Reply to Give it to me straight: sleep deprivation

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Like you, I was really worried about this.  Personally, I did not find it to be as bad as everyone said; seems like it is one of those things people love to say to scare expectant parents.  My baby has always been a really good sleeper.  He's 8 months old and has been sleeping through the night consistently for months now.  But I think it really depends on your kid, and I'm sure there are people on here who have had awful experiences.

One of the things that probably helped us is that we do formula.  [b]I know that can be controversial, but if sleep is your top priority, you should consider it.[/b]  It allowed us to share the responsibility of feeding him and get him on a schedule.  Even in the newborn stage, when babies have to eat every 2-3 hours, we were able to work it so that we each only had to get up once in the middle of the night to feed him.  Formula takes longer to digest, so he wouldn't wake up hungry between feedings.  I think by around 4 months we had dropped the overnight bottles entirely.

Depending on how much money you want to spend, there are lots of other solutions out there.  Night nurse, sleep consultants, the Snoo...I'm sure there are more.

[/quote]

this is true for many other things, like co-sleeping. Many recommendations are overly cautious for benefit of the child and have no regard for the sanity or health of the parents.

I found sleep deprivation to worse than what people said it would be. I survived, obviously, but it was torture. My first was a terrible sleeper. Also I had postpartum anxiety and so I couldn't sleep when the baby slept (I really should have gotten medicated for that but I didn't know that I could). I am really glad I got to be a SAHM during that time and didn't have to do anything but keep myself and my baby alive. The second was easier because I co-slept and he was a really good sleeper, plus I didn't have postpartum anxiety that time. But I was still crying sometimes during the day because of how tired I was.

That said, I don't think that sleep deprivation should be *the* reason somebody doesn't have a baby. You will (god willing) enjoy your child for a long time after the impacts of sleep deprivation ends. I do think that you should give yourself permission to do whatever it takes to get as much sleep as you can (depending on your particular sleep needs). Formula, cosleeping, CIO, SSRIs, night nurse, more time off work, whatever. Make your needs every bit as important as the baby's needs. [/quote]

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