Single mum of 6! Exhausted!

[Chaosbythesea]

Single mum of 6 here. I am just exhausted 24/7. I just spend my days looking forward to an early bedtime, and even then my 5 month old is still waking up 5 times a night. I’m so burnt out. I have no help. Any suggestions on how to get my multiple birth pre-schoolers to behave abit better and get my 5 month old sleeping through. Struggling so badly.

Could not presume to offer advice to someone parenting at Boss level. Just marvelling.

Thank you. I can’t afford anymore than the 15 free hours, as money is already extremely tight. But that’s a great idea. I’ll see if I can bribe the eldest into abit of babysitting occasionally when she’s not out with her friends. Can’t thank you all enough for the advice and support!!

I’m sorry the father has left you like this. You are doing really well though. You managed triplet babies after all!!

I did so much tracking etc with my first and he slept through by 6 months. Then my second decided she liked being nocturnal and I wouldn’t leave her to cry for a second because I didn’t want to wake my oldest. That was such a mistake!!! I don’t think I slept properly for years

If the triplets are liable to wake easily and cause you even more problems - are you able to sleep further from them with the baby for a few nights so you can let him cry? not for long but i found with my first he would cry but self settle quite quickly (my second would just ratchet up and up unfortunately)

Op I’m amazed you’re still standing with triplet 3 year olds! Let alone a baby, and 2 older kids. And a single parent.

I have no advice because I found 2 kids hard enough, but give yourself a break (if possible) because anyone would be exhausted with that on their plate.

I hope you can get more help, be it family or whatever as you are really in the trenches at the moment

5mo olds can live with quite short naps. Like 30min morning and 1h afternoon nap.

Check your iron levels. This is a lot of children and your reseeves may be running very low.

Finally, batchcook. Lifesaver.
I shred onions, carrots and zucchini and fry it with mince while several chickens roast.
On a day you just need to dump some tomato sauce/ cooking cream or beans and corn on mince or reheat chicken with curry/soy sauce or gravy.
Also, cook carbs on sunday. Rice for Mon/Tue, pasta for Wed/Thur.
Do tuna sandwiches or fishfingers on Friday.
Saturday pizza/full english or some other quick food.
Give baby small amounts of vege and fruit so it's not fussing.

Good luck!

It’s quite a blur if I’m honest the triples being babies, as that was also a very tiring time! But I moved them into their own room at 5 months as I needed to sleep and they did seem to settle each other with their siblings presence. The triplets are quite good at sleeping through noise, as they used to sleep through each other waking. It’s more my eldest 2 I worry about waking as they have school. Might have to set up camp downstairs for a few days and see how it goes!

That batch cooking does sound a lot easier! I’m 100% going to give this a try. I’m thinking maybe setting up a little jobs chart with a few age appropriate jobs for each child? I feel bad asking the kids for help but hopefully they won’t mind if it’s only little things.

But you survived those early triplet years so you can survive this. You actually sound quite chipper considering!!!

I think if you can sort the sleep you will feel much better and then all the other things like batch cooking etc etc will all seem clearer

also, don’t be afraid to get the older two doing a few chores - maybe your older one could make a meal, either could put a wash on, clean the bathroom, do the bins. You could even see if the triplets enjoy vacuuming!!

Cross post

Doing chores is totally reasonable - it’s not like you’re expecting them to take on all the housework. Even without the little ones your older two should probably be doing some chores.

For batch cooking I would buy frozen vegetables to cut down time for preparing meals.

I just wanted to say bloody well done - managing to look after 6 children, no idea how you do it.
Same as pp, think you might be best to look into sleep training to give yourself some breathing space.

Same here! 1 child is enough for me! No more!! Lol

Hi @Chaosbythesea , I brought up 5 children on my own, my youngest was 18 months old when my husband left. My DC were more spread out in age and my older DC helped out with things so not as tough as you currently have it with triplets and a 5month old.
Routine was my friend, along with a slow cooker as I used to put it on in the morning and have a meal ready in the evening. Left overs can be portioned out and frozen to build up a stock of ready meals.
Use frozen veg which has as much nutritional value or more than fresh veg.
Get the older DC to help out with small tasks like putting their clean washing away and helping with the washing up while you put the younger DC to bed.
Contact Home Start to see if you can get some assistance to give you a break.
You are doing an amazing job and should be proud of yourself. Try and make sure you have an occasional treat that you don’t share with the children such as a bar of chocolate. You deserve to have some things just for you as a small reward for all the effort. Sending strength and a big hug to you. 🌸

I don’t feel chipper, I feel up the creek without a paddle. Just feels nice to have had abit of support and advice from other mums. Usually just me on my own trying to survive each day. But I thank you for all the suggestions and support. I’m praying some of these plans work!!

Robot vacuum is a lifesaver, I got the roborock one from Amazon on sale and it mops as well.

I sleep trained my little one at 13 months and my god I wish I had done it sooner. I used the Tizzie Hall method and it worked in one night.

Best of luck OP, I think you are an absolute superhero! And I'm sure all your children will when they realize how hard you've worked for them as they were growing up xx

Do you have a local sling clinic?

a decent sling (if you aren’t already) could help you manage 3 with the 2 arms you have whilst keeping baby calm and with you.

I can’t imagine 4 under 5 without that being 3yo triplets and a newborn!

I e not heard of that, but literally just gone on Amazon and ordered the tizzie hall save our sleep book! So fingers crossed! Because it working straight away sounds good to me! I am deffo going to invest in a robot hoover when I have the funds. The reviews on Amazon look good, that would be a huge job taken care of.

I’ve got a baby carrier so he’s in that quite abit as he is abit of a clingy monkey

3 year old triplets 😵, no wonder you're exhausted OP.
Plus a baby and two others!

I was on my knees just with twins.

They are hard. Released 2 eggs then one of them split, so identical boys and a girl. They start school soon though. Just gotta get bubba sleeping and count the days until September!