Will you ever get a good night’s sleep after your baby is born?
When a baby is about to come into this world, you seem to be the happiest person. However, everything turns upside down for you not because you do not love your baby, but because of your lack of physical strength to handle everything.
Reason?
Sleep deprivation. And because of this, you may not get a good night’s sleep for weeks and maybe months. If it continues like this, you may also have some serious health problems, along with irritations.
A recent survey by the National Sleep Foundation acknowledged that 76 percent of parents are sleep deprived. This is nothing new and it is nothing new to you when you have a baby. Right?
Problems derived from sleep deprivation
Once your baby is born, the sleep deprivation will most likely go away in a short period of time. Therefore, a wide range of problems arises for you. It interferes with your motherhood, prevents you from taking full care of your baby and your family. Sometimes it leads to drowsy driving, which could later prove fatal for you and your baby. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an average of 100,000 car accidents occur each year due to sleepy mothers taking their babies to the pediatrician. The risk also adds to new mothers’ postpartum mood problems.
effects of sleep loss
Sometimes sleep loss is about more than just a tired body. It has an impact on your cognition as well as your ability to perform important tasks. While it does affect your sound sleep, it also has a huge impact on your dream sleep. You should know that the dream dream is important to have a clear vision of the reflections of the next day, and it helps you to have a clear understanding.
At the same time, the fragmentation of sleep caused by your baby throughout the night decreases the rate of your deep sleep. And as a result, you feel exhausted.
Things to do to get full sleep
make up for lost sleep
When you are sleep deprived, you can make up for lost sleep. Take a break on your weekend and don’t take on the added burdens of responsibilities to get two or three hours of sleep. But don’t go beyond this, as this develops a new sleep pattern for you and you are less likely to feel tired at bedtime.
Take a nap
Do not venture to assume more responsibilities, while your baby takes a nap. Instead, try to refresh her mental health by taking a short 20-30 minute nap. Many people can benefit from this habit. But don’t do it after 2 pm, as it could interfere with your bedtime.
Swap responsibility for night feedings
Generally, most parents work outside the home. So either parent, usually mothers, take the initiative to get things ready much earlier to ease the pressure in the morning. And therefore, eating throughout the day can wreak havoc on your deep sleep and lead to sleep deprivation. It is best to swap jobs every alternate night. So while one person does all the feeding, the other sleeps completely. At the same time, nursing mothers can choose to compress their milk, so that dads can care for their babies.
Teach your baby to fall asleep
Once your baby is asleep, it doesn’t mean you have to get out of bed. At six months, most babies learn to sleep up to 7 or 8 hours. Put your baby in her bed, even if she cries for you. Help her not to depend on you, instead help her to sleep alone.
So, here are some strategies you can take to alleviate your lack of sleep and make your postpartum life much more relaxed and refreshing.