By Lauren Heffernan
Accept it, be grateful and then DANCE!
Yup, you read that right, my sleep tip for coping with sleep deprivation is to dance!
I spent a good chunk of time listening to Tony Robbins yesterday and came back feeling absolutely amazing. He said so many incredible things but I wanted to share something that I found to be so true about the first few years of motherhood and specifically sleep. So here we go… Most of us are programmed (our brains) to think about 1. The things that we don’t have and 2. The things we cannot control. The interesting thing is that what you focus on is what you feel.
So let’s just get this out there – your baby is not sleeping. Your baby is up at night. Your baby will likely continue to wake up even well into toddlerhood (all children, as long as they know that we will respond, are going to go through periods of more night fears, changes in their life where they will wake).
So you can count on night waking. It absolutely sucks, it is exhausting, you are EXHAUSTED, 8 hours of sleep would be amazing – in fact it would be life changing BUT it is not happening right now.
Let’s accept it. YOUR BABY IS WAKING AND YOU ARE TIRED. Spend some time enjoying that thought, focusing on that thought and then when you are ready, join me…
Time to Move On…
Alright – let’s shift the focus to something harder – gratitude. Write down 5 things that you DO HAVE. 5 little things that you are grateful for in this moment. I know, I know, you are still thinking about sleep but let’s move on. You don’t have sleep, but what DO YOU HAVE? Write down those 5 things.
Now let’s remember that falling asleep is not within our conscious control. You cannot (unless you use separation), eliminate all night wakings in the next year and therefore it is not within your control. So what CAN YOU control? You can control what your child thinks about sleep (is it a pleasant place to go and a safe place to remain?). You can also control your state.
It’s a phase that will pass. In the meantime, plan your self around your baby’s nap time so you won’t be overwhelmed.
Sleep deprivation is a major issue for nursing mothers. However getting a hand will be of great help and will give you time to grab some sleep. Nice article.