Sleep when the baby sleeps! They say!

Last week, my son went through a crazy teething phase. I thought those days were long gone. Who thought something like this would happen at 18 months old. I thought all these difficulties only occur when their first teeth are coming. My bad!

He was waking up in the middle of the night and cried for a long time. Well, for 10-15 minutes. But trust me! It felt like a lifetime. Even though he was feeling much better after trying out some natural teething remedies, his whole schedule had changed. His sleep time moved to 3.00 a.m. and then woke up by noon. How crazy is that?! I was going bananas.

Sleep when the baby sleeps! People say. When I did that, it was like I don’t have time for anything; literally struggled to make ends meet. I was exhausted in the morning and found it impossible to wake up before my husband left for office. Both my son and I were missing breakfast. His eating schedule was a total mess.

I knew this had to stop. But didn’t know how to.

Then next day, I decided that I will wake up before my son in the morning, even if it meant I had just 3 hours of sleep. And I did that! Voila!
Surprisingly, I didn’t feel as much tired as I did on the previous days. I had breakfast with my partner. After he left, I got some quality time to sit and have coffee without reheating it 100 times. I even had time to take a bath by the time my toddler woke up. My head felt a lot lighter, and my mind became more calm and happy. This way, I was able to manage my son more gently. I understood that when I am overwhelmed, it triggers stress and anxiety, which in turn impacts my son. So, I continued with this new routine I had found for myself. Slowly and steadily, he is back on schedule now.

From this whole experience, what I gathered is

“Sleep when your baby sleeps.

But, wake up before the baby wakes up!“

I continue to follow the same routine by waking up at least an hour before my son. This gives me enough time to have a nice coffee, cook some yummy breakfast for all of us and take a bath, if necessary. Happy mamma is all ready for whatever the new day has to offer 🙂

Also Read:
A baby’s perspective about the new world
What’s in a name? – the journey to find a perfect name for our son

Thank you for reading!