“Waaaa…” eyes fly open, time is checked, it’s 3am. An hour since they last woke, 47 minutes since they last went back down and 35 minutes since you last dropped off to sleep. Sleep regressions suck… & they suck even more when you have to get up for work in the morning.
You can’t help but count how many times you’ve been up (until you hit 6 times, then it’s just a blur) and calculate how long until your alarm goes off. You can almost guarantee that as you settle them back for the umpteenth time that night, they will sleep through the morning alarm and you will be the bad guy who has to wake them and get them ready for the day. Knowing that they’re not as rested as they need to be, knowing that they will be grumpy as they are pulled out of their pyjamas and dressed for childcare.
As a mum, you’re thinking about your child constantly, the repercussions of their unsettled night sleep and how that must be so hard for them. You sympathise with them as they cry from exhaustion, “oh darling, I know you’re tired, what’s the matter? Is it your teeth? Are you hot/cold? Did you just need a cuddle?” You drop them off at childcare, the heavy weight of mum guilt in every step and you go into overthinking mode… there’s so much going on at childcare, there’s so many people and they’re just going to get overtired again, or grumpy, or overstimulated, what if they don’t sleep? the list goes on. They cry as you leave, you walk away with tears in your eyes, aching for them to be okay.
But guess what, not even five minutes later your baby is happy and distracted by his friends. He plays for an hour before rubbing his eyes and deciding he needs a good solid sleep for a few hours. He wakes up rested and refreshed, thinking that he will probably have another sleep in a bit anyway.
What about mum? You’ve gone to work, you’ve cried in the car for your baby, you’re pulled into 2 unscheduled meetings and your to do list has doubled by lunchtime. Your lunch break consists of letting the dog out, putting a load of washing on and expressing milk for tomorrow. The afternoon drags and as 3pm hits, you start to feel the exhaustion from the interrupted sleep the night before.
“You look tired” – the remark of a helpful colleague, making the understatement of the century, the statement that hurts just that little bit more because you got up 10 minutes before your alarm, sacrificing precious sleep, to try and cover the dark circles as you desperately try to conceal that your baby is not sleeping through the night right now.
The working day ends but you’re not off the clock just yet, you swing by childcare and pick up your baby, who has had 3 naps totalling 4.5 hours, he’s happy and rested which makes your heart smile. As you get home, dinner, bath, bed comes around in quick succession and soon you’re in bed for a well earned rest.
It was a tough day but tomorrow is a new day and sleep regressions don’t last forever. Leave that load of washing, ask for help and know that you’re doing everything right for your baby. Like I said, sleep regressions suck… & they suck even more when you have to get up for work in the morning. Keep going Mumma 💛
The Working Mum Project 