3 ms·

But sometimes you can't get enough sleep. One example is if you have a newborn baby. Ask me how I know.

• eigenspace 8y ago
  Fair enough, but my comment was aimed at people trying to get less sleep in order to fit more productivity into the day. I think there are situations where one has no choice but to be sleep deprived but those are extremis situations like war and having a newborn baby. Sleep science suggests that if we must be sleep deprived we should do everything we can to limit it. If you're the parent of a newborn, that likely means napping every chance you get to at least limit the damage you've done to your sleep through constant interurptions. Caffine will reduce the effectiveness of those naps.
  • madcaptenor 8y ago
    I think the usual advice is to "sleep when the baby sleeps", because they actually sleep quite a lot, just not when you want them to! What I really need is an algorithm that would predict, when I put the baby down, how long I should expect her to sleep (and therefore if I should grab a nap).
    • throwawayzxcz 8y ago
      have you tried just tracking the her sleeps on a spreadsheet or similar? You might see a pattern emerge. Had friends that did this. We never did, but after 3 kids and ~7 years of pretty consistently broken nights from one or other of the kids, I sometimes wish we did. My only other advice would be to take turns with the other parent to give each other a break. Whether it be week on/week off or night on/night off, and may involve someone sleeping in another room to get away from the disruption. I optimistically think a good night's sleep is just around the corner. Cultivating feelings of love and patience is well worth the effort. Having kids that don't sleep well is a special kind of torture, I can see how it would break some people.