Has anyone else been tired since becoming a parent?

[woollycaterpillar]

I feel like I’m tired all the time. I have a five year old ds and a dd who will be three in June.

I don’t think I understood this aspect of parenting very well at all and I guess I expected to be tired with a baby but didn’t give much thought to when / if it improved! And you get no downtime in the day.

Um, yes. I would say this is one of the most widely known down sides of becoming a parent…

What a strange observation to be surprised about! Of course, it’s pretty much the main ‘side effect’ of being a parent!

Agree with the first two replies

I must have missed that memo! I think I definitely expected it with a baby but still feeling tired all the time and run down nearly five years on does kind of wear you down a bit.

Whilst it's a normal part of parenting, it might be worth getting medically checked out to rule out another underlying cause. Pregnancy can trigger thyroid issues, as one example.

Yup 10 years into parenting the exhaustion is still there. It’s a different kind of tiredness to when kids were little and not helped by the fact I’m also a lone parent to twins.

I did think I’d be getting a bit more sleep than I do now though even if it was non stop during waking hours (twins don’t sleep through night at 5!)

All parents, ever?

I’m still tired 13 years in.

Yeah … I didn’t give it as much thought as I should have! I suppose I’d have vaguely thought that at some point in the first year or so they’d sleep through but that hasn’t happened and they also wake early and you get sort of rocket launched into every day.

I’ve been tired since 2006.
Had about one year of feeling refreshed about two years ago but then peri-menopause kicked in.

Oh that’s depressing 😩

Yes. My kids are 19 and 17 and I am still knackered

It makes me laugh when the girls at work who are in their 20s talk about wanting a baby, as if it’s just cuddles. I’m like, you’ve got no fucking idea…

Been knackered for 20 years. The only parents that arent tired all the time are the ones that don't work or don't pull their weight!

Or lying. 😂

Yes!

What do you think it is? Guessing they aren’t still waking in the night?

Worth a health check, I have three young kids and thought exhaustion was normal. Went to the docs for an unrelated reason, turns out my ferritin is 3 and I'm severely anemic! More common than people realise

Agree it’s worth a health check with blood tests. I felt just the same I was so exhausted all the time and put it down to working full time while having children and just thought well of course I’m tired. But it turns out I had thyroid and low iron and once medicated I have so much more energy. I still get tired but it’s not the extreme fatigue it was before

Yes, and he's 36.

They’re probably awake due to partying 🤣

Still knackered 10 years in. Now it's more due to the mental load, meals, laundry, clubs, and then also maintaining the house and working 35 hours a week. Nothing a big lottery win couldn't solve mind you!

I'm exhausted. My DC will be 13 in October.

Yep, it starts in pregnancy and pretty much never goes away. You get used to it or it becomes your new normal but I'm pretty sure it's a major cause of ageing.

Has anyone been tired?! I remember once when mine were about 1 & 3 that I saw a really straight stretch of empty pavement and walked down that with my eyes closed, that’s how tired I was!

Feel exhausted but I also went to the docs for something else and had really low iron. Get it checked just in case.

I do wonder if the right combination of vitamins and exercise might help build up energy though. I might try it.