How are you girls managing your sleep with a newborn? What's the best way to get enough sleep?

If this is your first baby then the age old…sleep when baby sleeps is the way to go. Not that I took my own advice with my first! Lower your expectations and load on yourself, it doesn’t matter if there’s pots to wash or floors to be hoovered…your rest is more important and things will pick up sleep wise as they get older but even if you don’t sleep try rest. Xx

I have a 5 week old and struggling so much with the sleep deprivation too! My little boy won’t sleep for more than 15 mins when I put him down through the day and has to be held so I can’t do the whole sleep when the baby sleeps! Could definitely use some advice as well!

Are you and partners up the same time during the night? Is there any way you could work in shifts to ensure each person gets a few hours unbroken sleep? Even if breast feeding this can work if they hand baby straight to you to feed half asleep then they take care of changes, burping etc. I know it’s a luxury as well but any friends or family who can spare 2/3 hours during day to watch baby while you sleep?

I have a 5 week old & although I think pregnancy insomnia set me up well for being up every 3 hours I also swear by our routine of splitting the night feeds. I’m BFing but have decided to pump too, that way my husband does the 10pm & 1am feeds & I do the 4am & 7am ones so we each get 5/6ish hours of unbroken sleep & it’s made all the difference for us. Also, we haven’t taken this up yet but our support network have offered to come over and take care of the baby if we want to get a few hours sleep in the day - ask people for help. Making sure I have a shower every morning helps wake me up too. I was going to switch to evening showers to fit our morning routine better but I actually need the morning shower & baby boy likes being in the bathroom with me in his rocker - I think it’s the warmth in there with the steam xx

I have a 6 week old and when the tiredness becomes unmanageable, me and my husband take nights off. One sleeps in the spare room undisturbed for a night to catch up. I EBF so he brings her to me and takes away to wind. And someone taking her out for a 2+ hour pram walk so I can nap in the day .thats if your baby loves the pram x

Thanks all, these are wonderful ways in which sleep can be managed. I'll speak to my husband about them this evening and work out a plan.

Sometimes I go up to bed and nap with my baby when he falls asleep.. probably 2-3 times a week. I cosleep in our bed.. and I feel so much better even if I get 1-2 hours 👌🏻 usually in the afternoon

I have a 4 week old and I’m consistently getting about 6+ (broken) hours of sleep. I know some of it is down to temperament but here are some of the things that worked for me ❤️ - Newborn sleep sack for bedtime. We found his startle reflex was waking him a lot in the night and since we made the switch he sleeps really well between feeds - Warm up sleep sack/cot before LO goes down for the night - Lights out/low stimulation from 8PM. My bedtime is also really early now so I always have 2 hours before his first night feed - Unless he’s had a number 2 I don’t do nappy changes in the middle of the night. Most diapers are designed to absorb liquid well. This is to keep stimulation as low as possible in the night so he settles quite quickly back to sleep after feeding - If I’m really desperate and he’s just not settling I’ll have him on my chest sitting upright/inclined and have a light sleep. I know this is a contraversial one but since giving birth I’m a really light sleeper now

Thank you so much everyone, really helpful advice.

My partner and I have found that taking sleep in shifts seems to help. He’ll do from 11-3am and then I take over until we get up - it means we’re each getting a chunk of decent sleep. We’ve also started making sure we nap during the day, we didn’t for the first week but this week we have and it’s really helped.

I broke down emotionally during the first 6 weeks. I was doing nights on my own and it was rainy tough! Several nights I would sob quietly with my baby in my arms and several days I would stay in bed and refuse to get up (thankfully at mine I have an AMAZING support system where as with my partner it’s not as great, but still helpful at times). My little girl had turned 7 weeks and magically started sleeping through the night. She goes down by 1 and is up by 6.30. I know not all babies are the same, but hopefully your bubba starts to sleep more. When she wasn’t sleeping well, I would sleep a lot during the day. Nothing got done and my general life was a mess, but I also struggled to function. If you’re not good, then baby can’t be any better, you need to look after yourself!