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

[Anonymous]

Less than I expected, so maybe that helped? With my second I basically went straight to formula (had a lot of issues with number one and same things were happening with number 2, so switched earlier) and my DH took one of the night feedings and I slept thru and that helped tremendously

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Less than I expected, so maybe that helped? With my second I basically went straight to formula (had a lot of issues with number one and same things were happening with number 2, so switched earlier) and my DH took one of the night feedings and I slept thru and that helped tremendously

Meant to add I probably got five hours in a row that way?

[Anonymous]

Insanely. I would fall asleep nursing and it freaked me out so much that I moved to bed sharing. It was still bad but so much more sustainable that I did it with all four kids. Mine were such terrible sleepers and I was unwilling to let them cry it out. It was a saving grace for us.

[Anonymous]

So sleep deprived I ended up in the ER. DS#1 slept in 90 minute increments for the first seven months. Finally started STTN when we stopped co-sleeping. (We had a bed in the nursery. Baby in a crib. But we were in the room together.) After my ER visit the pediatrician told us to get out of the room and let him sleep by himself. First night he slept 12 hours. I woke up terrified he was dead. He has STTN ever since.

[Anonymous]

I had horrible postpartum anxiety and I’m a light sleeper. My son was a normal sleeper but super loud and after the first week, including complications from the c section, PPA etc I’d hardly slept at all and had terrifying insomnia. This led me and my husband to split nights starting on week 2, enabling each of us to get 5-6 hours in uninterrupted a night (I slept 9-2, him 2-7). Helped my PPA enormously and I was back to myself by the time he was 7-8 weeks, which is also when he started sleeping 7-8 hours a night. I think it helped that we moved him into his own room and crib early (because he was so dang loud). It also helped that I was fine with him having some formula - I mostly breastfed, but we gave him a bottle early and fi I didn’t pump enough during the day, I was fine with my husband feeding him formula.

I say all this to say: if you are worried about sleep or it becomes a health or mental health crisis, solutions exist and don’t be shy about using them. Partner (if you have one), friends/family, using formula, hiring a night nurses if you have the resources (even for 1-2 nights a week). Do everything in your power to get 4-5 hours of uninterrupted sleep and don’t feel bad about anything you need to do to get it. Being a good parent is about you being healthy, not EBF or doing every feeding etc

Good luck! I’ll be back in this boat next month with another newborn.

[Anonymous]

Dd was waking up every 2.5 hours to eat and I was EP, so I used to stay up double the time, and by the time I’d go to sleep, she’d wake up in about 1 -1.5 hours. I remember sitting at night, pumping, and thinking that I now understand why sleep deprivation is a form of torture. I would have done, signed, admitted anything just to get a 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

When I did go to sleep, it felt like going under general anesthesia. I’d put my head on a pillow, close my eyes, and have this “falling into a dark hole” feeling. I used to fall into deep asleep immediately.

[Anonymous]

I couldn’t even believe the level of sleep deprivation after having my newborn. It exceeded anything I could previously have fathomed. But I did used to sleep deeply between feedings, until I suddenly developed terrifying insomnia at 5 weeks postpartum. I assume the enormous lack of sleep in the early weeks plus the hormone crash caused some sort of PPA that suddenly manifested as insomnia. The worst of it passed quickly but my sleep cycles didn’t return to normal until my toddler was 15 months old.

Am due with second any day now and am terrified of the fallout related to sleep this time around. I sleep like a rock while pregnant too.

[Anonymous]

With my first, he slept sooooo well until I went back to work at 4 months. After which, I have never known such sleep deprivation. It lasted for 2 years. I was so tired I would put the milk in the cabinet and the cereal in the fridge. And find it that way days later. I seriously do not know how I functioned, particularly at work. I think it took years off my life. And probably DH’s life too. Thank god, my second child slept. What a gift that was.

[Anonymous]

My absolute worst sleep was months 7-9 and 13-15 when I was working BigLaw and my teething baby wouldn't sleep. I was a basket case.

I slept better during my maternity leave than my last month of pregnancy. My babies both would go down for 3-4 hours followed by another 3-4 hours stretch by week two. I'd typically wake up before the baby because I'd need to bf them. By the end of month 1 they'd be sleeping 4-5 hours and then 3-4 hours in a row. It was pretty quick for a wake up since I'd do a diaper, nurse and drop them in their crib. Not bad at all.

The last month of pregnancy I was up every hour to pee. It was torture.

[Anonymous]

Oh my god. Very.

[Anonymous]

I was quite sleep deprived but honestly it was more about my own sleep issues than the baby himself. I've always struggled with insomnia, am a very light sleeper, so I struggled to adjust, not to just watch him all night, hearing all his noises etc.

I highly recommend learning about sleep training before baby is born if you have time. Even if you never plan to do it, or won't until baby is much older, the basics I learned about sleep training helped me to provide 'sleep foundations' to baby from day one and once I addressed my own issues (eventually) - he was sleeping 10 hours a night from 9 weeks onward. And I have not been sleep deprived since he was about 12 weeks. Perhaps I am lucky with one of those magical sleepers, but I would credit the immense research I did on how babies sleep for much of that. There are several books, but my favorite, quick go to is the fb group 'Respectful Sleep Training/Learning'. They have a file on newborns that was amazing. Also, it's nearly 400k people, imagine how many lessons learned are being shared!

One more note: when I had insomnia pre-baby, things got REALLY bad. I would get really sick and feel mentally shot and just lose it all day and night long. But I found once baby was born that I was much calmer and handled less sleep better somehow.

Best wishes

[Anonymous]

By the grace of God I never fell asleep at the wheel.

I thought my first was a crappy sleeper until I had my second. There will be no third.

[Anonymous]

I slept with my babies and fed them on demand, so was not too sleep deprived initially. This of course became a habit that was hard to break, and I think I was pretty sleep deprived until my youngest was 4 or 5. (Bad idea).

[Anonymous]

Man these stories are brutal. I had low expectations (partly because of threads like this) and I really was never sleep deprived. Night wasn’t the easiest but I have an insanely helpful spouse. And so many people knock the “sleep when the baby sleeps” advice but…duh. Sleep when the baby sleeps. I got lots of naps during the day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:By the grace of God I never fell asleep at the wheel.

I thought my first was a crappy sleeper until I had my second. There will be no third.

Never fell asleep at the wheel. Def had a crunchy bumper from terrible parking jobs and left the keys on top of car when going to grocery store (must have put them on roof when getting baby out). My husband was out of town for work A LOT and I was working/pumping on 2-3 hours of sleep many many months. I was often so tired I became wired and couldn’t sleep. Terrible cycle.