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Lack of Sleep is a Mom’s Kryptonite – 3 Tips for Getting Enough Sleep #MomTrust

Superman has a wide variety of abilities that help him on daring rescues and helps him save the day! Some of his abilities include:

  • Super strength
  • X-ray vision
  • Superhuman strength
  • Superhuman hearing

However, Superman has a weakness — Kryptonite. Kryptonite is the element that brings Superman down to his knees and makes all his superhero abilities useless.

Moms are a lot like Superman. While our kids consider us their hero, and we often refer to ourselves as “Super Mom” as we multitask running to school pick up and the kids’ after school activities, we also have our own Kryptonite.

Lack of sleep.

I always say that when a Mom has sleep, she can do A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G! However, when lack of sleep rears its ugly head, what do we as Moms do?

3 Tips for Getting Enough Sleep

Here are my 3 tips for getting enough sleep:

#1) Nap. Forget the dishes piling up in the sink and the piles of clean (or dirty) laundry sitting on the floor. When your baby is napping, take a nap – or at least lie down and read a book, magazine, and relax. You need fuel to get through the rest of the day and that fuel is rest. Also, don’t be afraid to ask for help from your mom and mother-in-law. With a second child it isn’t as easy, but perhaps putting on a half hour video for your first born and napping on the couch while your baby sleeps works for you.

#2) Put Dad on Baby Duty. Now this worked great for us but doesn’t work for every family situation. I like to go to bed early, whereas my husband often stays up until 1 or 2 am. We worked out a great system where I would feed the baby at 9 or 10 and then go to sleep. When the baby would wake up around 1 or 2 am, hubby would warm up a bottle, take care of a feeding and diaper change and then put the baby back to sleep. That generally meant that I got 4-6 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night.

#3) Establish a Bedtime Routine. Chances are that the reason we as moms are not getting enough sleep is because our little ones aren’t sleeping. Creating a sleep routine for your baby will help them sleep better which in turn helps us Mamas sleep better. Whether your sleep routine includes songs, bath time, stories or cuddle time, try and keep the routine the same every night. For our older kids, we have implemented what we call “Lamp Time” This is a 5-15 minute time period where they can have their lights on while they read, colour or play quietly in their rooms. This has worked wonders for us and has eliminated the stalling that comes with bed time as well as repeatedly coming out of their rooms.

I know that these tips aren’t necessary plausible for everyone all the time, so how do you combat this life-sucking Kryptonite called Lack of Sleep?

Disclosure: I receive special perks as a part of my affiliation with the Playtex Mom Trust program.

The opinions on this blog are my own.

Sara

Thursday 29th of September 2016

I have four kids three under the age of 3 I can never get enough sleep my husband gets mad cause by time he gets home from work I'm so tired from cooking cleaning and making sure the kids are taken care of before they go to bed he thinks I'm lazy because all I want to do is sleep but my body is so wore out from having babies back to back and taking care of them all the time now since I'm not working does anyone know any tricks how to boost your engery?

Rebekah

Thursday 29th of September 2016

Sara, I have 2, and they're spaced out more than yours...I can't imagine how challenging your days (and nights) must get! I do have some thoughts to encourage you - please email me: [email protected] As I go to bed, I'll say a prayer that you'll have sweet rest tonight!! Hope to hear from you soon. Hang in there!

Connie

Wednesday 28th of September 2016

What do you do when even nap time won't work to provide a break. I am at my wits end with my almost 3 year old and 17 mos old.

Rebekah

Thursday 29th of September 2016

I hear you, Connie...the days can be LONG. But the years are short. Hang in there, if you'd like a listening ear, or some suggestions for powering through these hard days, I'm happy to email with you: [email protected] Blessings!

Little Miss Kate

Saturday 22nd of February 2014

Napping is a mama's best friend! The laundry and dishes can wait, but getting an extra 1-2 hrs of sleep is soooo good #momtrust

Lynda Cook

Tuesday 18th of February 2014

when I had both my girls I had a routine and everything seemed to go smooth, there was the odd night when I didn't get sleep but not to many, but when I had to take my new born grandaughter for a couple of months, I thought I was going to die, I don't know if it is because I'm older but I was so tired and sleep deprived I was happy when she was able to go back home to her mother

Karen Evans

Monday 17th of February 2014

OMG...I am a light sleeper, that anything will wake me up, and now as a Grandma, it seems like I never get a full nights sleep.