How much sleep do you get/need? Is this normal?

[Annie Mac]

It seems to me like I'm tired a lot, despite having gotten 8 or 9 hours of at least bed time if not sleep time. Baby is 2 1/2 months. We sleep together, so I don't have to get up to nurse her. She wakes up several times a night. Me too. She sleeps during the day, kind of cat naps through most of it, and we have at least one nap together as well. Usually lasts about an hour, although we can go up to three at times. I know new moms are tired, but figured that was because they were getting up to feed and check on the little one. I'm not doing that. I'm not working outside the home, and am not exactly killing myself to make sure the house is clean. What are your experiences with this? Is it normal to need more sleep at this stage?

[karika]

IME yes. The way I figure it, since we get such broken sleep early on, the body makes up for it by sleeping more than 8 hours. When dd2 was small, I frequently slept for 3-4 hour stretches, then awake for a few hours, then back down for 3-4 hour stretches, etc. I think it is wonderful for you to be able to sleep with the baby when she does. I pretty much stayed in the bedroom for the first three months with dd2. I still lie down with her for naps and when she goes to bed. I love it. I feel very rested all the time, and occasionally even get to stay up for some 'me' time on the laptop while dd2 is sleeping beside me on the bed.

[LadyCatherine185]

We didn't get much sleep (as in, longer than a 1-2 hour stretch) around here until DS was about 18 months old.. Honestly, my body got used to sleeping in broken stretches and I started feeling rested enough as long as I had plenty of "bed time" and took naps with DS. Cosleeping and side-nursing for sure saved my sanity.

[Llyra]

I think some of it is that the sleep you get with a newborn beside you is broken, because even if you're not coming all the way awake to nurse, you're still coming out of deeper sleep to respond to baby. Plus, our sleep cycles change when baby is next to us. Also, the body is still working harder than "normal," because you're making milk night and day, and that takes energy. And finally, you may be "catching up" on sleep you didn't get earlier, in the late stages of pregnancy or the early newborn period.

I do think that if you feel like you're excessively sleepy, it might be worthwhile to take a good look at your nutritional status. It's common for example to suffer from some anemia in the postpartum months.