Official song of the sleep deprived parent
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By
on January 08, 2010
10
I've been blessed with a relatively good sleeper by newborn standards, but even good sleepers have rough nights ... and lord knows I've got friends who've said they basically didn't get more than two hours of sleep in a row for the first year. And so, for sleep deprived parents everywhere, I offer this song by Danish bubblegum pop singer Nabiha, which will make you feel like dancing around even if, well, you're fucking exhausted:
(God, I loves me some good bubblegum Euro pop!)
About Ariel Meadow Stallings
Author of Offbeat Bride: Creative Alternatives for Independent Brides, Ariel acts as the publisher of all the Offbeat Empire websites. She lives, loves, and dorks out hard in Seattle, WA.
Lisatlantic said
I can't wait to have kids but hoo boy do I dread the sleep deprivation!
syd said
Boy-oh! That really helped me get my morning. I simultaneously want to go back to bed and dance!
OffbeatAriel said
As someone who spent most of her pregnancy TERRIFIED of sleep dep, I gotta say it's actually not been bad at all. Part of that is that our kid is a sleepy guy, but part of it is that I prepared myself to basically NEVER SLEEP AGAIN and in actuality if you nap when the baby naps (which I often do) you actually sleep A LOT.
Amber said
Alexa was pretty good in the beginning, though she wouldn't sleep alone. I napped when she napped..but that's because she was almost always physically attached to me. Now that she's 10 months old (only 8 months adjusted for prematurity) she FINALLY naps alone (has for about 2 months now)…though won't go a full night away from me.
Soooo I get a lot of sleep I suppose…but it's so NOT restful. I cannot wait to sleep alone for more than 4 hours
Betty Draper said
I like hearing about babies who DON'T keep their parents awake all night… gives me hope!
(My parents still complain about what a bad sleeper I was… I think I traumatised them.)
OffbeatAriel said
Yeah, I think you don't hear much about good sleepers because it's the baby parenting equivalent of being a size 2 and being like, "Have I mentioned that I live on donuts, milkshakes, and lard? Well, I do!" Some babies (mine!) like to sleep. Other babies don't. If you've got a baby that sleeps, the last thing you want to do is rub it in with someone who's got sleep dep psychosis.
amber said
it is funny one of the first questions out of anyones mouth "is he sleeping through the night?"….i like to ask them "do YOU sleep through the night?" i don't know many people who sleep through the night yet we expect babies to do it.
Nursing+cosleeping+learning how to nurse laying down= an absolute life saver. i was not too sleep deprived and baby was happy all night long
and naps….learn to love naps!
Sarah said
I already love my naps so I think I will just learn to love them even more.
Stacyls said
It took mine 7 months, but she did eventually sleep through the night.
They say not to even expect it for 6 months, so I didn't – and I think that mindset helps IMMENSELY. Knowing that you will wake 1-2x a night, and making a plan to occasionally get a big stretch of sleep, will make things a lot easier.
For example – I exclusively breastfed for 7 months, but our plan was that I express milk from the very beginning and (using a breastfeeding friendly bottle/nipple) my husband did the middle of the night feeds on weekends and then I'd let him sleep late in the mornings. I put in earplugs and put the monitor by his head! yay 12 hours of sleep!!! After 2 night you feel like a new person. Our close friends who bottle feed do it like this: Mom goes to sleep at 9pm, Dad does 10:30pm feed, Mom wakes for 3am feed, Dad does 7am morning feed and then Mom takes over for the day.
Karen said
Wow I really like this idea! I am filinf it away for later…