Why Pregnant Women Need Daily Naps

After all the fun of making a baby now comes the hard work – pregnancy. Yep, pregnancy is tough. If it isn’t the constant trips to the bathroom it’s your little belly-bound centre forward practicing his penalty kicks inside you during the night and keeping you awake.

Pregnancy affects all women differently. I’ve seen the most organised, put-together women in the world fall apart at the seams. On the other hands, the dizziest, most head-in-the-clouds friends of mind have taken to it like a duck to water. It’s impossible to predict.

Carrying a child is a great equaliser in some respects, the baby-induced hormones flooding around your brain don’t care which school you went to, or what fancy job you have, they are going to mess with you whether your have an expense account or not.

Sometimes it can be hard not to let it all get on top of you and get overwhelmed, that’s understandable. Now your mother will have a head-full of wisdom, as will friends of yours who have been through it all before you. The internet is awash with articles. Sometimes you’ll find all the contradictory advice is just too much.

So what to do? Take a nap that’s what. When your lugging a little mini-me around inside you all day nothing is more rejuvenating than a wee snooze on the couch. Moms-to-be it’s time to harness the power of the power nap.

Don’t believe me? I’ll give you good reasons why you should.

It is the perfect antidote for hormone-induced fatigue

Pregnancy is a weird one, you’d expect it to get progressively harder as the days and months trudge on. However many soon-to-be moms report the first three months, that’s the first trimester, are the most exhausting.

Now this can’t be physical strain because junior is not much bigger than an orange at this point, nope the reason is your hormones. They tend to go a little bit whacky at this point. One hormone in particular shoulders a lot of the responsibility for increased levels of sleepiness, progesterone.

Add to this the added anxiety and stress that finding out your with child brings and it’s little wonder you begin to feel a bit tired. There’s no point trying to fight this ‘pregnancy fatigue’ the trick is to lean into and get yo’ freaking nap on girl. Yep, take every opportunity you can to top up your vitamin Zzzs.

Oh, and don’t worry it tends to get a little easier once your body gets used to the extra-influx of hormones come the second trimester, a time referred to by many moms as the ‘happy trimester’.

To find out more about the joys of the first few months and how they relate to your slumber, have a quick look at this information-packed guide.

Helps you cope with the physical strain

Carrying a little baby around all day, every day, for nine months is tough, both mentally and physically. But especially physically. Unless you’ve gone through some highly elaborate pre-pregnancy training regime of strapping a 8 pound bowling bowl to your stomach, then your body has literally nothing to compare the impending situation with.

It’s little wonder that you’re exhausted when just standing still for ten minutes requires a level of effort your body has never been exposed to before.

Sleep is when our body repairs and replenishes itself after the hardships of the day. Think of it like taking your sports car into the garage for a service. In this particular analogy, having a nap is like a pit stop in car race. Forty winks on the couch isn’t long enough to make repairs to everything but it is enough to keep you running and performing well until you can get to bed.  

Because it’s about to get tougher

Yep, sorry to be the bearer of bad news but no matter how tired you feel at the moment – it’s about to get a little tougher. Pregnancy is just the capital letter at the beginning of a sentence when it comes to motherhood. Once that baby is out all hell breaks loose, especially when it comes to your control over when and how much you sleep as a new mom.

Getting sufficient rest in the days and weeks before giving birth will give your body and mind the best possible preparation for the sleepless months that follow. Embracing the art of the power nap is essential to make sure you get the slumber you require.

Now, don’t worry too much the joy of seeing your little one emerge into the world will be so overwhelming powerful that you will forget all about the need to sleep. Which is beautiful but also dangerous. So before the beautiful life-changing whirlwind is unleashed use your time now wisely and get as much sleep as you can. Embrace the power of the power nap.

You may also like: How to Cope with Pregnancy Related Sleep Disorders

Peaceful Sleep for Baby and Mama: Empowering parents to sleep train babies (Age 0 to 12 months)

Does your baby need to be rocked to sleep by you — or wake up in the middle of the night demanding a breast, bottle, or cuddle before drifting back to sleep? If your little one is at least six weeks old, it may be time to start sleep training.

By that age, babies can — and should — be able to fall asleep or fall back to sleep on their own by self-soothing.

If you’re dreading sleep training, know that it’s often accomplished faster than many parents imagine, and it doesn’t necessarily even have to involve lots of tears. Here’s how and when to start sleep training your baby to help everyone get a good night’s sleep.