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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to ask how much sleep you get per night if you work and have children?

99 replies

Mumto2uk · 27/02/2017 23:04

After getting everything ready for the next day, most nights I don't get to bed until 11-11.30pm and then up at 6am for work. Being up in the night with the toddler suffering from nightmares isn't helping. I'm lucky I have a supportive husband who does his fair share when not working (works very long hours). I'm always tired though and struggle to get through the day. Am
I just moaning? Genuinely interested in how much sleep others get. Thanks for your replies x

OP posts:
stopfuckingshoutingatme · 28/02/2017 18:37

I am in bed very often by 930pm, awake 620

so I am rested but a bit depressed that I have no life!!!!!

Youcantscaremeihavechildren · 28/02/2017 18:42

Too little...(sobs)

Teacher so work most evenings, bed by 10ish if I can, read for a bit to switch off...meant to be up by 6, since ds is a terrible sleeper it's usually a broken 4-5 hrs as he's awake by 4..it's the broken sleep just much as how much sleep, if I get from 11 till 4am I feel ok, but being woken every 2 is a killer. I'm permanently exhausted, look like shite and my eyes sting all day. He's 2 though, so it's got to get better, surely!?!
I find a lie in at the weekend plus at least one really early night a week helps just to keep me going though, and Wine

CasperGutman · 28/02/2017 18:47

Bed about 10.30, wake when the first child wakes (usually 6-6.30) or on rare occasions when the alarm goes at 6.40. Maybe once a week one of them needs attention during the night. Oddly, it's almost always the nearly-five-year-old, and not the only-just-one-year-old.

I know we're lucky.

CPtart · 28/02/2017 18:52

Mine are a bit older now, but I was strict with them with the sleeping routine from the word go, never ever co-slept and was happy to leave them to whinge (not CIO). They slept through (bar illness) from about four and five months respectively when I stopped bf and went back to work. Touch wood there was never a problem after that. They slept all night pretty reliably. And as I love my sleep I was in bed for ten most nights and up about 6.30-7, so getting about ten hours a night. Very lucky.
Now they're teens, I go to bed before them!

laulea82 · 28/02/2017 18:53

I work 4 days and have 3yo dd who sleeps well and 1yo ds who has just started sttn but wakes early. I sleep about 10-5/6. Sometimes 930-630! I think this is enough and sometimes I get a lie in at the weekend.

StarlingMurderation · 28/02/2017 18:53

7-7.5ish but only because I go to bed by 9.30 at the latest. DS is a very early riser but luckily sleeps through most of the time.

AllFurCoatNoKnickera · 28/02/2017 18:55

Generally go to bed between 10 and 11. Just gone back to work and up at 6 to get myself ready and out the door by 7.

Thought I was getting 7 or 8 hours sleep (DS sleeps from 7-7) but my Fitbit reckons on average it's only 4.5 hours as I'm a restless sleeper.

Shattered.

alltouchedout · 28/02/2017 18:56

6 ish. Sometimes less, sometimes more, but it seems to average out at 6. Never feels like enough :(

CantSleepClownsWillEatMe · 28/02/2017 19:02

Around 6 hours here too. I can't blame dc as they've always been good sleepers and nowadays only wake if they're ill.

I'm rarely in bed before 11.30 and it takes me an hour to drop off as I struggle to shut my brain down. Agree with others, it's not enough. Working full time and two primary age dc so it often feels like there's not enough hours in the day.

I'm sure it can't be healthy but I suppose I'm used to it at this stage.

AgathaMystery · 28/02/2017 19:06

My sleep app says 6hrs average a night - to the minute. I guess it's mostly accurate.

I am off to bed now as every few weeks I need 10-11 hrs to recharge. I'm do a high risk job (NHS) & I'm exhausted.

Nquartz · 28/02/2017 19:11

7-8 hours a night. Work 4 short days, up usually at 6am & usually asleep by 10. Seems very early but I get very tired. DD still wakes sometimes & has terrible habit of waking at 5am about once a week.

citybushisland · 28/02/2017 19:12

Generally I go to bed 'about' 10, read for half an hour so probably asleep by 11ish, up at 7, out of the house by 8:15, only have one child to drop at school now (she's 7), older 2 leave at same time but walk in opposite direction. All 3 make their own packed lunches and organise themselves, a mixture of luck and training!

nippey · 28/02/2017 19:13

I go to bed at 830/9 so I can get 8hrs (DD is up between 5-530)
I feel terrible on less and my work suffers. I do miss having a proper evening though!

citybushisland · 28/02/2017 19:14

posted too soon! So about 7-8 hours sleep.

calilark · 28/02/2017 19:15

Now that DD is sleeping through, I am in bed for 11 and awake from 6. She is 3 & 8 months.

But for a long stretch I was getting about 4 hours of broken sleep, from when I went back to work when she was 10 months until about 3. I work 4 x 8hr days.

icelollycraving · 28/02/2017 19:19

I tend to sleep for 5-6 hours but it's not the good zonked out type of sleep I had when I was younger. Ds sometimes is a bit fretful. Dh snores like a bloody pig & the cat huffs & purrs. 6 hours feels like luxury.
My house is often a mess. Dh & I permanently knackered. We both work full time. Dh is in a fairly physical job & he's in his 50s. I do all housework,washing,ironing,shopping etc.
Work have asked if I want more responsibility. I actually don't, I'm more hoping for a lottery win!
Saying that I like the structure that work gives me. At work I am v confident. The school run terrifies me.

WhooooAmI24601 · 28/02/2017 19:21

Bed by midnight, awake at 5am, super-heavy sleeper though so I probably get more REM than DH who sleeps lighter for longer. DH says only psychopaths can function and be happy on so little sleep but any more and I am grumpy.

Longdistance · 28/02/2017 19:23

4-6 hours. I wake at night and find it hard getting back to sleep after I've woken up.

I am exhausted most of the time. I have one week day off, but work a Saturday morning.

Dh usually drops dd's off at breakfast club, and I pick them up from school.

I take them to 3 different clubs in the well after school, 2 are based at the school, and one on the other side of town.

I get them ready in the mornings ready for school, I batch cook on a Sunday, but only 3 meals, as Thursday's a rush day, so it's jacket potatoes/omlette (easy food), and Friday we either have take away or go to a family restaurant. Saturday Dh cooks, Sunday I do the roast.

I wake if dd's wakes, as the bear Dh is useless 🙄

StealthPolarBear · 28/02/2017 20:01

About 7 or 8
Dc no longer wake in the night which is heaven. Novelty of that has not worn off

KatieScarlett · 28/02/2017 20:06

Fitbit says 5 hrs. I can sleep for as long as I want (DC adults). Work full time, take regular exercise. I'm not tired at all which is weird because I should be.

tabithakitty · 28/02/2017 20:08

I go to bed anytime between 10pm and midnight; get up at 6am.

I like the VERY odd early night but I am a night owl; always have been. And I can get by on much less sleep than 6-8 hours if I need to.

PetalMettle · 28/02/2017 20:08

About four broken hours lately. And I feel wrecked. My performance isn't what it should be but luckily I've been there forever and know how to get the most noticeable stuff done

YoureAllABunchOfBastards · 28/02/2017 20:12

Not fucking enough.

Got a 10 and an 8 year old, work full time. Bed at 11pm, awake by 6 and usually woken at least once a night. I struggle to get back to sleep too.

EdenX · 28/02/2017 20:14

I'm in bed by 10, I need 8 hours. Why do you go to bed so late?

Christinayangstwistedsista · 28/02/2017 20:17

Around 8-9 hours, Ds is 11 now so life is easier