Get ready to hate me. Or steal my husband. Or think I’m the worst mother in the whole wide world. Or maybe you’ll admire my ingenuity!
I am a miser of my sleep. I don’t do well when I’m tired. I get really cranky and tend to take it out on the closest person -- who would be my dear, sweet husband. He certainly doesn’t deserve it, so I always say our arrangement was made for his own good.
When I was pregnant, I slept like a log. I won’t say I slept like a baby because, as anyone who has a baby knows, that’s the world’s worst analogy! I think my biggest fear during pregnancy was what was going to become of my precious sleep.
But, as fate would have it, for many different reasons, I didn’t breastfeed. Despite all the fretting, it ended up working out just fine. I’m a rule-follower, so when I learned that a formula-fed baby could last three to four hours between meals, I made sure she did. My baby was on a perfect little schedule after about three weeks.
Hate me yet? Keep reading.
My husband, who was a great hands-on dad from day one (as a matter of fact, he was the one who changed the very first diaper -- and insisted on using Huggies® -- but that’s another story!), loved feeding the baby. He also requires about half the amount of sleep I do, so I devised a perfect plan.
I fed the baby at 10 p.m. and went right to bed afterward. I slept until she cried at 2 a.m. (like clockwork!) and got up and fed her. I was able to fall right back to sleep and some mornings even thought, Hmm, did she even wake up last night? My husband would do the 6 a.m. feeding, allowing me to sleep until 8 or even 9 o’clock in the morning!
His work day started late and ended late so he was able to spend lots of time playing with the baby in the morning. Since he rarely made it home for dinner, morning became cherished daddy-and-baby time.
This kept up as baby number one turned into a toddler and baby number two came along. My husband has continued to be the morning guy, giving the kids bonding time with their dad and giving me a good night’s sleep.
Now, I know not everyone is as lucky as I am on the sleep front. Some moms are so uncomfortable or anxious during their pregnancy that they are sleep deprived even before the baby is born. But you don’t have to resign yourself to a sleepless fate. Check out these great Getting a Good Night’s Sleep tips I found on CafeMom.com. Then go take a nap!
Because as we all know, a well-adjusted family begins with a well-rested mother!
How did you handle your lack of sleep once your baby was born?
Image © iStock.com/aabejon