If you’re a brand new mum, you may be wondering if you’ll ever get a full night’s sleep again. Babies are wonderful, but tending to one 24/7 can unwind a parent’s circadian sleep clock. Lack of adequate sleep is not only bothersome; it can be downright dangerous. In the interest of happier families everywhere, here are a few helpful hints guaranteed to make it easier for new mums & dads to deal with sleep deprivation.
Circadian rhythms and what they do
Circadian cycles are the natural patterns of sleepiness and wakefulness that are important to good physical and mental health. Sleep experts at Stanford University note several disorders of the brain’s natural sleep-wake rhythms, including jet lag, shift work sleep disorder, and delayed sleep phase syndrome. Although none of these are quite so severe as the major sleep disorders outlined by the Mayo Clinic (sleep apnoea, insomnia, narcolepsy, and restless leg syndrome), new motherhood sleep deprivation can come as a major shock to the system. Throw in heightened anxiety as you fret about tending to the needs of your baby, and recovering from the ordeal of child birth - and most of us will enter a stage of exhaustion we never quite knew existed.
The first nights with new baby
If you get a chance to spend a night or two at the hospital or birthing centre after delivery, go for it. Take the time to learn from the experts, and rest as much as you can. Nurses will completely understand the trauma you have faced, and will look after your little one while you recover from the birthing process. They’ll have a million tricks up their sleeves to help soothe your little one and encourage longer sleep cycles - from helping baby get a better latch, to swaddling.
Share nighttime parenting duties with your partner if you have one. Although breastfeeding mums will inevitably find this job-share a little harder, it can still be done. Get dad to triage baby (change their nappy, rock them and rule out everything but hunger) before presenting them to you for a feed. Try to regularly switch up the schedule to give both of you a break - maybe taking alternate nights works best for your family, or a week on / week off set-up, or even tag-teaming night duties so no one is getting up alone.
Catch a few winks anytime you can
Experienced mothers advise new mums to “nap when baby naps”. For the first few weeks, this may seem like a chaotic sleep schedule, but it’s proven to work, especially for mums who don’t manage a full eight hours at night. When company comes to call, forget about playing the perfect hostess and don’t be afraid to ask your guests to enjoy interacting with your newborn while you retreat to the bedroom and close your eyes. Your friends will appreciate all those newborn snuggles, and you’ll wake feeling refreshed.
If your newborn is fussy, a nice ride around town might lull them to sleep. This trick works for a lot of new parents and it could work for you, too. Secure your cranky baby and their car seat in your Chrysler Pacifica or other family vehicle and go for a nice long drive. Country roads with repetitive vistas and less traffic tend to work the best in my experience. Then sneak back home, carefully liberate baby from their car seat and deposit them back inside their cot - trust me, this is an art form but you will get progressively better at it as you become more desperate for sleep!
If nothing else, just please go easy on yourself. New mums learn the ropes of motherhood naturally, and what works for some, might not work for others. Don’t frantically hit Google and expect every solution to work, or torture yourself by reading stories of how other new parents are successfully netting 8 hours night after night - they might simply have calmer babies. If you can’t sleep now, don’t worry too much. It won’t be long before your baby (and you) sleep through the night.
