Sleep, work and going back for more?

Heya, I went back when M was 9 and a half months - usually got a decent nights sleep, except for the occasional hiccup - and always gave a dream feed at about 10 - she used to wake about 6.30 which was fine

RE baby brain - I dont think my thought processes where as finely tuned when I went back to work - and I had hard deadlines to meet on somedays - but I think It was more about a change in priority for me rather than I couldnt do it - although some collegues commented on my lack of 'grunt' on some days
I took voluntary redundancy aftrer 6 months - for personal reasons - but I didnt feel as valued being a Mum - my managers were awesome and fought for me, but working for a giant corporate - on the whole - there wasnt the support for Mums that there should have been - actually there were about 4 of us who all left around the same time because of this, but I do miss the stimulation and the fight that comes with being in a corporate environment

I actually feel more human at work - because I love structure and processes - home can be a bit of a zoo at times - especially now my girl is 2

Number 2 will be here soon - and I will be starting a new degree next year (was going to be this year - but I realise there are some things that are more important than a fancy title degree or paycheck) and after number 3 I will go back to work
Incidentally this will coincide with my eldests next open heart surgery so as soon as she is fit and well for school - i have done my baby dash

1. How many night wakings does your baby currently have, and what goes on in a typical waking (i.e. how long are you awake and do you spend your time feeding, or resettling, or holding a screaming baby)?
She sleeps through now (unless teething)- we had a bad patch where it would take 2 hours to resettle

2. How old was your baby when you started getting enough sleep to feel human again? (Or if you still aren't there yet, how old is your baby now)
She started sleeping 12 hours a night around 5.5 months. Still took a few months to feel human

3. How much sleep were you getting when you went back to work? Did you cope? For those in high-level *thinking* jobs, how did you perform relative to pre-baby?
I went back to work when she was 9 months- found it difficult to readjust as my heart was elsewhere. Luckily I was able to go back part time so now I go to work for 2.5 days and work pretty efficiently. Not sure I'd cope with full time work.

4. If your first baby was a terrible sleeper, and you were brave enough to go back for a second, was the second one as bad?
Only 1 baby here and am terrified the next one won't be a good sleeper. Mind you we had lots of problems with day sleeps (really random) until she went down to 1 sleep about 7 weeks ago and am loving it!

ok, so im trying to base this on when Mack was about 5 months so i may be a bit blurry.


1. How many night wakings does your baby currently have, and what goes on in a typical waking (i.e. how long are you awake and do you spend your time feeding, or resettling, or holding a screaming baby)?

At 5 months he woke once a night, very occasionally twice. didnt sleep through consistantly til after 6 months and we never went in and got him if he was crying for the sake of it. if he was wet, cold etc... i would fix that though. normal time up was a few minutes if it was just changing warming up, normally about 15 mins if feeding.

2. How old was your baby when you started getting enough sleep to feel human again? (Or if you still aren't there yet, how old is your baby now)

i functioned pretty well from 6 weeks on even though he was waking 2-3 times at that age. DH does alot round the house and would feed him a bottle if i was shattered

3. How much sleep were you getting when you went back to work? Did you cope? For those in high-level *thinking* jobs, how did you perform relative to pre-baby?

i went back to uni a week after he was born. i study bio-medical science so it is pretty brain powered. i came out of it ok though i didnt go back to my job (personal trainer) til he was 10 weeks old cos DH would have to go to work during the day then look after him 3 nights a week which is a bit hard on him. Im still at uni now but resigned from my job when i was about 5 months preg this time cos it was too physical

4. If your first baby was a terrible sleeper, and you were brave enough to go back for a second, was the second one as bad?

