Sleep - Bradley,IL

My husband gets home between 2-4 am too. When I was a SAHM I tried to let him sleep until lunchtime. Sleep deprivation can be torture, but when I had newborns, I found I got a better quality of sleep by feeding them lying down in my bed during the night feeds. The babies and I would often just drop off, and we found we were overall less disturbed at night. With a six week old I suppose it's very normal not to get more than a four hour stretch. None of my children really did more than four hours at a stretch until they were older.

My husband has always gotten a lot more sleep than I have. In PART, because he needs more. He's a towering nightmare if he doesn't get enough sleep, and being woken in the middle of night... well... lets just say we don't do it.

As a young family I figured this was just a strength/weakness thing.

Because while I revel in sleep... I don't really need it as much *as long as* I can catch up from time to time. I can do 3 hours on a regular basis and function fairly normally for a few months before the prolonged sleep dep starts to kick in. On 4-7 I function completely normally. I'm "happy" woken up multiple times at night (not happy to wake up, but I come awake very quickly and am alert/myself, and can smile/ hug/ talk rationally/ think coherently). Also, I can sleep in a chair, on the floor, show me a semi-flat space and I can sleep on it.

So my 'strength' in being able to sleep fairly flexibly I figured matched up with his 'weakness' of needing exactly 8 uninterrupted hours in one particular spot. The same way several of his strengths have matched up with my weaknesses.

Come to find, I was just being used and disrespected, but that's my husband for ya... and a different set of issues altogether. That my sleep and well being is completely and totally unimportant to him compared to his sleep and wellbeing is just par for the course.

But in one way it was nice: Since he NEVER helped at night, I didn't expect him to. I got the same amount of sleep I would have gotten (and did get) when he was gone. At least in my own life, I've learned that unmet expectations/hopes hurt one whole heckuva lot more than reality. As in, as long as I knew I was on my own, I was a lot happier than when I kept waiting for him to help me and being disappointed that he didn't, or afraid that he wouldn't.

I do, on occasion, hire someone to watch my son for the day so that I can catch up on missed sleep. Absolute. Heaven.

Nope...I can't function with 6 hours of sleep at least 7 hours should be sufficient.

Sleep is very, very important for me! I just can't function without it. My kids rest daily from 1 till 3 and go to-bed every night (except Thursday's) between 7:30 & 8:00. Period. We don't vary from this routine for any reason. Why? Because I need time to relax with my husband in the evenings and I need my sleep at night. I am a better mother when I'm well rested.

Maybe have hubby help get the kids ready for bed before he leaves for work. That way, you don't have to do it all once he leaves. Hopefully, that'll get the older kids in bed earlier and you can catnap with your newborn.

my husband works nights also. from 8pm-8am. he sleeps from about 9-10am until i wake him at 4pm. sometimes he wakes up anywhere from 1-4 on his own though. typically his first day back that he doesn't work that evening he sleeps from 9-10 until about 12:30-1p. i go to bed (when he's home because i sleep better when he's here) between 9:30-10:30 and wake up anywhere from 5-7(during the summer. it's 5:30 or earlier during schoolyear). when he's not home i get to bed between 11:30 and 12:00 and wake up about 5:30-6a. and i never sleep straight, i have a dog that coughs from a collapsed trachea that wakes me up on average 3x a night. sometimes the kids wander in, and i wake up at least twice to go to the bathroom. my husband works a dangerous job so i want him to be able to sleep as much as he can on the days he works. however, if he could stay up all day when he didn't work, i'd be loving it. :)

Well I have been going to bed earlier here lately, anytime b/w 8 and 9pm. I'm 5 months pregnant w/ our last. We have a 5, 4, and 1 year old. Our two oldest wake anytime b/w 6 and 7, but have learned not to wake everyone else in the house. They come downstairs and watch cartoons, till I get up anywhere b/w 630 - 7am. Then our littlest usually wakes on his own around 8. They are all in bed around 8 - 9pm. I am loving these hours right now b/c I know they won't last come Nov. when our last is due. I love my sleep. My hours use to be bed by 11pm and up before 6am everyday. So I'm trying to enjoy it while it lasts. Hubby doesn't like that I go to bed so early, but I really don't care. I need all the rest I can get right now.

Oh as for my husband he works 8-5 mon-fri. He usually gets up about 630am, leaves around 715am. Is home by 530. Complains he is beat and tries to nap on the couch. Sleeps in on the weekends ( I can't remember the last time I got to do that). Yells from our room if the boys are too loud, then I rely then get up. The kids have a routine and he will have to deal w/ it. He eaither gets up or lays there and listens to the ruccus. Now when he worked 12 hr shifts, that was different, but I think he should keep the same schedule he has during the week for the weekends (since he wakes automaticly). To spend time w/ his kids, but thats just me.