Kiddipedia Sleep Support
I’m sleep deprived.
My toddler has obstructive sleep apnoea and wakes hourly if not more frequently and then there’s the four-year-old – no further explanation required.
Sleep deprivation is my Achille’s heel. It is as Kryptonite is to Superman, as carbs are to a Victoria’s Secret model, as decaf coffee is to, well, me. Lack of sleep makes me weak, vulnerable and has the power to completely undo me. In fairness though, decaf coffee is probably not an accurate analogy there because it has absolutely no powers whatsoever and should really just be grateful to get a mention.
I’ve been severely sleep deprived for upwards of four years now and up until recently I thought I had a relatively decent handle on it. I thought that, although so exhausted I was about ready to trade my husband in for a night-nanny, I was still able to get away with carrying on semi-coherent adult conversations. I thought that, although maths has never been my strong suit, I could still manage fairly average household skills such as measuring correct amounts of milk in to bottles and setting timers for dinner in the oven.
Nowadays however I am so beyond the level of a high-functioning tired person that I wouldn’t be surprised if strangers on the street have secretly suspected that I have taken up day drinking.
Here are five times I realised that sleep deprivation was finally getting the better of me at last:
- Pin-lock on my phone: I managed somehow to lock myself out of my phone for five minutes by inputting the incorrect pin too many times. It was much later that I remembered I have thumbprint recognition anyway and shouldn’t have even been bothering with the pin.
- Feeding the dog breakfast three times before 9am. Which I guess is better than forgetting to feed her at all right?
- Genuinely forgetting the names of my children and therefore resorting to, “Hey you, with the face! Come and brush your teeth” and then forgetting to brush their teeth.
- Sitting at the boom-gate to the shopping centre, cursing and complaining at the poor man on the other end of the call button because the darn machine wouldn’t accept my parking ticket before (far more kindly than I deserved I might add) being informed that I was in fact at the entrance to the shops and had been attempting to use an old parking ticket from the aquatic centre received days prior.
- Medical professionals telling me I’m tired: Beyond more than just the general dishevelled, slightly harassed air I give off, my GP has informed me that I am on the cusp of clinical exhaustion. My immunity is low, my blood pressure has dropped, my stress and anxiety levels are through the roof. She told me I could try reducing my caffeine levels and then we laughed and laughed. She also suggested I try to get more sleep so then we laughed some more.
I have no real goal or advice to combat sleep deprivation other than to seek and accept help where at all possible, be kind to yourself (after all we Mumma’s are own harshest critics) and keep a good sense of humour about it.
If I didn’t laugh at my ridiculous lack of sleep, I would cry and I am way too tired to do that.
You might also like to read:
Our experience attending a Sleep Study.
5 Survival Tips for when your child STILL won’t sleep.
