Sleep Like a Kid

Did you know that May is Better Sleep Month? Neither did I until I became a mom and now sleep is always on my mind. I’m thinking, how can I get some more of that! My little one is now 7 weeks old and let me tell you - she gets her zzzs, which is great because of the brain development that happens during her slumber. I’m still figuring out how to get more zzz’s, like her. This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of the Better Sleep Council.

Sleep is so important. I was literally just having this conversation with my mother-in-law because she was saying how she isn’t sleeping. It’s incredibly important to our health and well-being.

As a new mom, sleep is something I daydream about. See what I did there? Pre baby, I used to stay up until 12 or 1 am watching something with my fiancé to wind down from the day. I would get up, brush my teeth, wash my face, and crawl into bed. Now, all of that has changed and I am trying to establish a sleeping routine for the baby so that she gets some good shut eye and so do we! Our routine looks like this: we start at about 8:30pm by giving her a shower with dad. After that, it’s changing time with mom, then breastfeeding. After she’s satiated, she then gets swaddled and rocked until she falls asleep. Sometimes she is fine with this arrangement, and other times, she is crying for a reason I haven’t figured out yet. Most nights, I’m lucky to brush my teeth!

Mommin’ ain’t easy, let me tell you! Once she finally knocks out, I then wake up about every 2-3 hours to feed her which takes at least 45 minutes each time, occasionally more, depending on how she is feeling. If you do the math, you can see that I’m not sleeping much. The first two weeks she was home were the worst. We were walking zombies and I could feel my soul escaping by the minute.

Having gone through that, I found that it’s so important for me to find ways to get that much needed shut eye. Some of the ways I do it is to take a nap during the day. I never thought a nap would be so rewarding, but it truly is. I can’t “sleep while the baby sleeps” every time because let’s face it, there is so much to do, but I do try to nap once a day. A few other tips are to turn all the lights off, turn on a white noise machine, swaddle the baby, and put on a sleeping mask. All of these have helped me so much and I’m now able to get to sleep much faster and get into that deep sleep that we all need to function.

Do you have sleeping tips you want to share? Drop your tips in the comments!

Better Sleep Month is a month-long holiday in May that aims to raise awareness about the benefits of better sleep and how poor sleep can disrupt our lives!

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of the Better Sleep Council.