Reply to Parents with no friends or family around, how did you survive the first month on barely any sleep?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Baby is three weeks old and now that my husband is back to work and I’m the only caregiver night and day I’ve become well acquainted with sleep deprivation. I know that it’s not an avoidable issue and I’ll endure it for as long as I can  but I’m afraid it’s not sustainable for too long. I get 3-4 stretches of one hour of sleep at night because my little one goes two hours between feedings. During the day sometimes I manage to fall asleep for another hour or so when he’s asleep but sometime I fall asleep while he’s already waking up. My concern is that in the afternoon my alertness is pretty bad and I’m afraid I’ll get to the point of being unsafe/drop things/make poor judgements, etc.

Those of you who’ve survived this period, which resources did you use? Did you hire someone to come to your house for a few hours to be with the baby while you napped? If so, how did you find these people? How do you find sitters/nannies that are experienced specifically with newborns this young?

[b]Are there tricks out there to allow myself to be well and functional without hiring someone?[/b] [/quote]

Short answer, no.  I think around the 3-month mark I started getting 4-hour stretches of sleep at a time and that felt functional, if not healthy (I went back to work at 7 weeks postpartum).  If you have the resources for a nanny (night or day, doesn't matter if you're just trying to snag some rest), that's pretty much your only option, but if you're nursing you'll still have to wake up at night and/or factor in extra pumping.  Not trying to be unsympathetic here - it really sucks! - but it's also not permanent and in hindsight will just be a blip.[/quote]

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