Newborn Sleep Deprivation, Memory Lane

Coworker Mo got back from maternity leave this week after six long weeks at home with Baby Brody.

This morning she came by my cubicle and asked me, "Is there anything I can do to get Brody to fall back asleep during the night? I'm so tired." Little boy is up three or four times a night, and he wants to stay up, looking around, preferrably while perched on Mom's shoulder as she walks back and forth. You know the drill.

I told her there wasn't a magic trick, and it's really hard coming back to work when your baby is so little... mostly because you miss him, but also because you're sleep deprived because you have a newborn. I told her to try everything and don't give up trying new things or old things over again. Eventually, something will work... even if it's a bouncy chair in front of the tv while you sleep a foot away on the couch. Any shut-eye is good.

I also advised her to insist on taking turns with her husband since Brody takes a bottle. Both of them have full-time jobs, and one person isn't more entitled to sleep at this point.

Believe me, I feel for her. There are a half dozen other ladies around here who are recently new moms, and we all remember those first four or five months. We joked this morning about taking an egg timer out to the car to close your eyes for twenty minutes in the car... or falling asleep in the lactation room here at work while you're pumping.

Remembering that newborn ordeal makes me very relieved that after I have the next baby, I won't be going back to work. My SAHM life will be harder in so many ways, but hopefully I can sneak in a 15-minute nap while my little ones sleep.