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Original poster

How many hours sleep do you parents get?

113 replies

Chippingbird23 · 11/08/2021 06:47

I get anywhere between 7-8 hrs usually sometimes even 9 rarely but still tired sometimes.

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Sarahsupasaint · 14/09/2023 08:25

Bloballbovish · 11/08/2021 07:02

I get approx 6 hours, but sometime less. Pre-children I'd aim for 9 but usually got 7-8 on a work day.

Dd2, a baby, wakes between 5 and 6 most days. I'm doing bedtime with dd1 until 8.30-9pm, have to stay with her until she falls asleep, a recent regression. I should go to sleep much earlier but after 9pm is my only me time, especially in the school holidays. So I have supper and watch TV or read for a bit.

Sleep is broken frequently by Dd2 still breastfeeding so it's not even a solid 6 hours. But I sleep feed now - flop a boob out at her and doze off again. Otherwise I'd be dead from lack of sleep by now!

I'm currently going through this exact experience, how did your.first born settle eventually? Ours is soon to transition into a bed but we are being woken up by a 2.5 year old crying for us in the night and our 2 month old is sleeping 9pm til 6am 😑

ballroompink · 12/08/2021 20:45

When not on annual leave, about 7.5 hours usually - 11pm-ish to 6:30am-ish. Quarter of an hour either way! My DCs are 3.5 and 9. When they were babies I sometimes got as little as 3.5 hours as they were awful sleepers.

Natashaj27 · 12/08/2021 19:01

At the minute, 4-5 hours because of a leap. As others have said, I prioritise an hour to myself once I've done dishes etc. We did have a stretch of around 3 weeks when DS was sleeping 9-7.30 and life was better than good. Fingers crossed he goes back to that once this leap is done with!

Hemingwaycat · 12/08/2021 14:24

7-8 hours, don’t remember the last time I had any more than that. I used to say I needed 9 to be a reasonable person and actually remember at one point having 10-11 hours a night. Gone are those days, 7 is probably the average. It’s partially because DH is a nuisance and he keeps me awake till midnight talking.

Briarshollow · 12/08/2021 14:23

Some kids are good sleepers and some kids aren’t. I don’t believe in the regression bollocks and I certainly don’t believe in ‘leaps’. I don’t know a single baby that had a scheduled regression. 🙄

What I do know are kids who don’t sleep so well. They slept badly constantly and their desperate parents would sporadically label an unchanging situation as a regression. It’s nonsense.

As is the spiteful message to the poster whose baby is sleeping well.

NotThatSocial · 12/08/2021 09:20

I prioritise sleep over pretty much everything else. When I'm really tired I'm an absolute emotional wreck. I generally get 8 hours.

Quornflakegirl · 12/08/2021 09:10

Same here, 6:30-7 from 11 and 14 weeks and continued to do so apart from when ill.

Oliveandsage · 12/08/2021 08:55

@Wanderlust20

7 or 8 hours too and I have an 11 week old (yup, smug mummy here!!)
I wouldn't worry too much about sleep regression, both mine (4 months and 3 years) slept through 7-7 from about 8 weeks reliably, apart from sickness - no point worrying about something that may never happen.

I thank my stars every day I have two good sleepers, can't imagine how hard it must be for those who don't - think you are amazing!

badpuma · 12/08/2021 08:53

When the children were babies I had about 5 hours in 1.5 hour chunks. Now they're teenagers I get 7-8 hours. They have 12ish.

Oliveandsage · 12/08/2021 08:52

about 8 hours, I go to bed about 10 and woken by 6am by the baby (4 months)

Lockeddownagain · 12/08/2021 08:49

Until my daughter was 5 I hadn't had more than 3hours in a row for 5years have never gone through anything as tough. Now it's about 7hours

Pigeonpocket · 12/08/2021 08:47

@Wanderlust20

7 or 8 hours too and I have an 11 week old (yup, smug mummy here!!)
My dd would sleep for 7 hours straight at that age, then at about 16 weeks it all went to shit and never got better... The 4 month regression is a real thing.
Pigeonpocket · 12/08/2021 08:44

Between 3 and 6 hours of broken sleep a night. I have a 2yo who has never slept well. Some nights I get a 6 hour chunk but it's rare.

Quornflakegirl · 12/08/2021 08:31

lostmyway86 Neither did mine children, I read about it and worried and waited but nothing!

Lostmyway86 · 12/08/2021 07:52

I really hate it when people say this. Neither of my babies had this so called regression. Nor did any babies I know. Why try to make someone anxious about something that probably won't even happen!

Briarshollow · 11/08/2021 22:35

@Wanderlust20

7 or 8 hours too and I have an 11 week old (yup, smug mummy here!!)
Ignore anyone talking about leaps and regressions at four months. Babies do not develop according to a schedule, or an app…things like the discredited Wonder Weeks are cynical commercial products aimed at desperate parents who want to know what is going on. I don’t know any babies that had a leap or sleep regression, just sometimes they wake and sometimes they don’t. My baby, my friends’ babies, my sisters’ and brother’s babies all just got into sleep routines and that was that, unless they were sick.

Keep on doing what you’re doing. 💪🏻

Briarshollow · 11/08/2021 22:31

8 hours, 11-7. My baby is a dream sleeper and always has been. He’s done 7-7 from about ten weeks. Little legend.

Totally blown away by what some of you have to contend with.

romany4 · 11/08/2021 22:11

Menopausal and can't stay asleep for more than a four hour chunk.
I'm knackered

SquigglePigs · 11/08/2021 22:07

7-8 hrs on a decent night. I usually wake once to go to the loo. On a bad night I struggle to go back off, especially if I don't wake till 5 ish. DD is two but a pretty good sleeper unless she's ill. She's usually up around 6-6.30.

Sh05 · 11/08/2021 22:07

Oh god! Mine were always 5 months. They hit 5 months and that long chunk of sleep of 11-5 became a thing of dreams!

Caffeinemonster · 11/08/2021 22:04

@Wanderlust20

7 or 8 hours too and I have an 11 week old (yup, smug mummy here!!)
Make the most of it before they hit 4 months!
Wanderlust20 · 11/08/2021 21:59

7 or 8 hours too and I have an 11 week old (yup, smug mummy here!!)

Sh05 · 11/08/2021 21:59

I should add that although DD sleeps until 8 I can't bring myself to lie in past 7 as I feel like I'm wasting the day away😐

Gertie75 · 11/08/2021 21:58

On school nights about 9 hours but weekends and holidays can be up to 12, I don't always sleep those hours, sometimes I spend a bit of time faffing on my phone like now.
I've always slept a lot though, even as a baby and don't function well at all on little sleep.
I'm quite looking forward to retirement so I can fit an afternoon nap in too.

Sh05 · 11/08/2021 21:56

If I went to sleep earlier then I'd get around 8 hours but with a few wake-ups as DD still wakes up for feeds at night.
But I can't bring myself to ge to bed as that time is my only me time so 6 hours with two wake-ups in between.
I know when it's less than 6 as I feel well in myself but always breakout in coldsores.