Mack didnt sleep through til quite late but we still decided to start trying again strait away. he is 12 months now and sleeps through so i dont mind getting up for a newborn again. our theory was nothing lasts forever whether it be sleeping, feeds, nappy changes etc... i cant comment on #2 cos he refuses to come out but despite the reflux and feeding issues with DS1 i have no regrets about planning #2 so quick and im sure we'll cope somehow

Well I got a total of 4 1/2 hrs broken sleep last night so am not going to work. I cant possibly do my job well, or safely on that little sleep, which would not be fair to anyone. Will talk to my boss today, and beg her to let me extend my leave by another month or so. She doesnt have to tho since my maternity leave finished today. So dont want to loose my job :(

Thanks for the replies ladies

Kellz, I'm really sorry to hear about your rough night. Fingers crossed your boss is understanding and Aiden starts sleeping well again soon.

My problem is not so much that DD is still up at least 3 times a night, but more that each time I'm up for at least an hour because thanks to the reflux she screams for ages after each feed I'm looking forward to getting the medication right! So I'm often very very short on sleep and will be even more so if I have to get up on time to go to work.

Aww TRex, I dunno how you are coping at the moment let alone thinking of going back to work...is your leave running out soon?

1. Anywhere between 0 and 3. On average sleeps through 1/2 the time. Awake, sometimes just a re-adjust (when he's banging the side of the cot), sometime 1hr+. Thankfully DH does about 1/2 the night wakings.

2. DS started sleeping better at 4 1/2 mths (as which time a 3hr block was heaven). Then he improved again around 7mths. And another improvement about 9mths.

3. As in 1, it varies. 6-8hrs. Some work days are longer than others, but a lot of that is just doing catch-up after being out of the loop for 9mths. (started back when DS was 8mths)

4. I wish. Even if it's tough, it's short lived. DS was a shocker under 4mths, 10pm - 2am was his longest sleep and then he was on a 2hr cycle for the rest of the day and I'd still do it again.

Here's me at the moment

1. How many night wakings does your baby currently have, and what goes on in a typical waking (i.e. how long are you awake and do you spend your time feeding, or resettling, or holding a screaming baby)?

Generally doesn't wake in the night, but sometimes she might wake for 10 mins and have a little grizzle. Goes back to sleep on her own. No teeth yet but would imagine we'd manage those with cuddles and pain relief.

2. How old was your baby when you started getting enough sleep to feel human again? (Or if you still aren't there yet, how old is your baby now)

8 1/2 months - that was when we decided it was time to get her into a good night routine, stop feeding and rocking when she woke. For first few weeks she wake for a while in the night, but didn't after that we felt normal.

3. How much sleep were you getting when you went back to work? Did you cope? For those in high-level *thinking* jobs, how did you perform relative to pre-baby?

I haven't gone back to work. Am lucky enough to not to need to financially. I like to do something for my brain, but have a reasonably stressful middle management job, and I have had depression over the last year and I don't want to stretch myself too thin. I would do nobody any favours. I have a very thinking in tensive good.

4. If your first baby was a terrible sleeper, and you were brave enough to go back for a second, was the second one as bad?

One baby only - have heard they were all different, I'd probably cope better as would know that things change.

Wow I'm amazed how you ladies have gone back to work or study still getting so little sleep! I struggle to just do the basics still after 5 months, but I suffer from depression as well...

1. DD wakes anywhere from 2-6 times per night. Average is probably around 3 or 4. I count anything after around 10.30pm and before 6am as a 'night waking'. She goes down at 6.30-7pm and usually wakes for a feed around 10 otherwise I give her a dream feed before I go to bed. For the first couple times I feed her back to sleep easily and am up up for about 15min. Wakings after about 4am she can be more difficult to settle so its usually a feed, change and trying to resettle her so can be 30min to 1 hour (I may be up and down out of bed during this time to resettle her) She has never managed to go back to sleep without a feed!

2. 5 months and still waiting! Some days I feel better than others but never feel very functional, sometimes I feel too impaired to even drive!

3. I had a 'thinking' job and I would like to work 1 day from home now since we need the money but don't feel I would be able to work at all at the moment in any useful capacity. I am going to extend my maternity leave to 1 year even though we are struggling.

4. We would like to have a 2nd in a few years, I just hope the next might be easier!!