Up all night to pee etc, how different is it with new baby?

[Livebythesea]

I hear a lot about how much help one needs with a newborn, how you get no sleep. I am not working and wont be for at least the first year after baby is born. I currently go to bed around 10 and wake up about every hour or so to change positions because my arm is numb, my hip hurts, I have to pee etc. I finally can't take how uncomfortable I am around 4-5am and get up. I take a nap in the afternoon.

Assuming I don't have a colicky baby and I'm recovered from labor, how different is this from having a newborn at home? I won't be working for the first year at least, but won't have help because husband works a lot and no family around.

Thank you

 

[Malingo]

Its the mental taxation of feeding/changing/getting to sleep that willl be tough as it is often not as smooth as it sounds!! When you are trying to stay awake to feed your baby for the upteenth time you may be stressed and tired of it!!

Id say it is significantly different to waking for a pee! As a second time mum, even though I am up through the night now, Im still counting my blessings in the sleep department until another Newborn is around!!

Not to be negative, as Im sure you'll be fine anyway, we all cope in the end! But wanted to be realistic!

Its only usually a couple of months of sleep deprivation at the end of the day!

 

[SparkleUK]

My LO is 11 days old and it really isn't that bad!!
My nights vary from being up every 2 hours for feeds or 4 hours on a good night. So sometimes I'm only up twice. She is a bit windy, and cries a bit but as soon as she is soothed and cuddled she's fine. X

 

[babydevil1989]

Pregnancy is worse than a newborn with my son he would wake every 4 hours for a bottle so id get at least three hours stints of sleep where as at the moment im up every hour!!

Being able to comfortably sleep is the best thing lol x

 

[sharnahw]

Its the mental taxation of feeding/changing/getting to sleep that willl be tough as it is often not as smooth as it sounds!! When you are trying to stay awake to feed your baby for the upteenth time you may be stressed and tired of it!!

Id say it is significantly different to waking for a pee! As a second time mum, even though I am up through the night now, Im still counting my blessings in the sleep department until another Newborn is around!!

Not to be negative, as Im sure you'll be fine anyway, we all cope in the end! But wanted to be realistic!

Its only usually a couple of months of sleep deprivation at the end of the day!

Great Insight!! Thanx

 

[maybebaby3]

Having a newborn is far more tiring IMO! Nothing compared to the waking coz you're uncomfortable or need a pee! Unless you're lucky to have a baby who sleeps! None of my 3 did!

 

[maratobe]

in my opinion i found getting up to a baby was easier then being pregnant... i didnt mind getting up every 3 hours to feed and then knowing i could go back to bed and be comfy straight away and not have to worry about sore hips, belly or having to pee again in 20 minutes lol

 

[Mummy&bump]

Yeah having a baby is easier I found because your body isn't working overtime to provide for ur baby anymore so that exhaustion is gone, new born tiredness is different and alot more easier to cope with unless they are colicky! Tbh I found the teething stage worse on me for lack of sleep xx

 

[hopefulfor1st]

You've got no idea.... From about 10 days old to about 5 weeks I was breast feeding from midnight til 8am every night, its more mentally exhausting than physically- and the crying, and the screaming..... And then when they do go to sleep you try shove some food in your mouth, do washing etc.
and I miss the luxury of nipping down the street for food!

 

[MumToEva]

I really think it depends what sort of a sleeper you get - for me having a newborn was so much harder, being pregnant doesn't even compare. But then Eva has never been a sleeper - she woke for a feed every 2 1/2 hours, but she took ages to feed and then a good bit to settle again, so I was up for about an hour and a half each time. I then got about an hours sleep before the whole process started again. But then she was early and really tiny (5lbs), and suffered badly from reflux. But the relentlessness of it really grinds you down - when she finally started sleeping reasonably well (still doesn't sleep through!) it took a good couple of weeks for me to feel normal again, because I was so chronically tired.

But friends who have babies who sleep well have had a totally different experience! You just have to wait and see! I reckon I deserve a sleeper this time, but you get what you are given I suppose!

 

[Athena]

Definitely establishing BF in those first few weeks is much harder than just waking for a couple of mins to wee etc. You will prob find you need to properly wake up for at least 1/2-1 hr every couple of hours for a while!! As pp said you will get used to it and just do it cos you have too. Then often toddlers wake and need to be re settled every few hours depending on what sort of sleeper you get. If you get a bad sleeper You will probs start sleeping again in about 4-5 years lol!!!!

