I have three dcs and two didn't sleep for properly for years, one had severe reflux that went on for years (we tried everything and consistently but nothing worked), he woke every other hour screaming for years, no exaggeration..the other child was goodish but went through long periods of waking due to teeth etc etc and another dc who slept reasonably well but like a lot of breastfed kids took longer to sleep through. Anyway I literally had years of appalling to no sleep. My dcs have all thankfully been sleeping through for a year and a half. I thought I'd feel way better but I'm still exhausted a lot.
I've had bloods done and I had v low iron which has now been increased and everything seems OK. I get around 6/7 hours of sleep a night, I eat a very healthy diet, I try and exercise regularly as that definitely helps but tbh im still tired. Is it just normal with kids or after years and years of sleep deprivation?
I will add my dcs are v v v energetic and it's not code for badly behaved, they are constantly on the move and v v into sports. Although they are now older so 10, 7 and 4 I almost find they are a lot more energetic than when they are younger. They do watch the odd bit of TV but aren't hugely interested and we don't have video games. We have to bring them out a lot as otherwise they just climb the walls, they will play but we find they can syart getting tricky if they haven't burnt off energy. I think because they were such awful sleepers we got into a habit of bringing them cycling, swimming etc etc and now it's a vicious cycle. I know we are v lucky they are healthy etc, it's just seems so full on all the time.
We also both work from home but I'm freelance so work more during school hours, we live in an area of very over subscribed and v expensive childcare so I work around the kids, this in fact is what saved our jobs when the schools were closed. My dh is extremely hands on and has been a sahd but now works ft, we also have a smaller business that we work on , it's doing relatively well and helps top up our income. The reality is we are doing a lot with very , very little childcare. Our dcs have been to camps this summer but 4 year old is still at home. I am in Ireland and the lockdown here has been very long and strict, when our schools closed there was no online learning, we were given book numbers and exercises to teach ourselves, it was very much parents covering the curriculum. Me and my dh just find ourselves getting very burnt out , we have looked into babysitters and got one sometimes but for 3 kids it can be 15 euros per hour and that's an expensive walk or lunch etc and also it's simply very difficult to find someone (our old babysitter has gone away to uni) My dh and I are a great team and regularly free each other up but tbh I find I have little energy to do much. Obvs like anyone with 3 dcs will know there's a huge amount of housework and washing and cooking and I can't live in a messy or dirty house so we always make sure it's clean and tidy every evening.
If anyone has any good tips on how do boost energy or something that has worked for them. I'm acutely aware it's not going to get easier as i can well imagine schools not reopening here unless kids are vaccinated, they keep saying on our news "schools should be reopening ", this isnt a good sign..
Or can it take years for the body to recover from having long term sleep deprivation?