Sleep.......by Karen Copeland 

Probably the biggest challenge for new mothers is finding enough time to sleep and even when you do find time it is hit and miss whether your scrambled brain allows you to relax enough to drift into a restful sleep. Most mothers believe that this lack of sleep and associated fatigue is inevitable and there is nothing they can do about it. To a certain degree they are right. There are a number of pressures which cannot be avoided in relation to motherhood, including getting up at ridiculous hours of the night to feed or change the little beauty (although it is unlikely that this is the nickname you use for him/her at 3am!). Unfortunately no amount of well meaning advice is going to keep your baby asleep when they are uncomfortable. So if we can’t avoid those interrupted nights and long days of feeding, changing and cooing, how can we improve our ability to make the most of the time we have and get some respite?

Firstly the best advice I can offer is to ask yourself the question ‘Can it wait?’. If you are tired you are probably going to take much longer to finish the job and it will more than likely be of a lower standard than if you were fully functioning. You will not want to sleep every time baby goes to sleep during the day, so if the job cannot be done whilst baby is awake then leave it till the next time and take the time to sleep while you can.

Next you need to consider how long it takes to get to sleep. Very often when we are overtired we can end up spending ages lying down thinking about how tired we are and how we wish we could sleep. This takes up valuable time, especially when the time to the next feed is quickly ticking away. Try using some of these common sleep techniques to help you relax and drop off. Remember they are not foolproof and the odd one may need some practice to perfect. Try each one and then you can try to develop your own twist on the techniques till you find something that works for you.

·    Trick your body into thinking it is nightime: We are naturally pre-disposed to sleep during the night and our bodies begin to prepare when it gets darker. By closing the curtains for a while before trying to sleep you are preparing your body by telling it ‘sleep time’.

·    Don’t Panic: Once you have decided to sleep there will be a desire to rush baby to sleep. This leads to a build up of stress because babies tend not to sleep to order, so once baby does finally get to sleep you are so stressed you cannot get to sleep and by the time you do baby has woken from their rushed sleep. Try this approach:

o    Plan for the next sleep period by closing the curtains about 1 hour before baby is due to sleep (always be prepared however that this process could take longer)

o    Carry on as usual, just start to slow down a little and absorb the more relaxed darker environment whilst doing what you need to do

o    Once baby has gone to sleep put everything down and stop immediately (whatever you were doing will still be there after)

o    Put your mind to rest that baby is ok and nothing is left on

o    Lye down in the darkened room and relax

o    On waking expose yourself to bright daylight to reverse the effects of the darkness

·    Hide the clocks: Whether it is a digital clock in the bedroom shining a bright reminder or a ticking clock sounding the passing of time you need to hide it or avoid it. You are more likely to keep checking how long you have got left if you are aware of the clock and if you are checking you are not sleeping.

·    Write notes: When we are on the edges of sleep the logical left side of our brain begins to become less active. This tends to be when the right side of the brain is released and allowed to come up with ideas. These can be anything from a job you have forgotten to do, to a random action which could make you a million. Whatever it is it has the capacity to awaken your brain and bug you for the next few hours. By keeping a notepad by your bed you can hop up write it down and relax again safe in the knowledge that you have a record of the information ready for when you wake up.

·    Eat Sleepy food: Milk and dairy products, peanuts, hazlenuts, sunflower seeds are great sources of a substance called Tryptophan, which is an amino acid which helps the brain calm down.  By eating something with these in at least 1 hour before sleep you can increase the levels of this calming amino acid and by adding a touch of warmth you can enhance this effect. Try having a bowl of cereal with warm milk when you close the curtains and see how this helps

·    Have a warm bath: This may not be feasible during those daytime naps but to make the most out of your evening sleep a warm bath may be beneficial. The bath works similar to the principle mentioned above, when your body temperature begins to cool following an increase your body will tend to relax and this can help sleep

·    Relaxation techniques: There are many different techniques out there which can help you to relax, from the wierd to the wonderful and it is worth taking a look around on the internet to see if there is anything that interests and works for you. I have included a couple of examples below which you may find beneficial but there are plenty of other strategies out there.

o    Tension Sinking: Close your eyes and begin to take deep slow breaths. Imagine the tension around your head visualise the tension as being heavier than you, so as you breath in you gather all the tension from your head and then as you breath out it sinks down to the floor. Once you have done this a few times repeat this process for each area of your body (shoulders, torso, hips, arms, legs and feet). Once this has been completed if you are not already asleep you can continue the deep breathing and either repeat or continue relaxing.

o    The endless staircase: Close your eyes and imagine a staircase stretching downwards. Visualise yourself walking down this staircase slowly taking each step down and down. As one step is taken one more appears and after a few minutes you should find yourself drifting off.

o    Tense/Relax: Close your eyes. Start at your head again and tense the muscles in your neck to approximately 50% for 5 seconds. Then relax the muscle as much as you can whilst taking deep breaths. Repeat this twice for the neck and then repeat for each other muscular area of the body down to the toes (shoulders, upper arm, lower arm, hands, stomach and back, bottom and hips, thighs, lower legs, feet, toes)

As I stated earlier the techniques and advice given are no-where near exhaustive (pardon the pun), however hopefully they have given you some food for thought. Being a Mum is one of the most time consuming, stressful, painful things you can ever undertake but the pro’s far outweigh the cons as long as every once in a while you get the chance to appreciate the good things and the only good thing you can think about when truly fatigued is sleep. Remember no matter how many mugs you are given with the strap line ‘World’s Greatest Supermum’ it is the way that this title is interpreted which is important. I love my Mum because she has always been there for me and she loves me and I am sure you love yours for the same reason. Why would your child be any different?

Karen is a Personal Trainer and Fitness Lecturer with vast experience.  She is also a Newborn Fitness specialist. to see Karens profile click here