Bringing a newborn baby home is arguably one of the most physically demanding experiences a person can go through, because the days and nights blur together into one long, continuous cycle of feeding and soothing. It’s hard to describe the specific type of fatigue accompanying parenthood because it settles deep in your bones and makes simple tasks feel like climbing a mountain.
Most parents assume they’ll just power through the exhaustion, but waking up every two hours for weeks on end is a challenge that you do need to address. Now, the first step is to accept the difficulty, because a newborn baby’s needs will always come first during the early stages.
That being said, you can still find clever pockets of time to rest whenever the opportunity arises so you aren’t running completely on empty. It’s true that prioritizing your own rest feels selfish at times when there is so much to do, but it’s actually the most selfless thing you can do for the family because a rested parent is infinitely more patient and capable.
In this post, we’ll help you do that:
Sleep When The Baby Sleeps
It’s the oldest piece of advice given to new parents for a reason, but it’s harder to follow than it sounds because there’s always something else demanding your attention. You might feel guilty the laundry piling up in the corner or the dishes sitting in the sink, yet a quick nap while the baby rests is far more valuable for your mental health. The chores will still be there later when you have more energy to tackle them, and nobody reasonable expects a pristine home when there is a newborn living in it.
It helps to darken the room and put your phone away immediately so you aren’t distracted by notifications or the urge to scroll through social media feeds. You don’t necessarily have to fall into a deep sleep to feel the benefits either, since simply lying with your eyes closed provides a much-needed reset for your body.
Create A Schedule With Your Partner
Trying to wake up together for every single feed or cry is an obvious recipe for mutual exhaustion, and neither of you will get enough rest to function properly the next day if you try it that way. When you’re looking for how to get a baby to sleep through the night, it’s good to have your own sleep managed too. It works much better to divide the night into specific blocks of time where one person is on duty, and the other is completely off the hook to sleep in another room. One parent might take the shift from nine in the evening until two in the morning while the partner gets a solid block of uninterrupted sleep before switching roles.
The method guarantees you both get at least four or five hours of continuous rest, which can massively help in how you feel and interact with each other. It requires a bit of preparation, like having bottles ready or pumping beforehand, but the payoff in looking after your newborn this way allows you to wake up feeling somewhat human is worth the extra effort.
Lower Your Housework Standards
The house doesn’t need to be spotless during the first few months of a new life entering it because your energy is a finite resource better spent on recovery and bonding. It’s perfectly acceptable to let the dust settle and the clutter grow a bit while you focus on keeping everyone fed and happy. As such, choosing a perfectly clean floor over a nap is generally a mistake leading to faster burnout, so it’s wise to give yourself permission to let things slide for a while.
Guests who come over likely won’t notice a bit of mess anyway, and if they’re true friends, they won’t mind seeing a few toys scattered around the living room. That should free up decent amounts of time to rest when you stop worrying about the state of the home and just allow yourself the energy for what matters at the moment.
Accept Help When It’s There
People generally love to feel useful when they visit a newborn baby, so it’s a great idea to take them up on their offers to help out around the house or with the child. A friend coming over to hold the baby for an hour allows you to go upstairs and crash but not stress over listening for every little sound coming from the perfectly solo endeavour.
You can be exact about what you need by asking someone to watch the monitor while you shower and nap, which should also give you a safe window for you to disconnect. Grandparents are usually thrilled to get some baby snuggles while you catch up on sleep as well.
Power Nap
You won’t always have time for a full sleep cycle, but catching a twenty-minute rest can help your stay alert and ready, and helps you push through until bedtime. Setting a timer helps you relax because you know you won’t oversleep and miss a feeding or an appointment.
It helps to have a comfortable spot ready to go though, like a recliner or a daybed with a cozy blanket so you don’t waste time trying to get settled. If you can’t fall asleep, just closing your eyes and breathing deeply for ten minutes will absolutely reduce the feeling of fatigue when a full nap isn’t possible.
Optimize The Sleeping Environment
The quality of sleep matters just as much as the quantity when your time is limited, so it’s important to make the bedroom a calming place for maximum rest. Using blackout curtains is a great first choice and fairly inexpensive, and will ensure daylight doesn’t wake you up before you’re ready.
Of course, you can also use a sleeping mask if needed, but we’d recommend against the memory foam earplugs for now just in case your child wakes over the baby monitor. You also sleep better after a bath or shower (if you have time), because the heat dump your body has after it can be quite soothing, and you go to bed feeling clean. You’ll find your own preferences, but these are good to start with.
With this advice, we hope you can more easily recoup sleep, even with a newborn to think of.
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