OMG, I had no sleep last night!

So, you’ve had three hours and that familiar sense of delirium has taken over. But don’t let your lack of shut-eye bring you down

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Before you became a mum, a lie-in probably meant snoozing until midday and the only reason you had a permanent headache was because of your penchant for mojitos. Then, along came baby and it’s goodbye sleep, hello pasty complexion and a matching set of under-eye baggage. Research shows a huge 98 per cent of new mums typically wake up four times a night throughout the first year of their baby’s life. The math is scary—that means losing over two hours each night, adding up to almost 30 days of stolen sleep over a year.

It doesn’t get much better in the second year, either, with two-thirds of parents getting no more than four hours’ solid sleep a night. The result is a build-up of ever-increasing debt. You cry more (tick), lose your temper quicker (yep) and feel sluggish at work (been there). Relationships come under fire, too, with a third of new parents admitting to arguing five times a week and resentments building where there were none before. There is some good news, of course. It doesn’t last forever, as your baby will be a toddler before you know it. You don’t really mind, because he’s the love of your life and you’d do anything for him. And, with a little help, you can get through the day after little or no sleep without being reduced to a gibbering wreck in your daily office meeting.

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