Assessing your sleep problem - how?

[jennybean0722]

I won't go into a long story about why I might have PPD, but just know that I probably have it and I'm going to see someone this week. I think the primary source of my PPD is sleep deprivation; DS (6 mo) wakes up every 1.5 hours to eat and I am exhausted.

I would post on the 'nighttime parenting' forum to figure out my sleep issues, but I stopped reading it because everyone on that forum made me feel guilty for being sleep deprived b/c their babies were 'only' sleeping 45 minutes, or they 'slept through' their babies' feedings. Well, that is THEM. Not ME.

Anyway, how does one with PPD deal with getting more sleep when the baby BF's all night? Did you cut down on the babies feedings? Stop it altogether? Get dad to take over several times to get sleep? I imagine some of these only last so long.

I'm tired of feeling guilty when reading the forums on MDC. Sometimes, I feel that, just like mainstream mommas lie about their babies sleeping all night, MDC moms lie about not letting their babies cry, etc. Anyone else feel the same way? Argh.

Any help is appreciated
Jenny

[kaydee]

g:

It is SO hard to recover when you are not sleeping well.

My therapist (a psychologist very experienced in PPD) said that getting at least a 3-hour uninterrupted sleep cycle was very important (something about needing 3 hours to complete a REM cycle IIRC). Well, you know how hard that is with a wee one.

I am sorry that reading about others' experiences makes you feel guilty (although guilt is also a symptom of PPD).

Only you know what you are going through, and only you can determine what you need to preserve your health.

For me, breastfeeding was very complicated by latch difficulties, and then by PPD. I started pumping instead, and my dh and I took turns feeding our ds, so the other one could get a reasonable period of sleep (I took one 5-6 hour shift, he took the next 5-6 hours). This worked for us, and also meant that our son never had to cry long without us, which is something we did feel strongly opposed to.

There are risks to that approach (the pumping didn't keep my supply up like nursing would have, and eventually, the frequent pumping became seriously onerous when combined with the PPD, but it did mean my son got my milk for a while, and I also got a bit more of the sleep my illness meant I desperately needed)