Log 001: First Contact with Sleep Deprivation
Stardate: Week 3 of parenting my 4-week-early little girl.
Log Entry: Time: 01:13. Status: Half-dressed half-asleep. Tea: Redundant. Partner sleeping, just, waiting for the 3am feed time.
This is the first of my Mission Logs—personal, unfiltered dispatches from the frontlines of dad hood. I’ll be honest: nothing prepared me for the wild silence of a sleeping Mamnaut and baby… except maybe training in sleep deprivation while on guard duty.
💤 The Incident:
It was approaching midnight, and the bottle was prepped there was a sleepy silence throughout the house. It was now time to awaken the shrieking shack!
🔦 My Survival Tips:
– Embrace the behaviour exhibited by the Mamnaut, speak softly cuddle the little one in and slowly wake up the mamnaut. The goal is to head upstairs!
– Accept imperfect wins. There had been screaming and named football chants sung like lullabies but I was now ready to feed the little one.
– Create a sleep pattern that works: Mamnaut slept from 10-12 am on the sofa, we went to bed at midnight and then the Mamnaut had a broken sleep until 2:30 am to prep the 3 am feed, and I slept from 1 am until 5:30 am ready for the 6 am feed! It isn’t perfect but we are getting used to it!
🚀 Status Report:
We made it through. Slightly haunted, heavily caffeinated, and—surprisingly—more connected to my little one than ever. It’s funny how the hardest moments teach us the most about love especially when you are looking down at them having a feed at 12:30 am when everything in the world feels calm again.
Dadnauts 