Reply to Give it to me straight: sleep deprivation

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I had twins. It took a while to get them on the same schedule. One would wake just as the other started to get drowsy. For weeks there was a baby awake round the clock. I was so exhausted that I felt like I couldn’t possibly get caught up on sleep for the rest of my life. I remember rocking my colicky baby and realizing that my arms were about to go limp from sheer exhaustion. I was seriously afraid of dropping her if I didn’t put her down right then. I staggered to the crib, put baby in it, wished her luck and crawled in bed.

It was rough and it took all of us pulling together. My dh took a long paternity leave, he took some night feedings, my mom stayed with us and helped during the days, we brought a night nurse in for a couple nights a week. The night nurse does help because you can set an alarm and get up and pump and then immediately go back to bed. You don’t spend any time diapering or burping or settling the baby (and if you have twins, you can just get up once).

The sleep deprivation is horrendous, but for most parents, it’s a season that comes to an end. As bad as it was, it was worth it. I’d rather be tired and have my children than be well rested without them.[/quote]

+100000 to this. I only had one but the sleep deprivation with my first for the first 4 months was really awful. I was on the verge of a breakdown at several points. But in hindsight (oldest is now 6) it was a very short period of life and very worth it. Also it was better with my second because we figured out a few things. Here's what I wish I knew then:
- If you have breastfeeding issues, tackle those as aggressively as possible with a lactation consultant, or just switch to formula if it's not working. A hungry baby will not sleep well.
- If baby is well-fed and gaining weight appropriately, baby does not need to eat every time they wake up after the first few weeks. If you start feeding them every time they wake up, that's what they come to expect and it makes sleep training harder.
- You need to sleep, even if you're on leave and your husband is not. Split up nights with your husband. You can go to bed very early and he can take the wakeups from something like 8 PM to 1 AM, then you take over. It leads to very little time with your husband, unfortunately, but like I said, this is a brief season of life.
- For day naps - just try to put the baby down to sleep in the crib, and keep trying. One day it will stick and you will be able to nap too.[/quote]

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