would be brilliant to see some change to the UK’s paternity policy.

Despite it all being a bit hazy, it’s still been a wonderful time of new experiences and loads of firsts.

Clara has just started to show us her first ‘social smiles’ - ones that aren’t caused by trapped wind or just as a reflex during sleep - which is one of the most magical things I’ve ever seen.

It’s also been really lovely to take her to her first classes with other new mums and newborns. We’ve been enjoying a free five-week baby massage course, hosted by Home-Start Norfolk, aimed at helping the parents and babies to bond as well as easing discomfort and colic.

There’s loads of others we’ll hopefully try soon too, including baby sensory, yoga and story time.

We’ve also been fortunate to have a brilliant local photographer capture Clara in her early days, so we can remember how cute and tiny she was in years to come.

We would thoroughly recommend Laura of Lou’s Lens Photography, who took some absolutely beautiful pictures for us.

“It’s such an honour to do my job and freeze these moments as little ones, especially change so quickly,” she told me - and she’s not wrong.

Our baby has grown so much since she was born in early May, and I’m sure we’ll see plenty more transformations to report back on in my next column, too.

Please wish us luck with our sleep as we continue to navigate life with a new baby!