{"id":810769,"date":"2026-01-01T14:24:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T19:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/?p=810769"},"modified":"2025-12-23T12:30:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T17:30:11","slug":"labor-delivery-nurse-offers-new-parents-tip-better-hospital-sleep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/parenting\/labor-delivery-nurse-offers-new-parents-tip-better-hospital-sleep","title":{"rendered":"Labor & Delivery Nurse Shares the Best Way for New Moms To Actually Get Some Sleep in the Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everyone talks about how tired you’ll be after you bring your brand-new baby home from the hospital. And yes, those first few days (and weeks, and months) are exhausting<\/a>. But there’s another time in those early days of new parenthood that are also really tiring: your time in the hospital. Think about it. You have just given birth, likely after many hours of labor. You’ve closed your eyes and are just drifting off to sleep when all of a sudden<\/a> there’s a knock at the door. And then another. You never get a break!<\/p>

If you’re expecting or planned to be and you’ve wondered how you’ll actually be able to get some good hospital sleep after giving birth, nurse Jamie O’Day has a solution you probably never would have thought of.<\/p>

O’Day, cofounder of the parenting support website<\/a> Newborn & Parenting Support, or NAPS, is a former labor and delivery nurse in the Boston area. During her years in the field, she’s helped new parents survive their time in the hospital. It feels impossible when there are nurses coming to check your vitals, doctors in and out, lactation consults, and of course, feedings. Plus, you can often hear other laboring and birthing mothers and their babies through the walls. Getting even an hour of sleep is so hard.<\/p>

Her solution<\/a>? Place a “Do not disturb” sign on your door. “Unless we completely change how postpartum care is being offered in the hospital, you’re being interrupted a lot,” she told Today<\/em> in an interview. <\/p>

She went on to share an example of how she coached a couple in New York to go about it. After a long labor and a C-section, the new mom was depleted.<\/p>

“She was having tons of anxiety trying to get to sleep knowing that her sleep was going to be really limited because somebody was going to be coming in to check her vital signs, or the baby was going to need to feed,” O’Day shared.<\/p>

The new dad, following O’Day’s instructions, was the one to ask the nurses for a sign. “Before he could get the full sentence out of his mouth, the nurse is like, ‘No problem. I got you,’” she explained.<\/p>

<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/path><\/g><\/g><\/g><\/svg><\/div>
View this post on Instagram<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/a>

A post shared by NAPS Newborn and Parenting Support (@nurturebynaps)<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>