Four Ways New Moms Can Get (at least some of) the Sleep They Need

When you mention sleep to moms and dads of infants and young children, they frequently shake their heads sadly. Many report that sleep is never the same after having children. And yet we all need a certain amount of sleep to get by and feel our best.

Unless you have a nanny, there’s not much you can do about your kids waking you up in the  middle of the night. They are hungry, crying, need to be changed, wet the bed, had a nightmare, believe the boogeyman is under the bed, and a whole host of other things.

A recent Australian study, reported on PBS, documented that new moms in particular are dangerously sleep deprived, registering medically-significant levels of sleepiness even after eighteen weeks. And the potential results are quite alarming, especially when a new mother is so desperate to make the right decisions and offer her baby the best possible care.

According to Dr. Ashleigh Filtness, head of the sleep study at Queensland University of Technology, “Sleep disruption strongly influences daytime function, with sleepiness recognized as a risk-factor for people performing critical and dangerous tasks.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration presents a terrifying statistic: Parent’s driving their infants to the pediatrician with little or no sleep is responsible for an estimated 100,000 crashes each year.

But please don’t let that fear be another reason to keep you up at night! Here are some tips ease up on the sleep deprivation while still attending to your child’s needs:

1. Sleep when baby sleeps. His nap is your opportunity. The laundry can wait. That phone call to your best friend can wait.
2. If you are breastfeeding, pump for night time feedings, put in your ear plugs, and let your hubby take the occasional night. All night. You’ll be amazed at how much better you’ll feel with a few full nights’ sleep per week. And guess what? This will also allow baby and daddy to bond.
3. Sleep loss can lead to mood disorders, including postpartum depression. Talk to your doctor immediately if your moods start sinking. It could have a completely physiological cause, and once you know that, you can take the steps to alleviate it. You and your baby deserve you at your loving best.
4. When you get up to find your child has leaked through his diapers or is out of diapers and has had an accident, changing the sheets is a time-consuming effort you just don’t need at two a.m. Get back to bed faster with our QuickZip award-winning easy-change sheets. Simply zip off the wet sheet and zip in the dry one in seconds. 

Find out more about QuickZip sheets here. By the way, if you know any new moms, QuickZip sheets make a phenomenal, time and energy saving gift!