How did you manage sleep deprivation?

I CO-SLEEP WITH MY YOUNGEST – IT MAKES NURSING HIM TO SLEEP A LOT EASIER! Louisa

My children were awful sleepers – I would say co-sleeping was the only thing that worked for all of us, so I slept with the baby and my then 3.5-year-old. Co-sleeping made it easy to nurse in the night and that saved my sanity a little bit. It’s not for everyone and a lot of people don’t like it, but whatever works for your family is the right thing to do. I read Gina Ford for the second baby, and that method and structure worked for Joey. (It didn’t work with my first daughter – she hated it!)

Susan

With my first, the confinement nurse slept in the same room as the baby and woke me up for feeds. After the feed, I would change her nappy, wrap her tight and place her back in the crib. If the baby didn’t settle, the confinement nurse would take over. With my second baby, I spent most of my maternity leave in Sydney and I did struggle without the constant help – and also a gassy baby who woke every 90 minutes. I did try and catch up on this sleep during the day wherever possible; my mum helped a lot with that.

Esther

Emilie

Honestly, I don’t think anything can prepare you for the lack of sleep, but the best piece of advice I can give you is do whatever you need to do to get your little one down! Whether that’s feeding to sleep, rocking or walks in the carrier, there are no bad habits – so long as whatever you’re doing works for you and your family. Also, I highly recommend following The Sleep Teacher (@thesleepteacher) and Lyndsey Hookway (@ lyndsey_hookway) on Instagram if you have any questions regarding your baby’s sleep. They both have a different approach, which I found really useful. I was able to pick and choose what worked best for me and my little girl.

Gracie

Not even sure how we managed… I guess we just rode it out. It was tough!

Sol

We took the “divide and conquer” route! A little cosleeping in the first month, and a helper to assist with daily house chores so that both Scott and I could focus on Emily. Sharon

I luckily seem to have breezed through this! I was so happy to have a child (I’d tried for almost two years) that I was happy to breastfeed every three hours. I co-slept with my son; we’d have the portable bed next to our own bed, and when I did have to wake up to nurse, I made sure to have good posture, so I didn’t have any back pain – this is something I always knew to do, given my barre background. While I was nursing, I would read the news, emails, whatever I could do to make sure I was awake enough to nurse my son. I made sure I didn’t fall asleep as I’ve heard some scary stories about a parent doing that while breastfeeding and the baby being unable to breathe. That was a real fear for me, but after I put my baby down I would always manage to head back to sleep.

Jessica