This Is Why Parents Can’t “Just” Get Up Early
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From morning to night, new parents are often occupied with taking care of their newborn. When parental duties take up so much of the day and night, you realize that you’re missing out on precious “me” time. This can be anything. From wanting to do a workout session on your own to just calling a friend — without having to worry about your child. You decide to wake up earlier, so that you can grab a few hours to do your thing before the baby wakes up.
And then that thing happens — that unexplained intervention where the alarm is ringing loud and clear, but you just cannot get up early as you planned. Or worse, you do wake up, but you can’t do much because guess who woke up with you? Your kids.
It might dishearten you that your plans did not even see the light of day (literally!). Why does this happen all the time? What is it about parents not being able to get up early to ease the day a bit? Let’s find out!
1. You’ve Had A Rough Night
The chances are that you slept early, as did your little one, but somewhere during the night, you had to wake up. Your child probably woke up at night due to a stomach ache or nightmares. Or maybe it was you — you suddenly developed nausea or some other discomfort that didn’t allow you to sleep.
2. Sleep Regression
Sleep regression in babies is a real thing. It’s crazy how your baby can go from being a super sleeper to a sleepless vampire overnight, but it happens. Sleep regression usually lasts for around two weeks to a month. In most cases, the growth spurt is to blame for sleep regression (1).
3. Everyone’s Awake
You decide to have some me-time, but guess what rises along with you? Not just the sun — your little one too. It might look like your baby is just hell-bent on making your life miserable, but hey, babies are unpredictable. Their sleep timings are not fixed, and maybe your baby woke up the minute you started steering awake.
4. It’s Now A Habit — Not Just For You
You’ve been successfully waking up every morning, and it’s become a beautiful habit. You’re the poster child for “rise and shine”, but you’ve got competition — your child has made a habit of this too. No matter how early you wake up, your kiddo wakes up with you, not leaving you with any time for yourself.
5. Teething Time Has Begun
Your baby is so tiny, but you’ll be surprised what a cranky beast the little one can be when teething time begins. Teething usually starts when the baby is around six months old. You can’t blame the little lovelies for being cranky and crying endlessly at this time. Their gums turn tender, itchy, and swollen (2). Help ease the discomfort with a teether that they can bite into. Now when they start teething, you can say goodbye to restful nights…and days.
6. You’ve Given Up
You’ve tried and tried time and again, and it hasn’t worked for you. So you give up. You just give in to the joys of parenting that look a lot like sleepless nights and noisy mornings. And what’s beautiful is that you might give up on peaceful mornings and “me” time, but not on your baby.
It’s not your fault. This isn’t you being unorganized or a terrible mom. The truth is, this is part and parcel of parenting. It is probably the most tiring part of your life, but always remember that it is also the most rewarding, beautiful, and profound. You can try different ways to stay on task, but it doesn’t always come through, and that is okay.
However, when you do have those rare moments where you get time for yourself — savor it! You never know when you’ll get that time again, or even if you ever will! Have you been bending over backward trying to get up early for yourself? We’d like to know how you managed that! Tell us in the comments!
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