You have a baby and you've never been more tired in your life. Sure, you've heard the advice: Nap when the baby naps. Leave the dirty dishes, and don't worry about the laundry — you'll get to it eventually. But the reality is that most days you need this time to take care of chores and other business. So what advice can you really use to get some sleep?
We invited BabyCenter parents to share their survival tips. One tried and true strategy is to share the nighttime feedings with your partner so you'll both be guaranteed at least five hours of solid sleep. Some families find that bringing their baby to bed with them is the key to staving off fatigue. Read on for more ideas.
Pump and sleep
"We started giving our daughter bottles when she was 2 weeks old. I would pump at 9 p.m. and then go to bed. My husband would wake her at 10:30 p.m. and give her the pumped breast milk. I got to sleep from 9 p.m. until 2 a.m., when she woke up again."
—Jodi Mindell, author of Sleeping Through the Night: How Infants, Toddlers, and Their Parents Can Get a Good Night's Sleep, and mom of Caelie, 23 months
Rock-a-bye, baby
"We had a cradle that rocked, and I tied a rope to it so I could rock it while I lay in bed when my son was a newborn. (I made sure the rope was out of his reach at all times.)"
—Mollie, mom of Nicky, 8 years
Midnight power-snacking
"The best way I've found to cope with disrupted sleep (the twins are on different schedules) is to have 'power snacks' when I'm up with the babies. Peanut butter and crackers, a glass of skim milk, yogurt, etc. The food helps me feel much better in the morning after those nights when it seems like nobody sleeps."
—April, mom of 8-year-old Jeffrey, 6-year-old Erin, and twins Caitlyn and Ethan, 22 weeks
One night on, one night off
"My wife and I took turns getting up with our son every other night like clockwork for the first nine months. It was not pleasant, but was a decent survival tactic."
—Steve, dad of Daniel, 3 years
Separate rooms
"On the nights that I really want undisturbed slumber, my husband and son sleep in a separate room so I don't hear them get up for feeding and changing. We also take turns sleeping in on the weekend."
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Shift work
"We've found that the best way to protect our sleep and make sure we're functional for work is to take our daughter in shifts. My wife usually handles the first shift (10:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.), while anything after that falls into my territory (2:30 a.m. to 6 a.m.)."
—Dan, dad of Mary Elise, 11 months
"With our first daughter, my husband and I rotated nights. For instance, he had Monday night and I had Tuesday night, and so on. It worked out great! When I knew it was his night, I would help out more with getting everything ready for the night and he would do the same for me. We plan on doing the same for our next child." —Keysha
Early to bed
"Go to bed when the children do. This is hard for me because there's so much that needs to be done, or I'd like to have that time to relax in peace and quiet — but do it!"
—Diane, mom of Bridget, 4, and Kelly, 8 months
Sleep-sharing
"The best strategy I used to get sleep when my daughter was a newborn was to have her sleep with me. At first, she was in her bassinet and would wake for periods of four to five hours, and so we'd walk around and nurse until she fell back to sleep. Finally, my doctor suggested we take her to bed with us. She slept great and woke up only briefly to nurse."
—Trista, mom of
source from http://www.babycenter.com
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