In an ideal world I would go to sleep at 10pm and wake up feeling refreshed at 8am but this is far from my reality.
The truth is I go to bed very late, most of the time around midnight and sometimes closer to 1am. Every morning I get woken up by my toddler and I feel so tired. Every morning I promise myself I’ll go to bed early tonight…but I never do. Sound familiar?
The reason I go to bed late is because after my daughter goes to sleep I have some “me time”. I can work, blog, spend time with my husband, read, watch tv…you get it, I can do whatever I want or need to do without interruptions for a few hours and I enjoy it so much. Don’t get me wrong, I love spending all day with my daughter but it’s also nice to be able to get done something without interruptions or just to relax.
I’ve always been a night owl and I’ve always had a hard time waking up but I never felt this tired. I used to nap with my daughter and it was great but now I use that time mainly to blog/work, clean or cook. I guess being a mommy + trying to juggle the rest makes me more tired than any job I ever had.
I’ve become quite dependent on my morning cup of coffee to get me through the day. Lately I’ve been wondering if I’m so tired around 10am because that’s when I always drink my coffee or because I haven’t sleep properly in 2 years…
So in order to help you and help myself I came up with some tips to try and get more sleep:
- Prioritize: You can’t get it all done, so make sure you get done what’s important and leave the rest for some other day.
- Set a decent time to go to bed and try to stick to it.
- Don’t take your phone to bed with you or you’ll probably end up going to sleep much later than you wanted.
- Try to nap with your baby during the day, if at all possible.
- Use blackout curtains in your room so outside light doesn’t disturb your sleep.
- Keep your electronics off or in airplane mode during your sleep.
Sleep is of the most important things a person should do but as a mommy enough sleep doesn’t seem to happen. I guess we will have plenty of time to sleep when our kids are older (and we’ll be probably remember these days and wishing we could come back to them).
Do you have tips to get more sleep?
I completely sympathize, Carolina! No matter how tired I am, I still find myself getting into bed much later than planned most nights, and often, once there, I have trouble falling asleep even though I’ve been struggling to stay awake all day. I’m not sure any parent can consistently get “enough sleep.” Chronic exhaustion seems to be an occupational hazard. It’s even worse while pregnant with a second child, since that means even more nighttime interruptions (to use the bathroom, with leg/tummy aches, or because of aggressive baby movements). I am terrified of having two kids with different bedtimes/ wake up times; my evening “me time” may well disappear completely. Parents of older kids assure me that it gets better eventually, so we just have to push through. 🙂
You described me! I also have a hard time falling asleep once I’m in bed even though I was sleepy all day. 🙁
I think when I get pregnant with my second I’ll mentally prepare myself for no sleep and no me time. Haha.
We have friends with older kids and they even get to sleep in during the weekends. So it does get better but in the meantime, it is hard to be so exhausted all the time.
I get in bed around midnight, too. This week, we have actually be getting in bed by 11, because we really want to change our habits. Cesar is working out when he wakes up at 5, and I can get some blogging done in the morning. Although, I still can’t find my way out of my pjs! When I wake up early, I am tired earlier than normal that night, so it’s worth it to try and change this habit!
I should probably do that too…but it’s so hard. It’s almost midnight right now. Haha. Let me know how it goes with your schedule change. Might inspire me to actually change mine. 🙂
I have two boys under two….they both have been pretty good sleepers in all honestly: but once my body got used to waking up for feedings- I still can’t get out of that loop. I wake up 2-3 times per night for 5-10 minutes each. I usually can’t go to sleep until around midnight and wake up by 630. I guess I’m just coping with it but I do feel exhuasted and drained a lot. How do people exercise when there is no energy left??? Sometimes I have to peel myself out of the couch to brush my teeth!!!
Wow! Having 2 kids under 2 must be exhausting but I bet they’re such great friends it’s totally worth it.
I too wake up several times at night, even though she’s not nursing that frequently anymore. I guess our bodies are “set up” for it. Exercise? Seriously…I don’t know how some moms do it.
What is enough sleep anyway? 🙂 I don’t allow myself to “feel” tired, if that makes sense. For the most part, I don’t acknowledge how tired I could actually feel or how many hours I actually slept. I think if all us mamas really thought about how many hours of sleep we had post-lil ones, we would just make ourselves even that more tired 🙂 At least that’s my justification for avoiding the whole thing all together. Ha!! Love your post 🙂 Have a great week!
Haha! I love your first question. I don’t really watch how many hours I sleep but I do feel tired…a lot. I know I don’t sleep enough but it’s part of being a mommy and someday I will miss these days…
I feel for you! I have 4 kids and was sleep-deprived for many years. It does get better when they start sleeping through the night. I understand the challenge of finding time for you, husband, and relaxation. Try to get sleep whenever you can.
Thank you for sharing on the #SHINEbloghop.
Have a wonderful week!
xoxo
Tammi
I do my best. I think it really does take time to adjust to all the changes… Especially because at this young age they change patterns frequently. I can’t imagine how you did it with 4! AMazing!
I have found a good sleep pattern. Both of my girls go to bed at 8 pm. My husband and I have independent “work time” from 8-9 and then from 9-10 we watch a show, chat, or play a game together. We’re in bed at 10:15. We read or talk some more and the lights are normally out at 10:30/10:45. We both wake up at about 5:45/6:00 and that seems to be sufficient.
I used to be a night owl but I slowly shifted those times forward. It doesn’t take too long before you’re in a pattern.
Thanks for sharing and for linking up to the #SHINEbloghop.
Wishing you a lovely weekend.
xoxo
Wow! I installed commentluv which made me get hundreds of spam comments. It took me days to clear it out and I’m just seeing your comment, so sorry for the late response.
Your sleep pattern/routine sounds exactly like what I would like to achieve. So far, it’s not going good. Haha! But I hope I can get on track sooner than later. 🙂