When I was a new mom I received a lot of parenting advice. One piece of advice that I received over and over again was, “sleep when the baby sleeps.” Unfortunately, I didn’t heed this sage advice and ran myself ragged most days. Instead of sleeping while Tyler slept I used a lot of that time to do household chores and to work on getting more writing assignments or finishing up assignments that I had. When I finally decided that perhaps it was time for me to start sleeping when he slept it was too late. His sleeping pattern was already established and it didn’t include any daytime naps, sleeping past 7:30 AM, or turning in before 8:30 PM without a fight.
Is it too late to follow the advice given to me six years ago? Should I sleep when the baby sleeps although my baby is not a baby anymore? Darn tooting! It’s rare that Tyler sleeps late so it’s a treat for me when he does. With school being out for Christmas break, a few of the days he’s been off he’s slept late. I mean like 10 AM late. Normally I would get up at my regular time and work but I decided that it was better late than never to sleep while the baby slept. Today, for instance, he woke up at 9:30. I woke up around 7:30 and instead of getting up and starting to work or read or whatever I went right on back to sleep. I figure I deserved it anyway because I worked until 1:30 AM.
So often as parents we forget to take the time to take care of ourselves. We’re so busy running around taking care of our kids, our spouse or aging parents. I’ve written about this issue several times in my blogs, offering tips but sometimes we dish out advice but fail to take that same advice ourselves. Why is that?
So here’s another resolution for you for 2007, resolve to take better care of yourself by taking some time to rest and rejuvenate. Take time to “sleep when the baby sleeps” no matter how old your “baby” is.
See also:
Parents Do You Suffer From Routine Panic?
New Prenatal Test For Midlife Moms