Sleep is great, isn’t it? One of the best feelings in the world is when you get to put your head down on a comfy pillow and soundly fall into a deep slumber. Whether it’s at the end of a long day or a mid-day catnap, some decent rest does a body good. Sleep is a necessity and part of a healthy lifestyle. Even with a busy work schedule, we can generally find time to sleep. However, parenthood will bring new challenges to this area of life.

I’m sure you’ve heard seasoned parents constantly say that you’ll never sleep again after having kids. While this may be hyperbolic, it’s not totally off the mark. Yes, your sleep cycle is going to be thrown off completely and this will be especially hard at the beginning, when your infant is waking up every 2 hours or so. They don’t always go right back to sleep either. It can take hours sometimes to get the kiddo to fall back asleep again. The hardest part for me was not so much the limited hours of sleep, but the routine of constantly falling asleep and waking up. My wife and I were both walking zombies for the first several weeks. Thankfully we both had each other.

Yes, the act of sleeping, as you become a parent, will be altered forever. Unless you don’t plan on being a present father and just let the mother raise the child (Which I sincerely hope you don’t) you will be lacking some serious shut-eye. However, we all need to doze at some point; otherwise, sleep deprivation will get to you and it can create boundless other problems with your health, career, relationships, and personal responsibilities, etc. Therefore, it’s essential to find time to sleep, no matter what.

Being parents now for just over a year, there are a few things that helped us:

• Alternate sleep and night duties: Since my wife and I both work, we would alternate who does night duty. Generally, the person who was off the next day would handle it for the night. If we were both scheduled to work, then we would tagteam or trade off. Even if your partner doesn’t “work,” still alternate night duty when you can because taking care of a baby all day and night is a full-time job and more. It’s very exhausting work, to say the least.
• Sleep when the baby sleeps: Your baby, especially as a newborn, will he napping a lot. If possible, sleep when they sleep. I understand that these moments are often needed to get other tasks done around the house, but whenever you get a chance to nap simultaneously with your baby, take it.
• Take help from family and friends: If you have trusted family and/or friends that can help with childcare occasionally, take advantage of it. Have them watch your child while you and your partner catch up on rest and/or self-care. We are very lucky in this regard since we’ve always had a lot of help from our parents.
• Be supportive partners and help each other: The bottom line is that the more you help each other, the better off you will be. For instance, if you see your partner getting exhausted and you’re able to take over babycare for a while, then do so.

Find ways that work best for you and feel free to comment here to let me know what they are. I’m always open to hear new ideas, especially when it comes to getting better sleep. While sleeping will be difficult, it is still essential, so take every opportunity you can get to rest your body and mind. Sleep tight everyone!

P.S. You will now have a new alarm clock who will wake you up whether you’re ready, or not. And it won’t be so easy to press the snooze button. However, when you see that little face staring back at you, it will bring a lot of joy.