You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Though it may seem nearly impossible to find time for sleep and self-care during this stage, one of the best ways to care for your new little one is to take care of yourself too! If you’re a new mom, then you’ve probably noticed that your new bundle of joy also came with some disruptions to your own circadian rhythm.

Experts say it’s harder to rest and sleep if you are aware of how much time you have left before you need to do something or how long you’ve been awake for. To encourage your baby to fall back to sleep on their own in the middle of the night (instead of crying for you), put them to bed while they're still awake. This can be a great bonding experience and a way for both mom and baby to drift off to sleep more easily each night. This can lead to fragmented sleep for you, subsequently making you feel tired, negatively impacting your memory, raising your risk of depression, and putting you at risk of drowsy driving. As each day passed, I felt the lack of sleep slowly catching up to me leading to what I now know was sleep deprivation.They may be able to refer you to a sleep specialist, prescribe sleep medicine, or give you some additional advice.

This is particularly true for new parents, who are juggling the needs of a baby along with adjusting to all that comes with new parenthood. This will help prep your body for sleep and make it easier to fall asleep when you finally get in bed. Most people understand that the first few years of parenthood are daunting and consist of very fragmented sleep.And some of the symptoms of sleep deprivation include slowed thinking, reduced attention span, worsened memory function, lack of energy and mood changes including stress, irritability, anxiety and even postpartum depression for mothers.