Step 4 of 8
Sleep
Losing sleep night after night is one of the biggest causes of stress and low mood for mum after birth, so protecting her sleep matters. Talk about it now, while you both can think straight.
Ways to share the nights
Have a look at these together and see what could work for you.
Protected sleep blocks
Agree blocks of time where one of you is off duty and can properly sleep. Daytime counts too, and taking baby out for two hours so mum can nap is one way you can give her time to catch up on rest.
Split the night
You could split the night into shifts so neither of you is up the whole time.
Settle baby after feeds
If mum is doing most of the feeds during the night, you could opt to settle baby afterwards for her so she can get straight back to sleep.
The early shift
Some dads choose to take the early morning shift with baby so mum can stay in bed.
Breaks that aren’t sleep
Finding ways so you both get breaks helps too. That might be time for rest, a bath, a walk or an hour to do whatever each of you want to do.
The sleep chat
Sit down with mum and go through these together. Print it out and tick things off as you talk.