How did you cope with the lack of sleep that comes with having a newborn? Share tips here!
DanielleMFM
admin
in Baby
Hi everyone,
We’ve spotted quite a few of the new mums in our baby clubs, are suffering with that nonstop yo-yoing of getting up and down with their newborns all night, and the extreme tiredness that goes with it.
We wondered if those of you who might have passed that phase, have any brilliant tips on how to cope with the sleep deprivation in those early months.
Please do let us know any words of wisdom you might have, by posting your reply to this thread. We'd love to know how you coped.
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Replies
Accept help! Ask for help!
In between feeds if there was someone who could take my son for a walk I'd let them.
The first day my husband went back to work I felt like superwoman...day 2 I felt like a failure. Be prepared to have good and bad days.
They say sleep when the baby sleeps and instead people worry about cleaning and washing etc...leave it. Just leave it. Sit down and if you can't sleep put your feet up.
My son is 1 next week and sleeps through the night but if he goes for a nap so do I.
We don't get time to recover from labour and forever be playing catch up.
Currently 19 weeks pregnant with number 2 and I'm sure I'll be back here looking for sleeping tips lol.
Hi this time last year I was in a fog of pretty major sleep deprivation as I had a little one who woke many many times during the night and would only nap in the day if being pushed out in his pram. It started pretty much from day one and lasted until he was around 7months (then he'd wake just up to around 4times a night until he was 11 months). I'd go to bed anxious about the coming night knowing that I'd be awake soon after falling asleep and this affected my ability to relax when he did sleep. Things turned a corner around Christmas, and sleep is much improved.
Nothing is worse, than being woken up over and over again night after night. It's physically and mentally exhausting. Not knowing if and when it will end is distressing.
If you are going through this right now please be reassured that It Will get better. Maybe not tonight, maybe not next week but sometime soon you will sleep again for longer than half hour/2hrs at a time.
Eat well rest up as often as you can and don't worry about anything else. Things can be put on hold.
Pick a routine or 'rules' that work for you as far as baby's routine is concerned. I could never let my little one cry indefinitely as he'd get more worked up (as would i) then take even longer to settle.
This all may seem a little dramatic but I thought I'd be honest in case it helps someone else out who is going through this.
Xx
Repeat this over and over in your head!
THIS TOO SHALL PASS!
Amalia goes down for the night about 8. She wakes up once now and gets up around 6.. so pretty early.
To make sure I get enough sleep I go to bed not long after she does.
Ha ha what a topic!
As someone has already said - accept help and have power kips whenever you can! Hate to say it but my littlest is 13 months old and he STILL wakes loads through the night, sometimes for his dummy, sometimes just because and sometimes for milk! Yep - he still likes a milk feed at around 4am ish! We have tried to take this off him but he just still needs it. Well I say he still needs it, if he doesn't have it, we are all awake at 4am (including my 4 year old! Not good!)
I just keep telling myself that it won't last forever (hopefully!) and that he is just a different baby to how his brother was (his brother slept pretty well!)
You do get pretty exhausted, especially as I am working full time again now. Luckily everyone at work and at home is very understanding. Don't be afraid to talk about it, don't be afraid to tell people you had an extra rough night - people don't mind listening to your issues with it, most have 'been there and done that'.
Good luck to all the new mummies and all of those (like myself!) still battling with non sleeping babies xxx
If you're gonna moan about it do it on here instead of to people who don't understand 🤣
I always get in bed at like 8 and just sleep while I can..
if I was to do it again I'd get a next to me type crib so it's easy to just pick her up and not have to get in and out of bed..
I personally don't ask for help cos I can't sleep in the day so it's pointless for me..
I do however get hubby to baby sit while I walk/run/kickboxing/dancing.. at least twice a week so I keep my mental health in check..
Oh and major advice is to try not to snap at each other - it's so easy to do when you're both not getting a good nights sleep but it's totally not worth it especially when you're too tired for the make up nookie too!!
I was bottle feeding my son so I'm the early dayse and my partner did half a night each he would do from 9pm -3am and I would do 3am till 9amwamong we were both getting a block of 6 hours sleep and sometimes a little more yhis was an absolute life saver and we both coped extremely well from the start! X
Same as you Faye - we would take shifts sonny husband did 8pm - 2/3am and I would take the monitor at that pount until whenever, like 9/10am. inwas always in bed by 8/9pm in the really early days so I could get a 5/6 hour block and anything else was a bonus. We slept in seperate rooms so that we could take it in turns with the baby monitor and the other one didn't get disturbed. Divide and conquer - we could easily survive it this way. Not sure it would work for breast feeding (!) burnt his is another reason why I personally wouldn't breast feed.
My biggest recommendation would be to get a crib that attaches to your bed. Waking up at 2am is hard enough so not having to physically get up makes it so much easier. I wasn't keen on them when I was pregnant but was so glad that I listened to the advice I was given and bought a Snuz pod. Would highly recommend them, so much so that I'm already dreading the day that I have to detach it!
My LO was pretty good as a newborn, she would only wake once in the night & then it would be morning. She's a lot worse now at 4 month old, given that she is teething & has a cold, you can imagine what the nights are like at the moment, she's either waking for her dummy, because of her teeth, because she can't breathe or because she is hungry.
I was told to rest when she did but I'm not one to nap in the day, I would always sit down & relax at some point though & I now drink lots of coffee haha!
She's bottle fed so my partner can help out too. He takes over once he gets home from work so I can have a shower or relax a bit. He also does the weekend nights so I can get some sleep back but I'm pretty much used to it now.
I had a moses basket away from the bed as I found it easier to wake up if I got out of bed to see to her, I was always scared of falling asleep in the early days & I did a couple of times with her on my chest in my bed which scared the life out of me.
I would suggest having your partner do the last feed before bed & you going to bed before this to get a headstart, depending on when the last feed is. I didn't do this but a friend of mine did & I think it's a brilliant idea
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2 boys and never had a problem with sleep issue
Also naps.
Get really good at falling back asleep - limit caffeine in the afternoon and no screens in the middle of the night.