Sleep deprivation

When mummyhood gets in the way…

21 June 2010

I have to admit, somewhere in the files on my computer is an update which I should have posted late last week. The problem? I’m pretty sure it doesn’t make any sense.

You see, my little boy is teething. Cutting his first tooth to be accurate. And he wants his mummy constantly. At 11pm, 1am, 4am… you get the picture. His latest trick is waking somewhere between 4am and 5am and screaming his head off until mummy comes in for cuddles. Then he’ll happily nod off while I’m holding him, only to wake suddenly screaming the second I go to place him back in his cot. I’ve tried leaving him to cry, apparently his only option other than mummy is to scream until he vomits.

I work mornings while the nanny is here, and then nights. Going to bed early is not an option. And I need that sleep in the morning. Oh boy, do I need sleep. Yesterday afternoon I actually just sat and cried because I just couldn’t deal with him any longer. He was grumpy through lack of sleep, and getting him to have a nap was an impossible task.

What impact does this have on weight loss? Plenty. For starters, the weekend was a lazy one because I was simply too tired to do a lot and frankly, some of the unhealthier options are just easier than taking the high road! I kicked off on Friday night with half a block of Lindt chocolate and half a bottle of wine. I could have stopped there and called it my night off the diet, but no… Saturday Little Miss and I headed into the Wellington Parent & Child Show for a looksee. Now, there’s not a lot of food there, but by the time we finished, Mojo was calling our names… a hot chocolate and rocky road for me and a soy fluffy and cupcake for Little Miss and we were on our way home. Again, there was another opportunity to stop there and move on wasn’t there? But nope, tired and a little grumpy I decided I may as well finish that bottle of wine that was now sitting open in the fridge, and well, if I was going to be bad anyway, half a block of Scarborough Fair “sinless” chocolate may as well go down with it. May I note that this was after having takeaways for dinner on Saturday night (appetizer and a main from the local thai).

Sunday was a new day right? Hmmmm…. Actually, to be honest, I was reasonably well behaved, although with lamb steaks sitting in the fridge to be used, and, with a distinct lack of creative juices flowing, they were turned into my favorite Indian curry. Dished up with a hefty serving of white rice.

If I had updated you on Friday, I could have happily said that I was down 3kg from when we started two weeks before. Now, I’m scared to go near the scales to see the damage that has been done! In fact, I might skip this weeks weigh in altogether!

Getting back to the sleep, or lack thereof, if you google sleep and weight loss, you will quickly see that the ‘experts’ all have the same theory – you need to be getting a decent amount of sleep for optimal health and weight loss. In fact, a lot have it as the third factor – healthy food + exercise + optimal sleep = weight loss. They all seem to recommend 7-8 hours a night. Between pregnancy insomnia and my second born, I think it’s safe to say I haven’t had 7-8 hours for even one night for 18 months now.

So, I need a plan. Assuming each factor has an impact my plan needs to take into account:

• Healthy eating (I’ve already pulled the juicer out of the garage and dusted it off thanks to the fabulous advice we’ve been getting through our facebook page!)
• Exercise (the sports store called today to say my new baby will be here this week, I’ll update you more when it arrives!)
• Sleep (I’m only going to get sleep once the Little Man does, so I’m off to The Sleep Store for some advice)

Hopefully next update I’ll have a plan, and be sticking to it. Like most things in life, the wing it quotient can only be so high, and with weight loss in particular, I think the plan it quotient is probably key to succeeding!

- Jodi

PS, please do join us on facebook and let us know your thoughts – we’d love to hear from you!

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Jodi Mitchell is mum to 2 year old Alexis and 8 month old Lucas. She’s also editor-in-chief here at babybites.co.nz, and runs online boutique www.chocolateandchilli.co.nz