I'm so sleep deprived

[Zonked247]

Hit a wall with sleep deprivation. My EBF baby is 3 months today. Wakes every 1.5-3 hours at night for milk. Very occasional 4 hour stretch but that's rare. She happily sleeps in her cot but even if co sleeping she still wakes the same amount. Generally just feeds and goes straight back to sleep.

Anyway - I know it's normal because this is my second baby but there are a couple of major differences this time round- one, can't nap in the day when the baby naps, partly because I have another child at home (who only attends school part time due to SEN) and partly because this baby will only sleep during the day in the sling whereas DC1 would nap next to me in bed in the day or in his moses. Two, I'm older now than I was with DC1 and I feel it! Three, she won't take a bottle so I can't share feeds with her Dad.

I've properly hit a wall with tiredness now. I find myself snacking on sugary things constantly to give me energy. As a result of both that and the sleep deprivation my acid reflux is really playing up so I just generally feel pants all the time.

Not really looking for advice as I know it passes but just wanted to vent!

Bump

Ugh it's awful. I remember thinking I might die of sleep deprivation. It's so tough. The only thing that helped me was accepting it rather than fighting against it.

Totally get the sugar addiction too. Can you temper it with drinking more water and nutritious food and trying to get some fresh air?

I'm exhausted today op, sending solidarity. Got to stay up until 10:30pm each night to let the dog out for his final wee so even when the kids are down I can't get an early night! My toddler fusses in the evening & often wakes in the night and then my 6 year old wakes at 6am without fail- feel like I'm being attacked from all angles! It will get easier as they all get older but so tough now.

Eurgh sleep deprivation is fucking horrible. It will pass, but I totally get feeling like it'll never end and it's going to finish you off. Hugs and sympathy from me

Feel for you OP.

This won't solve the problem but I found it helps me deal with it better-
Don't keep a tab of the patterns. For me, if I knew I had little sleep that made me feel worse. Better not to know sometimes.

With my EBF 3rd baby who wouldn't take a bottle, I ended up sleeping propped up in bed with him on a feeding cushion and permanently latched on all night. Not at all within SIDS guidelines and obviously I could never fall into a properly deep sleep like that, but it got me through the first 6 months.

I sleep with mine latched on too or within mouthing distance of the boob. I’m propped up and it’s not a lovely deep sleep but it is sleep! I’d give anything for a daytime nap most days but also have an older one. It’s not forever but I feel your pain!

It’s really tough. Can you sleep when the baby sleeps during the day? Regarding food, is there any family members who can help? Either make some meals for the freezer or just make a sandwich/omelette and a cuppa for you?

If not then maybe get a supermarket delivery with frozen veg and meat/fish- easily thawed and warmed in the microwave, same with fruit. I find an easy snack is Greek yoghurt - that has protein- with berries defrosted in the microwave and a few nuts.

Tinned soups are easy too, quickly warmed up as soon as the baby drops off, eat and then sit down to rest or snooze.

Oh bless you! My youngest is 8 and I still remember those days well! Being exhausted is pure torture!! It sounds so incredibly tough too having a child with SEN.
Do you have any support during the day/any family close by who could hold her whilst you had a nap? One thing that i used to do was feed my baby at 10pmish, then hand her over to my husband for him to settle and he would sleep with her in the spareroom, so i could go straight to bed at 10pmish, and then he would carry her through to me when she woke around 1/2pmish. It didn't help massively, but i probably managed to get an extra half hour sleep that way and I slept really heavily as I didn't have to listen out for her.