How to cope with sleep deprivation - tips?

[LittleWaveyLines]

Have a 15 week DD who naps regularly through the day but only for 30mins at a time, and sleeps for one 2.5 or 3 hour stretch, then 2 or 1 hourly stretches during the night. This is not enough for me!

I'm finding I'm clumsy, dizzy, not losing weight because I have to eat constantly to keep my energy up, and driving extremely badly! Being clumsy is also not good when carrying my DD as I keep misjudging distances etc, and she keeps getting little knocks

How do people cope with the sleep deprivation? Any tips?

(We already cosleep, but she wont latch on well when I'm lying down so have to sit up to feed her)

[Angel786]

OP - that sounds really tough going. It will get better.

Do you have anyone that could cover the odd night / afternoon (if you express?) so you can get a few hours sleep straight? I used to just sleep til 2/3 pm to get as many hours as possible as it was all so disrupted.

I used to bang into doorframes when carrying DD if tired . And don't worry about losing weight at the mo. it's only been a few months since your baby was born. You need plenty of food / energy to look after the baby and even more if bf.

[Taranta]

Big sympathies - am on my third wake up of the night here, and similarly 20wk DS won't feed lying down so no nurse-n-snooze for me either! FWIW my sleep deprivation assists have been:

• to go to bed at 8.30pm, a bit shit missing out on evening but at least I bank a 2 hour stint of sleep before first wake-up around 10:30...
  

• to get DH to get up 1-2 hrs earlier in morning and take over DS while I go and sleep. Currently DS is waking for the day at 5.30am so I feed and hand to DH at 6am then go to sleep till 7.30-8am depending on what time he's going in to work. At weekends this is extended by an hour or two, and also have an extra late afternoon nap both days to bank more sleep.
  

• get a rocking/reclining chair - i got a cheap IKEA one - more comfy for feeding in and possible to doze.
  

Between all his wake-ups this is giving me around 7-8hrs sleep in every 12hrs which alright it's not consecutive sleep but hey it better than the 4 I was getting before I started going to bed early and getting the extra chunk in the morning too...