Has sleep deprivation caught up with me after having baby??

Question

I have an 8 week old and have been averaging about 3-4 hours of sleep at night (not all at once) and have been doing okay until a couple days I woke up feeling like I had taken a bunch of Bendrayll, just really out of it, like I am in a fog and not all here. Has anyone ever felt this way? I know everyone says sleep when the baby is sleeping, but I have a toddler to take care of as well.

Answer 1

I'm still there and I have a 5 1/2 month old baby girl. I'm in the military active duty and everthing seems non-stop. She wakes up around 6:45 to 7:30 every morning. The weekend is where it hurts. I get up on the weekdays around 5:00am. On top of all of this I'm a single mom. As you know it gets better! I nurse so it's not like someone can come and do the work for me! But YES I think lots of women feel your pain.

Answer 2

Yes, it has caught up with you and you are going to be faced with this for a while. I am a mom of four - 12,8,7 and 9 months. My nine-month-old is getting up 2-3 times per night. My others slept pretty much by 8 months. So you and I are sharing the same issue. You did not mention if you have a husband to help or if you are nursing. If the baby is being bottle fed, have your husband help out at least one night per week or more if he can. Then you go somewhere where you can't hear and sleep. If you are nursing, which I am, perhaps you could have a neighbor or friend to watch the toddler a couple of hours during the day to sit-in while you sleep? Really look into this - you need your sanity to be a good person, mother and wife. If money is sparse, trade babysitting with a relative or a friend so you can sleep or get out and do something for yourself. Also, as soon as the weather gets nice, try to get out (I know it is hard to muster up the energy) and go for a walk to get your blood moving. When we are sitting around it perpetuates the cycle of being tired. Hope this helps and congrats on your new baby!

Answer 3

BEEN THERE!!! It is tough not getting enough sleep. Sleeping when you have small kids is easier said than done. My suggestion would be to go to bed at night when they do. Make an earlier bed time (8pm) and go then. If you formula feed, take water and the mix to the bedroom with you. (if the baby will take it room temp) If you breast feed, lay down with the baby, doze off while it eats... every minute counts. And during the day, when you lay the toddler down, get the baby and all take a nap together.
If these suggestions don't work, then maybe ask a friend or family member to come by one day, and watch the baby and the toddler for 4-5 hours so you can rest a little! Good Luck... IT does get better..... I promise!

Answer 4

yes i have a 3 month old and a 1st grade as well as work part time and take three classes at a community college. when the baby was first born she would eat every 2 hours until about eight weeks when she was eating 8 oz every 2 hours and never satisfied. finally she setteled down after adding a bit of rice to her diet and we did get a few more hours in between feedings. I swear i was crying to everyone as on christmas is a very hectic time for us and she was only six weeks we had to leave early from some of our family function. by the time she was done eating and we just lay our head down to sleep she was awake again. I was constantly in a daze, very dizzy. sometimes i would be feeding her and get the sweats as well but i think that was part of the postpartum. it sucked so much. eventually though she got on a schedule and i now follow this schedule every day and she is 14 weeks and goes to bed at 830 pm everynight and wakes up once about 3 or 4 just to eat and sleeps again until 6-8. it does get better.there were times i wanted to admit myself in an insane asylum as i just couldnt seem to handle not sleeping. i would wine that i just need two hours of sleep. there is a difference between being tired and just pure exhaustion. exhaustion is accompanied by many side effects on the human body.

Answer 5

When I had my last baby, she was averaging 3-4 hrs sleep, her patterns were really erratic.First 10 wks I felt OK, and was managing on this but then all of a sudden, it must have hit me all at once.
The only thing I can suggest is like the other answerer said, to catch up on even an hour if a relative or good friend can have the kids.
Just take them for a stroll around, nowhere special.
When I had my first three kids, I STILL don't know how I managed to cope. My eldest was 3, then an 11 month old, and a newborn all together.
When my fourth baby was born a year ago, at around 12 weeks she had her last nap at 10.30pm so I put her straight up to bed instead of letting her nap downstairs.
Since then she goes to bed at 7pm and wakes around 2am for a bottle then back to sleep until 7am.
You'll get through it, I know it's easy for us to say but you have to...!
Persevere with strict bedtimes. That's how I get through!

Answer 6

The first and most important thing is sleep when your baby sleeps. If you just had a baby, you can't expect to be able to do everything you were doing before. Next, get as much sleep as you can at night, too. You will probably get more sleep if baby sleeps in your bed. First of all, mothers and babies who sleep next to each other sleep "in sync" so that when baby wakes up, you'll be in a lighter stage of sleep, so you'll be losing less right there (many mothers even wake up just before baby does). Secondly, baby won't have to wake up entirely, so she/he won't be screaming and will fall back asleep faster. Third, you can nurse her/him and fall right back asleep nursing. During the day, even if you can't sleep, try to rest. Leaning back on a comfortable couch and closing your eyes for even a few minutes will make you feel at least a little refreshed. And lastly, try to keep your perspective. The days are long right now, but believe me, the months and years fly by!! Enjoy the baby now, because if you blink, she/he will be all grown.

Answer 7

wow, did that with my first kid, never again, he didnt sleep at night till he was like 2 omg.

The next 3 have all slept through the night, the next 3 (last one 14 weeks now) has slept through the night from 2 weeks onward.
Make sure you have a bedtime routine, whatever you like but make it the same so they know its bedtime. We have them in the stroller, crib in the lounge room etc the rest of the day, when its sleepy time he goes into a quieter and darker room, has bottles and lots of attention and pats on the forehead for half an hour to pop him off to sleep. He gets fed a lot before he goes down and ususally a shower as well. Then at first when he woke up during the night we dont jump up straight away like in the daytime, and it gets longer and longer each time, till we start letting him cry for quite a while before going to him. then i dont let him leave the room if i need to make another bottle, so they get bored to death if they wake up then night, i talk softly too and no quick actions etc. keep em bored lol....... no fun if they wake up in the night. so my last 3 sleep for like 10 hours a night from 2 weeks onward :-) unlike the horror of my first omg, no sleep till he was 2! gee i remember takeing him out of the cot every time he cried, how silly, no wonder he kept waking up lol
Hope that helps, has for me, worked for all 3 boys so far, try to make a big difference between what its like for them in the day and what it like at night :-)
Cheers

Oh and with the toddler, get one of those play pens they cant get out of and you can usually (with a lot of toys and tv) catch half an hour when they are safe in there.
Oh and where is hubby? He should be babysitting for you while you have a nap! even if he's been at work, thats no excuse, he needs to pull his weight as well, we have them day and night, its not just a daytime job like theirs (says me that has 4 kids 17,12,2 and 3 months and works full time and rund a business lol)

Answer 8

I feel bad for you!! Have you got no one to help? maybe try after the big ones asleep, give the little one a warm bath, feeding, get him/her down and go right away. Or if you've figured out the best time for baby's nap, try to wear out the big one before then so you all can nap.Remember that you need to sleep, don't put it off to do the cleaning.Best of Luck.

Answer 9

Jeez, you need to catch up. Can you get someone to take your toddler for a day or two whilst you catch up?