how did you prepare yourself for getting up in the night?

[chelsea]

im really bad if i dont sleep all the way through the night and im so worried that im just gonna get angry with the baby for waking me up, OH snores and i get annoyed at him for waking me up every 2 hours, and im so worried that im gonna have that with the baby too and just leave the room and not do what i need too, now i know when shes here i will probably think completely differently and it wont bother me, but i was just wondering did anyone do anything to prepare themselves for getting up in the night? and basically weaning myself onto not sleeping all the way through the night and getting up to do stuff.

does that make sense??

thanks Chelsea

 

[Naterjack]

Hey Chelsea
You are lucky to still be sleeping - i'm very jealous !!
I am up every few hours for the loo at the moment and i think its my body's way of preparing me

 

[chelsea]

im sleeping but i think my hearing is more sensitive, cause the smallest thing wakes me up when it never used too

getting up to go to the toilet etc doesnt bother me too much, cause i can normally get straight back to sleep, but its being woken up and not being able to go back to sleep straight away that i think is scaring me.

 

[Naterjack]

I think after being woken up by baby and feeding, changing, etc we'll be more than tired enough to get back to sleep

 

[joj]

The closer to the end I got the more often I woke up naturally because I was uncomfortable or needed the loo etc, your body sort of does it for you. I'm quite lucky, Jessie sleeps through most of the time now and if she does wake up it's just once and OH does that one, he says it's the only time he gets just 'Daddy and Jess time'. You do have nights when you're pulling your hair out as you need to sleep and she's crying for no apparent reason but tbh as soon as she smiles at you or snuggles into you your frustration seems to go and if it really gets to you let OH take them for a while or leave them to cry for a few minutes.

 

[NickyB]

First off, the loo breaks when I got heavily pregnant help towards, but not enough. Nipping for a wee with an achey hip is NOT the same!!

However, you don't begrudge your LO. You know they can't help it. Last night for example, she woke, I changed her under very dim lighting, fed her, winded her, and put her back to sleep. It took 50 minutes. I was faaaaaaar (really) less annoyed with her than I was when I woke to find DH stealing some of the duvet (he gets a lot more strop from me these days- poor man).

I'm terrible on no sleep, I've been snapping at DH but not at her. The only thing that stresses me out is changing her vest in the morning, I'm still tired, and all fingers and thumbs then she cries because I'm taking too long!!

 

[Carley1985]

I'm also one that doesn't do well without sleep, i'm like the grumpiest person ever if anyone wakes me up! I had the same worry's as you before Aiden was born but once he was here i just got on with it.
When you first bring them home you usually want to be with them anyway and are forever checking to see if they're ok, i found that even Aiden stirring in the night woke me up and once i was awake i was awake if you kknow what i mean, where as now when i'm awake it actually take 15mins for me to wake up and get out of bed.
I think you instinctively do it because you know that you're baby can't do it without you and because the screaming gives you more of a headache if you don't react fast

 

[charlie84]

I loved my sleep and OH also snores and i hated it when he woke me up. So i kinda dreaded the sleepless nights too.

But toward the end of pregnancy your body will prepare you by waking you up for the loo numerous times in the night or the horrible heartburn that some women get that you cannot possibly sleep with it.
I had the heartburn and in the end had to prop myself up with a pillow, even then i couldnt sleep as i just couldnt sleep sitting up. I just sat up in bed watching telly all night till i finally dropped off for an hour or two, then it was morning

I actually think i ended up having more sleep at night when Calleigh was born

 

[chickadee1976]

I appear to be just not sleping at all just now, i think my body is preparing me.
Went to bed at 10pm fell asleep instantly, woke up, tossed and turned and eventually got up at 3am came downstairs went on pc watched tv had hot chocolate and fell asleep on the couch. Brian came down and woke me at 6am and that will be me till 10pm tonight.

 

[lfc_sarah]

Hey Chelsea
You are lucky to still be sleeping - i'm very jealous !!
I am up every few hours for the loo at the moment and i think its my body's way of preparing me

I was the same!

