To start a thread for the sleep deprived parents?

[Ifeelbloodyawful]

That's just for supporting one another and is a place to offload about how truly shit sleep deprivation is?

Not a thread for being told to try this/do that/CIO/read this book/try a dummy/try formula/my babies have all slept beautifully since X old (), etc?

Sometimes I don't want "solutions", I just want understanding. Just want a place to be understood, consoled, have a moan, and to remind each other that "this too shall pass" (please!) and in the meantime there is coffee...

So is it just me? Currently surviving on 3-4 hours a night, if I am lucky, and I want to give up, but obviously not an option!

Eurgh, feeling really grim from lack of sleep today. dS has 4 molars coming through and my god it is hard work! Does anyone ever feel like they may just collapse from it??

@tirerout yes, so so much.

We had an awful night last, hoping it was the heat. Didn't go to sleep until almost 10pm, then up at least four times (I tend to lose count as I'm so exhausted!) and then wide awake at 5am. It's now approaching time for a nap, when usually we'd only just be getting up. Argh!

I've got a constant headache I just can't shake and feel generally broken.

Can I start this up again?! How are folks surviving? We have fresh hell of 18 month sleep regression going on...!

Honestly, it's fucking awful is sleep deprivation.

DD had HFM a couple of weeks ago and was waking up from midnight - 2am every night for a week. Really brutal. Unsettled the rest of the night too. Really reminded me how bloody awful it is to have that every single night, for months on end (she's 2.5 now so usually sleeps through)

What gets me is how quick people a. Forget how bad sleep deprivation is and b. Underestimate how bad it is.

It took DD 14 months to sleep though reliably - 'oh, you've not had it that hard' 'oh, you can sleep during the day' etc, ad nauseum.

I've got a constant headache I just can't shake and feel generally broken.

^^

I used to automatically have 2 extra strength paracetamol on waking up every morning. Had a constant headache, face ached, etc

Can I join? 22 month old who has never slept through once and now a newborn! I second the every day headache l, mines mixed with eye strain. Awful.

I’m in!
DS has always been a relatively good sleeper but teething and a cold has led to several very unsettled nights.

I was up at least 6 times with him last night.

Walked to baby group this morning and he fell asleep so I popped to a cafe first to get some much needed coffee and a scone.

Lady serving started touching his face, look how cute he is... yes he’s fucking lovely but if you wake him I will kill you

same but i haven't slept for 10 years

i have 2 kids(9 and nearly 15) with multiple disabilities each and neither sleep,i am literally my user name and we get 0 help

we dont have to get up early though which is a big help

0-5 oldest slept perfect then at 5 and half the no sleeping kicked in and its still happening at nearly 15

then at 4 my youngest stopped sleeping and this has been our life since 09

both boys also need 24 hour care/supervision so need a adult each all night
no medication works and because of their disabilities and the parenting style we follow(gentle attachment parenting)there is no way i can leave them to it

Hello sleep deprived comrades! We are back in it (did we ever leave?!). DS is about to hit 18 months and his separation anxiety has peaked; he's constantly cuddly. I've just moved him to sleep on a toddler bed in his own room which he seems happy with and it stops him falling out of my bed BUT he's still waking every 2 hours, and now I have to go next door and settle him. I'm soooooooo tired

Wow, so many sleep deprived people! I feel like we should all give each other a high five 🙌. Funny thing I always see other parents who look so together and assume they don't have sleep issues... but who knows!
Sending strength to all. There is always hope somewhere... usually in the form of chocolate and or wine!

Can I join in? 7 month old who has twice treated me to a full night (amusingly the two times she has done this were Mother’s Day and my birthday, it’s like she knew!) but has absolutely zero pattern to her sleep. Any one week can have anything from 1-5 wake ups each night. Just as she settles into a routine it’ll break, last week she was going down at 9ish, waking up an hour later but then sleeping till 3, feed and wake up again at 6/7ish. That was fab for us, so of course the last 3 nights she’s been up 3+ times a night and will only settle back while feeding in my bed. DH actually slept on the floor last night as he was worried about rolling onto her if he didn’t. I definitely thought I’d be getting more sleep at this point (I know 7 months isn’t much compared to some of you, sorry!)

Hello 24hourshomeedderandcarer here with 5 year old with similar story. I was woken by a loud crash at 1am (night terrors morphing into sleepwalking). I'm in the same room and all ok, kid now settled again, me wide awake!

I'm really tired most of the time and the sugar/caffeine/painkillers way of coping has some unwelcome side effects...

Wishing everyone blissful moments of peaceful sleep (and no weird dreams) 🐥

@PickettBowtruckles yeah I thought I'd be getting more sleep than this by now too 18 months in!
Jury is still out as to whether sleep deprivation has been harder before or after I went back to work... hard in different ways...

Also sleep deprived here. Have a two month old hungry baby and my eyes are stinging with the tiredness at the minute
Baby could wake any number of times during the night and then 5 year old wakes up for the day at 6am.
I read a piece yesterday: "everyone says to sleep when the baby sleeps but I've yet to meet a person who can sleep while driving or pushing a pram"

My nearly 4 year old has slept through the night 3 times. Ever.

I’m fucking knackered.

Sleep is for the weak...

Two words: teething sucks.

We'd gone down to one wake up a night, late enough in the night that we were getting a decent chunk of sleep. I felt like a human again.
That's gone out of the fucking window.

My dd is 21 years old and in latent labour so I've not slept since Thursday.

It does remind me of those days.

Hugs to all!!

Solidarity. DD mostly started sleeping through/staying in her bed all night once she started school. There is an 18 month gap between her and her younger sibling, and the first year damn near killed us. DC2 is a far better sleeper but an early riser, but there is nothing like the sheer hell of sleep deprivation. I pulled over in a lay-by more than once for a nap because I was too tired to drive, and also too 40 weeks in the feeding/expressing room at work to maintain sanity.

Our marriage has never been the same since, I was so consumed with just existing, that frankly the state of DH was possibly the last thing on my mind.

It would have been good if DS had got some teething out of the way before his sleep started to improve! But he's only got 6 teeth so far sadly at 18 months last night started ok as he slept from 11 until 3:30 but we were then asleep until 5... brutal. However we managed to lie in until 7:50 so feeling broadly human!

We’ve just set the spare room up like a hotel room. I’m totally taking it tonight. I’m a total arsehole currently and it’s entirely not being able to think because of the lack of sleep.

Love to all of you sleeping like shit.

Haven't rtft but I have had two terrible sleepers and remember the feeling of wanting to punch a woman who cheerfully told me her 3 month old was sleeping 12 hours a night when I was so very, very tired being woken every 45mins. It was like torture and I was obbessed with sleep for so long.

I must have been very boring to talk to in that phase of life. I'm now 5 years into parenting and the biggest/ most sleep hating one is now a pretty good sleep although does still.sneak into our.

Youngest (now 2yo)has still not slept through the night. We co sleep/ breastfeed and she is squished against me or trying to.lie on me most of the night so it's not a peaceful sleep.

I feel so much better than I did in the early days though. Why? Because I've accepted that's how it is and I can also see the horizon where sleep may one day occur. I'm leaving the baby days behind me at speed and although I will miss thier sweet little new born faces and noises I will not miss the torture of no sleep! Solidarity to all suffering!