Sleep deprivation…. It’s the one thing I had no way to prepare for when I was pregnant. I could prepare almost everything else that had to do with caring for my baby ahead of time but not sleep… I couldn’t “pre-sleep” or “stock up on sleep” beforehand but I sure wish I could!
Without a doubt, the hardest part about being a new parent is adjusting to the amount of sleep you will now get. Babies don’t sleep in and instead of sleeping in long stretches like adults; they sleep in short chunks of the 24 hour day. This new “schedule” can get kind of overwhelming and for me, it hasn’t gotten much better since Aiden was a newborn. He still wakes up several times throughout the night to nurse and I am often very, very tired. My husband also gets up at night with Aiden helping to soothe him, rock him, or sometimes just walk him around the house so I can get one precious hour of sleep. It is not easy! I am by no means an expert and just do whatever I can to make it through each day but here are some ways we are coping:
I love the new show with Christina Applegate called “Up All Night”. It is so clever and right now, it’s the story of my life! To be honest, I just try to remind myself that this is only one season of our lives as parents and one day, Aiden will be sleeping all night... Although by that time I’m sure he’ll have me up for entirely different reasons!