 

[trixipaws]

i think the many years of clubbing and staying awake for 48 hours+ helped me prepare for the "sleepless" nights! i think i coped really well with the sleep deprivation, and i think its coz i am used to it!

its suprising how u can just drop off back to sleep like a light going off after getting up, being all cold, feeding, changing, rocking baby etc. and the ability sticks! before melissa was born if i was too stimulated on waking, i wouldnt be able to get back to sleep but now i can easily

 

[chelsea]

i think thats my main worry, i take ages to get to sleep (OH can just drop off as soon as his head hits the pillow!) i keep thinking that i will wake up, feed, change etc then get ready to go back to sleep, lay there for ages, just as i drop off baby will wake me up again i assume i will just be able to go to sleep when baby is here, im just worried that i will be a walking zombie.

 

[mum2A&L]

sleep.... whats that


I found for the first few weeks, i woke every hour to check alice was still breathing and ok! the mummy clock in my head just kicked in.


that and the fact i hadn't sleep through a night for weeks before hand.


you also learn to cat nap through the day to make up for lost sleep.

 

[*pud01*]

the last part of preg i hardly slept, constantly getting up for the toilet and not being able to sleep due to back ache!

read it in some book your body adapts and you go into a deep sleep rather than light. normally it used to take me ages to get my head down now the min my head hits the pillow im well away!

 

[dannii87]

Don't try and prepare yourself, ENJOY IT! lol

Nothing can prepare you anyway. I used to wake up loads needing a wee in the middle of the night but it's nothing compared to being woken up by a screaming baby knowing that you have to go and either prepare a bottle or sit up breastfeeding

x

 

[Hazel]

I haven't slept a whole night since May when SPD got painful. Just used to it now. I had my first lie in until 8.30am yesterday when DH was at home in the morning. Always up by 7am at the latest everyday, luckily I'm a morning person .

 

[nickilubs]

Its really not that bad! I have found now that as soon as I have fed her and changed her as long as shes not upset I can sleep right away. But I do anything for a easy life so she usually ends up sleeping on me rather than going in her basket but I think thats better than sitting up getting tired and frustrated trying to get her to sleep somewhere where she doesnt want too and I like having her that close anyway. She made me laugh the other morning at 3am I was led trying to calm her (she wasnt crying she was just wide awake) and she kept banging her head and pulling at my Pjs so I took my Pj top off and she just shoved her face on my chest and fell fast asleep all she wanted was to smell me and be on skin. Its little things like that that make being awake in the early hours worth it.

I also make sure she never wakes my OH up in the night because he always looks after her in the day if I don't get enough sleep so this gives me the incentive to wake up as soon as she starts to grumble. Also theres no point in him being awake because all he can do is change her. I have to feed her and she wont sleep on him because he hasnt got boobies and this seems to worry he LOL! She actually gets quite annoyed at the fact that his milk makers have dissapered! The thing is babys are only tiny little things and they need as much sleep as you do if not more so be relaxed and sleep when she sleeps till you get enough.

 

[dannii87]

Its really not that bad!

Speak for yourself love!!

 

[Bexie]

Chelsea

I'm like you I really need my sleep. I found my first night in hospital with my daughter was the hardest as i just didn't know what to do to settle her, I was the same the next night, so the following day my OH took her out of the room to try to let me have a sleep, but to be honest my hormones were everywhere so I just couldn't drop off. For about the first month of being home I went to bed at around the same time that I put my daughter to bed, 7pm and that really helped, she would normally wake up at around 10pm for a feed, so at least I had a few hours of kip before her first night feed.

We had a bedtime routiene for her which included breastfeeding at specific times in the build up to bed time and by 9 weeks she had started to sleep through.

I didn't always managed to grab a nap in the day when my DD slept as there was always so much more I could be getting on with.

To be honest you just get on with it and feel like a zombie for a while, but you soon get use to it. Also like the others have said, as you get bigger you start to not sleep as well as you would normally, so this is your bodies way of preparing you for birthday and beyond. I think once your a parent you never sleep quite as well as you once did.

I'm sure you'll be fine.

 

[Fly]

the only thing i can add to all the cracking advice on this thread is to try and rest when your little one is resting and for the first couple of weeks just put the notions of night and day right out of your head cos it makes it worse if you try and conform to the clock...MAKE yourself sit down and put ya feet up when little one is asleep - sack the chores they don't matter
you'll cope fine cos we all do xxxxx