I think this is where your coping mechanisms come into it, and they're not just how you personally cope with little or no sleep, it's how you cope with baby in everyday life, what resources do you have to help? Sleep is important to everyone, and I think it's understandable and reasonable that it becomes a focus for mums - you need your sleep!

But if you're not getting the sleep you need, why aren't you? Because baby wakes every half hour at night and only sleeps on you during the day? I've been there more than once, and got to the point of sitting up at night with baby, hallucinating and falling asleep. Not ideal. But why are you the only one dealing with this? Dad can step up - sure he has to work the next day, but the next day Mum will be looking after the most precious member of the family and needs to function too. It's teamwork, helping you both get sleep - not all the sleep for dad and none for mum.

One answer could be to use cc to get your baby to sleep, and therefore you. Personally, even if it has worked for others, it's not for me, not for my DH and not for my kids. I've read too much about the negative impacts of it and I do believe there are damaged adults now as a result of extreme cio used when they were kids.

Anyway, if you're at that point of exhaustion and needing sleep, what else can you do? Get help. Use outside coping mechanisms and support - if baby will only sleep on you it doesn't need to be *you*. Why not Grandma or DH while you sleep? Why not take baby to bed and both get sleep? Forget the house work. I sure did. We decided early on that I would handle nights because DH had to go to work but you know what? The next day I need to look after one or two kids and function properly too. So if the night is so bad that even bed-sharing won't work, DH takes DS and I sleep for a few hours. DH does housework if I can't. My mum has brought me shopping and done laundry. It has all helped get past that exhaustion until I can function again. And in the meantime, neither baby has been left to cry, wondering why no one is coming.