Advice everyone told me about being a mom

The advice I heard the most from people was "Make sure you sleep when the baby is sleeping." I'm telling you, everyone told me that. It's very good advice, but people don't do it. I did it, and I'm going to tell you how...

In the beginning, which is the hardest part, it took 12 hours of my day to get 8 hours of sleep at night. Babies eat every 3 hours or so, so that means you can get 2 hours of sleep at a time. So what that looked like was, if I went to bed at 11pm, I didn't get up for the day until 11am. I think there are lots of lies you can believe here such as "It's 11am, I shouldn't still be in bed." That may make you feel lazy. But I believe in prioritizing sleep. Especially after you have a baby. I didn't really have post-partum depression (which stats say 80% of women have), but I can tell you the 2-3 times I did struggle emotionally were days I slept less than 8 hours. I think they are connected (but I'm not an expert on post-partum. I am an expert on sleep, though, so keep reading...)

So, yes, I didn't get out of bed until 11am. Why? Because while napping on the couch is good (I did that too - and if you're keeping track, that means I was sleeping 10+ hours a day), it's not the same as lying in your bed and sleeping. It's just not. And, I still made my life work. I showered everyday, I went out and did things with people, I kept my house organized, etc. What I'm trying to say is, I still was able to do the things that were important to me. And I think that's largely BECAUSE I was sleeping.

Now, I'm only speaking about my experience as a first time mom. When you have more kids, I'm sure you need a whole new plan. But also, you know what you're doing at that point. Learning how to be a mom is hard work. I've learned how to do many things in my life, and I'd put this at the top of the list of challenging skills to learn. And my advice is, while you're learning the new job, get lots of sleep.