The number one problem for all new parents is in the bedroom. (No, not that. Forget THAT for a while!) I'm talking about sleep.
Now, I've worked in high pressured jobs all my working life. I know about deadlines, burning the midnight oil, getting by on little sleep. So I thought I'd cope with midnight nappy changing and 3am feeds just fine.
Wrong!
Nothing prepared me for the sheer relentless nature of motherhood. First there's the continually disturbed sleep. Just as you get settled in bed, you're unceremoniously dragged from your slumbers for another feed or change. You never get to the point when you are well rested cos you have to be off doing something else. Not that you know what to do... just that your baby wants SOMETHING and he wants it NOW and that CRYING is the way he's chosen to let you know (after that, you have to work it out for yourself). Hormonally you're a mess. Physically you're all over the place. It's not pretty.
My collegues at The Stress Management Society tell me the answer to this tiredness lies in 'power' napping. Here's the theory...
There are five stages of sleep - ranging from light dozing to the deepest of sleep. If you enter the deepest stages of sleep and are roused early, then you might wake up feeling very groggy, disorientated and even more tired than when you began. Power naps on the other hand aim to keep you in the early stages of sleep - in stages 1 and 2. So a quick snooze refreshes you but doesn't take you to a deep sleep cycle that you can't complete.
Your baby will eventually establish patterns. He might sleep longer at night, and start napping during the day. Keep an eye out for these patterns and plan your sleeps accordingly. Obviously try to get deeper sleep when your baby sleeps for longer. But aim for power naps during the rest of the day. Between 15 to 30 minutes should keep you in light sleep stages 1 and 2 - traditional power nap territory.
Forget the washing, cooking, cleaning. Forget changing your clothes, brushing your hair, feeding the cat. Forget going on Facebook, paying your bills, opening the post. Just be ruthless; when your baby starts to doze, race for the duvet. Don't stop to do anything on the way, or you'll be distracted from your mission to be as one with your pillow.
The Stress Management Society also has a range of self hypnosis and creative visualisation CDs that help you relax more deeply. I used some of these and found them amazingly good at getting me to sleep. Watch out for the free mp3 download appearing on the www.stress.org.uk site soon to show you how.
Happy napping!
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