anyone else ever feel they nearly died thru sleep deprivation?

[wheelsonthebus]

my dp and i have not slept well for months as dd wakes up reularly at 3 and 5 and is very hard to settle before 9. i generally feel unwell all the time..headaches, terrible fatigue, short tempered. i used to drink lucozade all day to keep me going but it hasn't really helped, and now i am on a diet, am hungry AND tired all the time. help please!!

First of all a (((hug))) for you. It will end. I know it doesn't feel like it, but it will. in the mean time, forget the diet, wait until life is a little easier, the last thing you need to be doing is beating yourself up if you eat badly. try and eat well though.

Is there anyone who could give you a night off? Could you and dh take it in turns to deal with dd?

YES every single time and no-one I knew did (or so they said!!!!). It eventually passes is all I can say really! (Oh and I could not diet as I was too tired and hunger is because your body clock is all out of sorts I have found out many years later so try to stick to healthy foods now or you could end up looking like me!

I remember hallucinating due to lack of sleep when DD was a baby -thankfully DS has been a much better sleeper.

I also remember knowing that I had never been (and never would be again) that tired. It was as if I was one step before collapsing through exhaustion ( a bit dramatic I know but thats what I felt at the time!).

Thats probably the main reason theres a 4.5 yr gap between DD and DS

It was used as torture for a good reason!! A big ((hug)) from me too!!

Did anyone else get just so grumpy through lack of sleep?? I turn into a monster if I have more that four broken nights in a row, thankfully less often now DD is two, but have aged ten tears in last two...

My dd1 is 5 and just started school. I think we might be on the point of getting a full nights sleep. 5 years, 2 kids not sleeping, DH working shifts and a full time job. I totally understand the headaches, short temper, unwell feeling and irritability. My depression was always in the background just waiting for me to tip over the edge. Thankfully my family all life close by and they knew the signs. They always got me a little extra sleep whenever it became important.

((((((((((((((HUGS AND UNDERSTANDING))))))))))))))))

Absolutely! Ds woke up every 2 hours for 8 months and then every 3 for another 6 or so. At 3 he is just now sleeping through! I thought I was going to lose my mind. I am convinced that one reason it took so long is that dh insisted on letting him have milk when he woke up. When he got a tummy bug and absolutely could not have milk things miraculously improved. One of the worst things was that, when he woke up I couldn't go back to sleep!

Absolutely!! My younest was a terrible sleeper (tunred out to be heath related). What was weird was that he started out ok, like I mean, you expect to be tired with a newborn. He slept pretty wekk for a newborn, waking twice a night. By 6 months the was waking anything from 8 to 10 times a night and anything from 5 minutes to a few hours at a time. Like the previous poste, I also found it difficult to get back to sleep and even worse, could drift off in the first place as I KNEW I would be up som many time a night.

GREAT BIG HUGS

It honestly does get easier, ds started sleeping through at 19 months and now sleeps better than my 5 yr old ds (ds2 is 2.2)

oh, poor you. My DD is only now beginning to get a bit better (waking up once a night rather than every few hours), and I do all the night duties in our house. It's that horrible prickly skin feeling that I hate the most, and the staggering, and not remembering what you planned to do next....

I agree with everyone else, it isn't the time to diet. If you can manage lots of fruit and veg, great as it will do you more good than biscuits, but I really wouldn't beat yourself up about it.

Does soaking in a hot bath help with the syumptoms (obviously not with the underlying tiredness)? I feel really grubby when I am exhausted and a good bath can help a little bit.

It does get better, honestly

Poor you.I remember it well.AS OTHERS HAVE SAID IT WILL GET BETTER!!Dont put pressure on yourself by dieting,Im assuming your baby is small?Try to eat regular healthy meals if you can,otherwise youll feel worse with no food inside.Can someone take baby for a few hours for you?Look after yourself,many many hugs

thanks so much for the advice and hugs - brought tears to my eyes. makes a change from losing my rag with poor dh.
dd is 23 months old. she is a darling but having read the advice on this thread, i realise i should not give up hope of her never sleeping thru. yes, i do work, full-time, and it has been a real struggle at times. my work has really suffered as has my enthusiasm for it, and i am now addicted to Purdeys (because it mentions the word 'rejuvenation' on the bottle, no other reason). thanks again for the kind, supportive and helpful messages.

on the bright side, my dp and i went for a drive the other day and i saw this sign on the side of the road 'tiredness kills, take a break', and i said 'tell that to any mother of a toddler' and my dp couldn't stop laughing....