Most parents cope with a certain level of tiredness. But if you're feeling low, bad tempered and unable to cope or enjoy things, you need to find a way of getting more sleep, or at least more rest.

Walking is one of the easiest forms of exercise. Try to get out for a walk every day with your baby, even if it's just to the shops. Ease your anxiety with a baby monitor. It’s normal to feel nervous when your child starts to sleep in a separate space. To ease this feeling, keep a baby monitor nearby. Pretty soon, you’ll feel more relaxed about this new arrangement. Of course, many sleep-deprived mothers just pooh-pooh the recommendations about getting more rest. Sure, it would be swell if they could sleep eight hours a night, but it just seems absurdly unrealistic.There are lots of things that can influence how well we sleep, such as our current physical or mental health, our upbringing, things that happen to us, and even our temperament.

If you're on your own, you could see if a friend or relative could stay with you for a few days so you can get more sleep. Understand your baby's sleep patterns Co-sleeping remains a hot topic of debate for physicians, psychologists, and scientists. Although co-sleeping has been shown to have some benefits, most pediatricians agree that the research on co-sleeping is insufficient. Some doctors argue that the risks of co-sleeping outweigh the possible benefits. Some of the negative effects of co-sleeping include the following:And it's not only sleep-deprived mothers of newborns who are dragging. Whether you have a preschooler demanding encores of You Are My Sunshine at 4 a.m. or a high schooler thumping up the stairs an hour after curfew, sleep doesn't come easy to mothers -- regardless of how old their kids are.

Sleep problems are common, and the reasons we struggle to sleep are likely to change throughout our lives, for instance, illness, work or having a baby are possible causes. For many moms, constant sleep deprivation is a standard feature of motherhood -- just like blouses stained with spit-up and Cheerios crumbs in every purse. It's understandable, Mindell says. "A lot of moms see the night as their own quiet time to relax or as a chance to get things done that they couldn't during the day," she tells WebMD. So instead of going to bed earlier to compensate for the sleep they're losing in the night, mothers might stay up later -- further eroding the time they sleep. Sleep-Deprived Mothers: The Health EffectsYou might constantly worry about your baby’s safety. If you’re a light sleeper or you’re worried about keeping your child safe while you co-sleep, the quality and quantity of your sleep could suffer as a result. This could make it harder for you to cope with your daytime routine, from exercising after delivery, to pumping and storing milk, and even caring for your child when they’re awake. It doesn't help that as a culture, we tend to look down on sleep. Getting too much -- or even just enough -- implies softness. Some sleep-deprived mothers take pride in doing too much and sleeping too little, trading war stories of sleepless nights with other moms at the park. Many medicines for these illnesses can also cause insomnia. Things that keep you from getting a good night's sleep: You can buy tablets or liquids (sometimes called sleeping aids) from a pharmacy that may help you sleep better.

Many families don’t set out to co-sleep for long, but then they get used to it and don’t know how to stop. There isn’t a hard and fast rule for when your child should stop sleeping with you. However, as soon as you feel like your family is ready to change your sleeping arrangements, it’s time to have your baby sleep in their own room.It definitely doesn't apply to parents who were woken up six times in the night by their kids and today are falling asleep in their soup," says Roth. "For people like that, 'Don't take a nap' is stupid advice." You probably do not get enough sleep if you're constantly tired during the day. What causes insomnia Co-sleeping might result in less-independent children. Even though it’s normal to want to protect your kid at all times, they start to learn how to be independent from a very young age. Learning how to sleep alone and having their own space helps them become more self-reliant, and co-sleeping can slow this development. If poor sleep is affecting your daily life or causing you distress, call NHS 111 or talk to your GP. Of course, you'd like to sleep better than you do. But a lot of the typical sleep advice is about improving your sleeping environment and calming yourself before bed. That's all well and good. It's just that adjusting the feng shui of your bedroom or buying a Soothing Ocean Tide Sound Machine won't help much when you're up six times a night replacing the pacifier in a squalling infant's mouth.