 

[smokey]

I long for the days of just having to get up to pee again
Lo was a evening colicy baby so you forget getting anything done between 7-10 we would finaly get him down about 10 then it was a mad rush to get housework, dishes, steralising, dinner (for the first 2 months I didnt get a hot meal and rarely befor 1am).
He would normaly feed about 12, 3/4, 6/7 but because of reflux I would have to sit up for about an hour with him and because of sleep myclosus (thrashing about in his sleep, looks alot like a fit) I was normaly up 4-5 times calming him down or holding his arms or just watching over him.
Daytime he was pretty ok but wasnt a fan of sleeping, he was always wide awake watching everything and we had a few bad ilnesses so any naps I could grab during the day.
3 years later an im still trying to grab a nap during the day, still not getting dinner till gone midnight (thats works fault now though) and still waking up 6-7 times a night because of his sleep terrors (he sleeps through the night but screams out and gets hysterical in his sleep and sleep walks), needing to pee, a cat that wakes me up 4am on the dot for food.
So once the baby is here I may as well just give up on sleep all together

 

[080509]

More tiring with a newborn because if they are awake, you can't sleep, even when you really want to. Pregnancy tiredness is hard, but if you don't have any younger ones its nice knowing you can lie down and shut your eyes, if you need to.
I've hit the insomnia stage now, and my kids are up at 5am each day, so its hard work when its 2am and i still haven't got to sleep yet, because i know in a couple of hours i have to get up, lol.
That being said, the tiredness is easier to cope with when you aren't pregnant, because the strain of pregnancy has eased off etc, and you can always dose up the caffeine haha

 

[iwantabub]

Tbh neither were hard for me lol... I'd get up to pee and sleep straight away...

Also my bub is doing well every 3 hours at night up for about half an hour or so...

I think tbh it's a lot easier if u bf... My body wakes me up when lo is stiring so I get him and feed and then no crying happens he is still settled and we all are happy as he goes back down easily ...

I think I was blessed lol

 

[xsadiex]

Totally depends on baby's personality and age! My son would wake up every 2 hours and feed fr 40 minutes. Once he was a few months old and more aware getting him to sleep could take a long time! So frustrating when you're tired.
Sometimes my son wakes up still and bloody hell it can be taxing, especially when they are crying and won't go to sleep and nothing you do pleases them.
Bad sleep in pregnancy doesn't really compare in my opinion as at least you don't have to take care of someone else etc etc. newborns need so many nappy changes and to be fed a lot, and burped etc.
oh what fun!!

 

[Anderson8]

It really does depend on what your baby is like. Ds was up twice an night from birth till 8 weeks then once a night till 8 months, but this was only for a feed then straight back to sleep and as I had a cosleeper I didn't even need to get out of bed. This was even while we were establishing breast feeding. I can honestly say I've never been sleep deprived. Fingers crossed this one is the same!

 

[Julesillini8]

I agree with a lot of these other women. It really depends. Hopefully you get a baby that's a good eater and sleeper. My first was. She would wake up every 3-4 hrs during the night and I would feed her and she would go right back to sleep. And she was sleeping through the night ( well 10 hrs) at 5-6 wks. I was just really lucky.
I have girlfriends whose babies woke a lot more often, and had days and nights switched, so they would be awake and cry for attention at night and sleep more during the day. This was more exhausting for them because they couldnt just feed baby and go back to sleep.
So it's hard to say for you if you will be more exhausted or feel more rested with a newborn. You will just have to see how your baby is! Best wishes!

 

[hubblybubbly]

Totally different feeling, needing to be awake and stay awake to feed, change, settle baby for long periods of time at night with the additional factor of being woken in the middle of your sleep cycles by a newborn, and waking for a turn over/wee, not having to engage brain, going back to sleep on your own terms and usually wakings are in time with your sleep cycle...ie you wake as you feel uncomfortable during your light sleep periods rather than your deep sleep.

Both are exhausting, but very different. I had a challenging newborn with severe reflux needing 30 mins of being held upright after feeds through the night, and her being quite unsettled, so this probably skews my view.....she still doesn't sleep through the night by any means, up at least 2-6 times a night with her.

I'm sure my feelings would be different if I had one that slept for long periods from early on, settled quickly and easily, just don't worry about it and see what type of baby yours is!

On the bright side once we'd hit 12+ months of very disturbed nights my body has finally got used to it and can easily cope on 7 hours of broken sleep a night, hooray!

 

[Scout]

My lo is just over 3 weeks old and i've never been more exhausted in my life. And I was an 'up every hour to pee and generally feeling awful' pregnant person. The baby doesn't sleep well at all. I'm up constantly trying to soothe her. It's a whole differrent kind of tired. LIke others have said, it's so different when you wake and have to care for a baby. Last night I was rocking her and crying bc I was so incredibly exhausted. The only time she slept last night was when I was rocking her. As soon as I'd lay her back down she'd be wide awake and fussing. So for me, my experience of getting up every hour and generally not sleeping well while pregnant is totally different than getting up with a newborn.

 

[laila 44]

Oh no. For me waking up with a newborn is very very rough. A few days you run on adernaline and just cope but then when the night wakings become regular every night for weeks it makes you crash. Nothing compared to rolling over from being uncomfortable with pregnancy. I remember choosing to sleep over eating dinner when my dd was born because I took any minute of sleep I possibly could. Wish my dd would have gone at least 4 hrs in between feeds then maybe it wouldn't have been so exhausting!