I have a confession to make. For the first 6 months or so of Monty's life I saw bugs that weren't really there. Do we have bugs in our 70+ year old house? Oh yeah, we do but these were imaginary bugs that I can only attribute to being sleep deprived! I can't express how much better I felt when he dropped his night-time feedings and starting sleeping from 6:30pm to 7am!
Exhaustion can make us moms feel like grumpy, loopy, clumsy, forgetful, crazy people- with bugs crawling up our peripheral vision! Though if our husbands called us out on it we would probably just start sobbing- don't they see how hard we're working?
So what can we do about it? Unless you plan on handing over your mothering duties and hiding under the covers for a month (which I don't recommend) there's not much you can do about replenishing the lost sleep. Since we can't catch up- how do we get through this time?
Here are some things I DO recommend to combat post-pregnancy sleep deprivation:
*Accept offers of help from family and friends. Babysitting, vacuuming, meals- whatever it is- say yes!
*Eat whole grains, fruit, veggies and lean proteins and drink plenty of water especially if you are breastfeeding.
*Exercise- you'll find you have more energy after doing so!
*"Lean Mommy" (by Lisa Druxman) recommends Mommy Meditations- taking a quiet moment to practice your deep breathing, visualize your energy, and mentally let go of your stress. And if you fall asleep and end up taking a nap- that is great too!
If you're looking for advice on how to teach your baby to sleep through the night or nap on a predictable schedule, I recommend "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weissbluth. It worked for Monty and I hope it helps you too... but there are plenty of other sleep books out there that our friends have used with great success as well.
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