How sleep-deprived were you after your kids were born?

[Anonymous]

I.e. How much sleep were you usually able to get every night, and how often did you wake up? How long did this last? Thanks in advance!

[Anonymous]

Twins. Both with colic. Did not have more than 2 hours of consecutive sleep for 7 months. Probably average of 6 hours a day.
It was... rough.

[Anonymous]

My bottle fed babies started sleeping thru the night at 8 and 9 weeks old. I was very lucky. They have always been good sleepers.

[Anonymous]

Very sleep deprived. Suggest getting family to visit to help with night duty. Had a mom, sister, step- mother and an aunt do this. Come for a week, then wake away and someone else for a week. Pediatrician insisted on every 3-3 hour feeds due to underweight. Turned out I had retained placenta, so poor milk supply, but was supplementing. Once that was removed surgically my babes plumped up. This lasted for about 3 months or so. Recommend working out schedule with husband, one gets the 2 am and one gets the 10 pm and 6 pm, once you spread out feeding to every four hours.

[Anonymous]

I had a baby with reflux and was nursing. I was extremely sleep deprived to the point where I was afraid to drive. I was barley holding it together. Around 2 months we saw an improvement when baby started only waking once a night for a feed.

[Anonymous]

I probably had to wake up every 2 or 3 hours consistently until about 8 weeks and then maybe the kid started waking up only once per night. I probably slept total 5 or 6 hours a night, but it’s so interrupted that I was a total mess in the first 6 weeks.

[Anonymous]

Just had second kid so I haven’t erased it from my memory yet: two weeks, never more than 1-2 hours of sleep at a time, totaling maybe 5-7 total in a 24 hour period. This bit is TERRIBLE. After kid returned to birth weight at two weeks, 1-3 hour stretches, probably getting about 8-9 hours lying in bed total. Kid is currently 8 weeks old and does two 3-4 hour stretches a night at least and very rarely a 5 hour one. If I’m very good about going to bed early and not staying up after wake ups, I get a solid 7-8 hours a night with 2-3 wakeups and am well rested. But I have a good sleeper who wakes up, eats, and goes straight back to sleep.

[Anonymous]

Get a snoo. This baby has one and did 5/6 hour stretches by 5 weeks. 8 hours my 7 weeks. Was doing 3/4 hours from 2weeks to 5 weeks. Baby is 12 weeks old and I haven’t been tired since the first month. Completely different experience than my other kids

[Anonymous]

DH was sleep deprived enough that he spelled DD's name wrong on the baby announcement. I was sleep-deprived enough that for two days we wondered what that horrible smell was before discovering I'd microwaved something and forgot to take it out three days earlier.

So, pretty sleep-deprived.

[Anonymous]

I found that I slept very deeply even while waking up to breastfeed so probably got six to eight hours interrupted but very high quality. I would slip rapidly into a very deep slumber.

[Anonymous]

My first didn’t sleep for more than 1.5-2 hours for a year. I thought I might die.

My second slept in 4 hour stretches starting in the hospital.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My first didn’t sleep for more than 1.5-2 hours for a year. I thought I might die.

My second slept in 4 hour stretches starting in the hospital.

Same experience, very different between babies. My first had latch issues and wanted to hang out for 45 minutes twice a night until he was a couple months old. Didn't go to sleep for the night until 10pm. He was a toddler before he slept through the night. The second baby I hardly remember, so must not have been bad!

[Anonymous]

For my first? Very. Unsustainably so. If I added up how much time I spent asleep each night- not feeding, not trying to go back to sleep after being up, just actually asleep- it was maybe 5 broken hours , and this lasted about 2 months, and I couldn’t nap either. I had post partum anxiety and just couldn’t wind down.

For my second, it was totally doable. I was able to pass out immediately after feeding, and I used formula at night so my husband did one or two of the feeds. I slept 8 hours a night, broken up obviously but at least one stretch of uninterrupted 4 hours every single night. Lasted maybe 3 months.

It wasn’t the baby- they were both good sleepers and stopped feeding overnight by 12 weeks. It was me and my debilitating anxiety and insomnia with my first. I wish I’d realized then that it wasn’t normal and gotten help for it.

[Anonymous]

My baby didn’t sleep longer than 2-3 hours a pop til nearly 8 months. Most wake ups were brief. My sleep never recovered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My baby didn’t sleep longer than 2-3 hours a pop til nearly 8 months. Most wake ups were brief. My sleep never recovered.

If I am pregnant or post partum without a period my sleep is not right either.