Oh Hun...8 month old dd just about killed me. I wish I was the teary type, instead i am the rant rave and throw tantrum type. I had to go to my parents for a holiday to get back to some kind of normal!!!
Otherwise early nights, time away from kids, a massage and sleep on the weekends. Oh and lots of venting on bb!
A nap (read: long sleep if poss) in the afternoon when baby is asleep. I put in a DVD for older sibling (and tell her I am in the next room), lock all doors etc, and have a snooze.
It's horrble isn't it?
I try and get through it by telling myself that at some point I WILL get some sleep!..Just not right now! (I know that sounds rediculous!)..It may be on the weekend when DH is home to watch the kids, or when they've all grown up but one day I WILL get some unbroken sleep!
It can feel just awful some days waking and feeling more tired than when you went to bed. For me (DD2 also woke 5 times a night till she was about 16 mths) after i tried everything i wanted to try to change it, i just gave in one day. I accepted i couldn't do much more and that it would get better in time. And eventually it did. The emotional relief that gave me (making peace with the wakings) was HUGE!
Other things that help are 1) don't look at a clock in the night 2) don't count how many times you get up. I really don't keep a track and when people ask how often i'm up in the night, really having no idea of how many times is a relief in a way (although it's probably about 3 times at the moment).
I think you just learn to function as you have too, I have had teary days, snappy days etc. DS1 didnt sleep thru the night till 11 months old (was BF to sleep) even then he wasnt settling for final time till 2300 ish then sleeping till 0800. During days he would BF to sleep and only sleep on my knee or in pram, 11 months stopped sleeping in pram grrr and 13 months I could put him down during day in cot!!
DS2 generally awake 2300 - 0001 until 0100 or 0200 then awake again at 0500 ish into bed with us until 0800 when DS1 wakes up.
Some days I am so tired I dont know how I get thru the day.
Hugs it will pass we will all get sleep eventually. (DH does not cope well if he does not get a good sleep.)
Other half held grouchypants in the evenings (read - 10pm to 2am) so I could sleep, or I would have been totally non-functioning. He slept in very late in the mornings when grouchypants was asleep. We stayed in mutual barely-there zombie mode for about a year. We even accidentally bought a house during zombie phase, and of course it took absolutely forever to renovate the thing so we could live in it ...
I suppose one 'advantage' of extreme sleep deprivation is that when you *do* have the chance to sleep, you go to sleep instantly. Where by 'chance' I mean simple stuff, like when your eyes close to blink, when you sit on any surface that is slightly comfortable, during breastfeeding, when stopped at traffic lights ....
I cope with the frequent waking by co-sleeping. Makes the night feeds so much quicker and we both go back to sleep as soon as they are done. Some mornings I wake and can't really remember if she has fed overnight or not!!
We did get a cot and she slept a few times in it but I found it such a pain to get up and out of bed to do the feeds, so back into our bed she goes!
Not very well here! I have had to really be very realistic about what needs to be done. DD1 is an awful sleeper and only in the last 6 months it has settled a bit. She still wakes a few times during the night but now climbs in with us rather than scream the house down. Not ideal as she sleeps holding on to me so I get woken a bit but better than the alternative. I try to get a few hours extra every second Sunday morning and we have a few hours quiet time in the afternoon when DD2 is asleep if possible - I put on the TV and we sit/lie in bed. I also am really strict about an early bedtime for me - so in bed by 9/9.30 at the latest. It is really boring but necessary to keep sane and functional particularly at work. I too get teary and overreact to things when it is worse than usual. We have tried everything in the last 4 years to get more sleep and nothing worked so make sure you are kind to yourself about it too. I find I cope better when I have just accepted that is how it is rather than obsessing about 'fixing' it. Take care and try to rest when you can. xxxx
i have lots of different coping mechanisms - which seem to be strongly linked to whether or not i have pms
the main one i have is that i co-sleep. it's the only way i can cope with a baby that wakes on a very similar schedule to your DS. i found having to actually get out of bed very disheartening & it's easier if i can stay in bed - especially during winter!
i tend to rant & rave & cry when i have pms - that's the time when i feel like the situation is hopeless & that i will never, ever get a decent EVER again. and i say to DP - do you realise that it's been xx months since i slept for more than 2 hours at a time? (i think after 13 months he has a pretty good idea of how long it's been )
i alternate between researching different gentle techniques & trying to apply them (so far unsuccessfully but for a week or so at a time i feel like i am actually doing something) and being at peace with myself that i am happy to let DS get there in his own time. my MIL said to me the other day that i have done this for so long now (although way less than a lot of other posters) that i should know that i can stick it out.
sometimes other MG mums will tell me that i'm amazing (which is funny cos i am the most un-amazing person!!) & that gives me a lift & keeps me going.
i have found though that i have got into a spiral of eating crap (lots of sugar & caffeine) but that's not anything other than a quick boost & has made me put on more weight. so this morning i'm off to see a personal trainer & try to get into some better eating & exercise habits. i'm hoping this not only improves my health but also gives me some time out & that those lovely exercise endorphins will keep me positive
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but one day I WILL get some unbroken sleep!
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