Can I have your tips on coping with little sleep please?! Woman on a short fuse here...

[penona]

I have 17mo DTs who used to sleep relatively well at night. But in the last few months a combination of teething/illness has meant we have not had both of them sleep for a whole night. Except when we gave them Medised when they were really ill (am trying not to give it every night; it works but can't be good for them!!)

Anyway, I know from reading on here that some of you have sleep problems much much worse than me and I'm wondering, how do you cope? How do you not lose your tempers/eat cakes all day long/shout at your DH/ resort to far too much wine? How do you get stuff done around the house if you sleep when they sleep in the day? (cooking, cleaning, washing - there's loads of it!)

I just need to find a way of coping, have always been rubbish with early starts and am really finding myself grumpy and short-tempered. My kids deserve better than that. All advice welcome!!!

telly

go to sleep.

fit ful sleep throughout the day

finger foods for kids who are in a safe place, cot,play pen, stapped into a chair.

sleep when you can.

Do only the bare minimum of chores.

Get the LOs to help with them so you can sleep when they sleep.

Get DH/DP to get up with them at w/end so you can have a lie-in.

Remember it won't last forever

Well here the housework comes fairly low down the list of priorities at the moment. I do enough to keep the house ticking over, but it is not what it ought to be. I tend to leave the things I know my husband will do if push comes to shove too. I also buy treats like croissants, fruit bread etc for 9:30 (after ds1 delivered to school). I never set myself the challenge of doing a big job in one go. Just one over the day or even week - depending on what it is (like sorting a room out - flylady is good for teaching you how to do this). I also never cook anything complicated anymore. All my food is simple chuck it in one pot type cooking. Have given up planning in advance too. My brain is too addled to think of everything in advance and I usually find I'm missing something vital. I also chuck everything in the diary so I don't forget stuff. Otherwise sleep when I can and go to bed come 10 o'clock.
Bizarrely getting out of the house every couple of months and mixing with "normal" people helps massively too (even though I feel dead on my legs). Sometimes I think the reason I struggle to cope is just because I don't get any head space any more and need that break.
Have 2 boys btw - both quite full on and am pg.

Set up your bedroom as a mini living room. DVD player, tv, books etc and then get in bed at the same time as dc's at night (with your dp if poss - mine won't go to bed at 8.30pm and I'm getting a bit lonely!)

Even if you don't sleep get the PJ's on, get in bed and settle down - it's the rest bit that helps the most I find. If I'm downstairs I tend to sit down at 8pm then start to notice the piles of washing/toys /dirty crockery /dirty floors and by 10pm I'm ready to drop with a night full of waking ahead and it puts me on the edge!

Big sympathy to you - sleep disruption /deprivation is a total nightmare and unless it's happening to you on a regular basis nobody understands.

Earplugs at 5.30am when realise DS is awake so I can pretent I have not heard him and DH has to go.

Go for a walk twice a day (have to anyway - have dog) because outside is good - there are other people there.

20m lunchtime power nap - any more and I feel worse.

Lots of chocolate (me, not DS)

ITNG and Balmory (DS not me, well ... OK me too)

Coffee and cake at 4pm - sugar and caffeine to get through teatime and bed-time routine alone.

Washing/housework gets done at weekend - appart from vacuuming which is done around DS playing on floor.

Meals are planned at least 1 day in advance, usually a week, (and cooked evening before if possible).

Other than that not coping so oodles of sympathy!

I do eat cake all day and shout at DH. I also go to bed really early and I agree with the going outside and forcing yourself to do things - it makes you feel a bit more human.

Berocca first thing in the morning before your cup of tea.

Bare minimum washing - do their stuff - you can live in the same pair of jeans for a few days.

Be honest with dh - we cope with my tiredness much better when I say "I'm tired, I will be grumpy" - it means I can be grumpy to him but he doesn't taken it (as) personally.

Going out for a walk is the greatest cure for everything.

Ditto Gabster on the chocolate thing. Eat as much Green and Blacks as you can handle, it will help!

Also lots of carbs at lunch help - good carbs though. Make too much pasta for dinner so you can save some for lunch the following day - it's quick, easy and means you could fit a little snooze in whilst the little ones are asleep.

In the very dark times repeat the old mantra..."This too shall pass"...it will and it does.

Good luck xxx

Twice I have walked into the loo at work at lunch time and discovered my shirt is on inside out.

I have also embraced caffeine, a house that looks like a tornado has gone through it, and we now guilt the grandfather into taking the small boy out one afternoon a month.

a LOT of caffeine, going to bed really early (at least once a week im in bed by 9pm and more often if i can manage it), bracing walks in the cold air...and eating cake and shouting at dh obviously.
also following wise advice given me by another mother of poor sleepers who said you are going to be dog tired no matter what: so your choice is between being dog tired and miserable because you are utterly obssessed by sleep and go to bed early all the time in order to catch up, or being dog tired but having the satisfaction of knowing you dragged yourself out last night for a drink with your friends and at least had a laugh. so now i try to ensure that once a fortnight i do something sociable even tho it's usually the last thing i feel like until i've forced myself out of the house.