Children resist sleep routines, leading to parental exhaustion

“I am a FTM who has 6 months maternity leave. I am home all day with my baby from 7-5pm. 2x per week my husband works from home but he also travels a lot. Ever since about 4.5 months old, my daughter’s daily whining has been RELENTLESS. For context, we live in a small townhome so our living/play space is small. I’m sure she gets bored of it, but I take her out on errands at least once a day, we go for a 30 min stroller walk most days (weather permitting), and we have always done a lot of floor pl”

“I’ve been back to work 3 months now and my baby is 8 months old. My calm maternity leave days have been replaced by chaotic work days, drop offs, doctor appointments at 7:30am before work, and working after I put my baby to bed. I work almost entirely remote at a busy small company. Its become pretty toxic with poor leadership and I hate it. I want more time with my baby. I miss him so badly. I feel like work takes that from me. He’s in a great daycare but every day after drop off is hard on me.”

“I have stayed at home with my son for the past 17 months since his birth. We still breastfeed and cosleep. He’s never taken a nap or slept overnight without me, but at the end of this month I am going back to work 5 days a week in a pretty demanding position/industry. I’m torn between daycare or a nanny for him. I am touring/ interviewing our options next week. I just feel like his world is going to change pretty drastically when I go back to work, so I’m looking for advice on how to make the tr”

“TLDR: My daughter is 20 months old. I work full-time. We co-sleep. Nap time is the only way I stay caught up. When do you squeeze it in?! My shifts are 6A-7p 3-4 days a week with 2-3 overnights a month. On days I work, I wake up at 430a. I can’t imagine getting up earlier to workout and am a zombie and want to cuddle my daughter for the hour before bed when I get home. On off days, if I try to wake up early, she’s also up early since we co-sleep. Also, I’m tired and want to sleep sometimes too.”

“I work full time, study, and have 2 toddlers. Monday to Friday I’m lucky if I manage to get the dishes done before I pass out. Then on the weekend all I manage to get done is picking up ALLLLL the toys, vacuuming the lounge room, kitchen and dining, and cleaning my shower (because I’m in there), taking out all the bins etc. in between various other errands. I usually manage to clean the toilets every other week but the windowsills are so bad I try not to look and the windows themselves haven’t b”

“I have an almost 8 month old and I work full time, Monday - Friday, 9-5. I also have an hour commute each way, meaning I’m not home until 6pm. My daughter’s bed/bath routine starts at 7:30 and I like to do some sort of physical activity; either a run or walk when I get home most nights. She comes with me in the stroller if I go for a run or walk, but usually, our routine is something like: Mom gets home, quick nurse for comfort, stroller run/walk, eat dinner, bath, bed. I feel like I’m not givin”

“I work part time (The same two days every week). Without fail, my 9mo sleeps horribly the night before the first day I work for the week. My fiance and I always jokingly say "mother, it's been seven sleeps. We must get our time in before you abandon me for the day". Almost any other day he sleeps perfectly fine! Well I picked up a shift this week, and what do you know? He's having a bad night. How do they know?!?! submitted by /u/d00dl3_ [link] [comments]”

“I had a routine down in our last apartment that went all the way down to cleaning floorboards and swiffering walls clean. But since moving to a new full house my routine is useless. Now we have a baby and my brain is fried. Anyway, the new house seems to collect dirt, crumbs, and dust bunnies more than any other place I have ever lived. I also have more trouble getting it up then normal (trying to get a cat hair dust bunny out of that corner of stair and baby gate has been impossible. And a movi”

“We have an 8 month old and I am currently working and with commute I’m gone 7:30-5:30. Our current schedule is I wake up when our daughter does at 5 and do the first shift till I get her to nap around 7:15 then go to work. When I get home I change and take over till bedtime at 7:30. I have a lot of mom guilt for working so I’ve been going through the motions and trying to make sure my husband is okay with SAHD because it makes me so happy he gets this time with our girl, but I also worry because”

