The Walking Dead - young parents and their sleep deficit

Hardly any topic is as ubiquitous with young parents as sleep - the baby's and one's own. Our author gets to the bottom of the subject and concludes that young parents have no problem with sleeping, but with time in between.

In general, one says yes, young parents have a problem with sleeping. The opposite is the case. Young parents like to sleep, deeply, firmly and everywhere - if they have the opportunity. Here is the problem.

Permanent dusk and hunger for sleep

The truth is that after a baby is born, couples have a life in a state somewhere between being awake and sleeping due to their sleep deficit. And that for several weeks and months permanently. The symptoms of this sleep deprivation include, of course, tiredness, slow reactions, lack of concentration, forgetfulness, limited verbal abilities and disorientation. In fact, young parents have a distant resemblance to the eponymous creatures from the series "The Walking Dead". I used to refer to my wife after the birth of the baby more often than "nursing zombie" - and she did not contradict: lying in bed at night, squeaking baby, breastfeeding, lying down, half asleep and two hours later the whole thing from the beginning. During the day a permanent dusk and a hunger for sleep like an undead after human flesh. However, survival in this particular case is fortunate enough to hold a small human being in your arms - the very flesh and blood that the world means and depends on. This knowledge gives young parents the strength to persevere and hope for better times that will surely come at some point.

Parental leave was introduced as employer protection

My wife and I have recognized the other deficiencies described above. Over time, we developed the theory that parental leave is a clever construct that protects the German economy from being damaged by over-tired parents. Not parent protection, but employer protection is the real purpose of this measure. We're sure we're on the right track here, just waiting for an anonymous whistleblower from the Ministry of Family Affairs to unpack on television - sitting behind a screen with a distorted voice. Either way - we were happy about the parental leave and at the same time asked ourselves, how the people came over the first months, if not a grandmother was at the hand ...

You only appreciate things when you miss them

The fact is that for most people, parenting is the point at which they learn to appreciate sleep properly. It is quite logical - you only appreciate things when you no longer have them. There is a growing understanding that systematic sleep deprivation is considered torture. At this point I would like to thank my wife, who has breastfed our little girl for months without much grumbling. A few weeks after Lilly's birth, I had to stay overnight for one night. As much as I regretted not being able to see our daughter for nearly two days, I so much enjoyed being able to sleep one night without interruption or guilty conscience ...

It gets better - someday - and then comes the "parent-dementia"

But luckily, baby's sleep cycles get longer over time and eventually one night has only two breaks and one later. This is the point where parents slowly balance their sleep deficit. At the same time, the deficits disappear, one regains strength and the efforts of the first few months gradually blur in a diffuse fog. It is said that everything was not so bad - the parents' dementia sets in. An amazing phenomenon and extremely important for humanity - otherwise there would be many more single children ...