Another sleepless night with your newborn? You are not alone.
According to The National Sleep Foundation, people ages 18-64 need around 7-9 hours of sleep every night in order to keep up good health. But regardless of whether you are a new parent or not, an adult’s daily to-do lists are filled with work, chores, and errands.
I’m a mom to a 14-month old boy and I AM SO TIRED. And it’s not because of him. He sleeps 12 hours per night now. But me? I’m lucky if I get 6.
I blame it on the thousands of thoughts that run through my head as soon as I hit the pillow: What will he eat for lunch tomorrow? Will our babysitter be late again making me late for work… again! Will I wake up with enough time to work out before he does? Ugh, how is it midnight already?!
A study conducted by Sleep Junkie reveals that 68% of surveyed people were getting 7+ hours of sleep per night, prior to having a baby. Afterwards, only 10% of parents are hitting that.
On average, each new parent loses a staggering 109 minutes of sleep every night for the first year after having a baby. So, if you have two parents in the household, that’s 218 minutes a night! It’s basically like being in college again.
Not getting enough sleep can have a major effect on your physical and mental health. It can make you delirious, but instead of sleeping through your morning classes, you have a newborn that needs care and attention, and that can be really hard.
Sleep experts Bolton and Learner are huge fans of establishing a bedtime routine suggest a bedtime routine that’s relaxing and predictable with the same things happening every night at about the same time.
The routine might include:
* Bath or body wash
* Massage
* Putting on nightclothes
* Story
* Lullaby under dim lighting
It is important to remember everything is a phase, good and bad, but it will eventually pass. And until it passes, which can feel like an eternity;
- Put your baby down to sleep when they’re drowsy but still awake.
- Make nighttime calm by keeping the room dark, talking quietly, and avoiding eye contact as little as possible when it’s time to go to sleep.
