Blurred line between day and night

I was sitting at my desk at work and realized that I didn’t feel much different than I did at 4 am this morning.

With my newborn sleeping in 1-2 hour stretches at night (and slightly better during the day…sometimes), it feels as if I’m always up (at night that is). Thank god my wife is breastfeeding because I can sleep during those long feedings. But  I still get up to change wet diapers, soothe our daughter back to sleep, and help my wife get situated with the necessary pillows to nurse comfortably.

Since going back to work, it’s almost as if the week has been one long continuous day broken up by small naps at “night”. The line between day and night, sleep and awake, feels blurred. You know when you are on vacation and you forget which day it is? I wouldn’t say it is quite like that, but perhaps something in between total awareness and complete exhaustion.

I’m actually quite surprised how I’ve been able to function with such inconsistent sleep as I am one that previously thought I needed at least 7 hours to breathe properly, let alone function at this clip for an entire week.

As a new father, your baby is still figuring things out, and so are you. Embrace the inconsistency and learn from it, just like they are. I’ve been told that my baby can feel my stress, so despite the frustration when she won’t go to sleep after 3 hours of nursing, rocking, bouncing, swaying, shoosing, and swaddling, I remind myself that if I am stressed, so is she. Namaste.