“I am ending my 12 week maternity leave and heading back to work next week. Honestly, how do you guys function?? My baby wakes up usually 3x a night to feed and I am so exhausted the next day. Luckily I have been able to take a nap while on leave which helps but I truly don't think my brain can handle higher level thinking with the broken sleep I get. I am exclusively breastfeeding and so I am the one that gets up during the night. Baby eats and then falls right back asleep so it's not li”

“My daughter started kindergarten and was very excited to start following a big girl routine. I very much want her to have discipline / responsibility/ life skills so we developed a short check list of after school things to do. The rule is when she gets home from school she is to wash her hands, unload her lunch box and put the dishes in the sink, and put a snack and fresh water bottle in her backpack for the next day. It takes just a few minutes but I feel it is really important for her to get”

“I have our child from 6am-4:30 every day. I’m grateful I am in a position where I do not have to work if I don’t want to. My husband takes care of us. He went back to work a few days ago after six weeks of paternity leave. Luckily he works from home so he’s still in our vicinity but I really try not to bother him because he’s doing his job and I’m doing mine. When he gets off work, I am absolutely exhausted. I usually want an hour or so to myself, but I feel guilty because he just got off work t”

“My husband is back to work while I'm still on maternity leave. Baby sleeps in bedside bassinet. He has to wake up at 5:30am for work. Baby is 10 weeks almost 11 weeks old. Between baby not wanting to fall asleep and his alarm waking baby up, I'm not sure what to do. We live in a 2 bedroom home and have a crib set up in her room so there's no way to fit another bed in there. She is waking up with gas and fussy every 2-3 hours lately. It's impacting his sleep and mood and he really”

“I went back to work after maternity leave and it’s been a really tough couple of weeks for us. My baby hates waking up early and packing her diapers, food, snacks, spare outfits is a whole mission right now. I try do as much as I can the night before but I’m so exhausted after work. Im still breastfeeding and my baby wakes 2-3 times a night so I feel like I’m running on empty. My kitchen is so messy, dishes are piled up, dishwasher full of clean dishes needs emptying, the baby laundry needs doin”

“It just hit me today that when I go back to work, I’ll have to wrangle a 2yo and a 3 month old in the mornings (partners job starts too early for drop off) 2 yo has outgrown playpen and we are screen free. We have the downstairs baby gated, but not sure if there’s any other tips and tricks people have thought of? Do you just bring the older kid with you everywhere? How do you get them both down the stairs? (2yo still needs to hold my hand) submitted by /u/Western_Geologist_12 [link]”

“Have one child, he’s four. Dad is a shift worker and works nights twice a month for 4-5 nights. Occasionally there is over time and he stretches his sets to 8 or 9 days. We are on one of those right now and I cannot do anything right in the eyes of my child. I ask him to put his shoes on, for example, and I’ve already asked him three times so my tone becomes a slight bit sharper when I ask again. Suddenly I’m “mean” “make me cry” and then he will say things like “no birthday party ever again” wh”

“Okay, the title of this is probably an overstatement, but how do you get enough of it done in the evenings on work days? I’ve read that the recommended bed time for a 10 month old is 7-8 (not to mention it gives us some time to ourselves after she’s asleep), but right now she’s asleep by 9 on a good night. On a typical day we get home around 6 - 6.15, so realistically we’re starting dinner 6.30 at the earliest (more often it’s closer to 7) and then to make dinner, eat dinner, and clean up, we us”

“My wife is going back to work and I am taking pat leave for the next 8 weeks. What the hell do I do all day? I can barely fill 1 wake window with activities, let alone all day. To top it off, it’s hot as balls so most outdoor activities are off limits. I feel like all we do is rotate between singing, tummy/floor time, reading, etc. until she gets tired. She only likes each activity for like 10 mins max too. I love my daughter and spend a ton of time with her already, but I am so anxious about be”