Not only is it important that your baby gets sufficient sleep but you also need to get sufficient sleep in order to be able to care for the babies needs.
While you won’t be able to change when your baby requires feeding for some time you should take advantage of the times that it is sleeping to get some additional sleep of your own.
Cat naps throughout the day when the baby is asleep can go a long way to help you cope with the sleep deprivation that is expected in the early weeks and months of the baby’s life.
You should work towards getting your baby to go off to sleep while you are going about your normal work and don’t get into the habit of sneaking quietly about the house as this will only train the baby to sleep when there is complete silence.
Also try to get your baby to go off to sleep on its own rather than relying on you to be lying beside it for it to go off to sleep.
It’s not a good habit to get into to have to have the baby sleep with you in your own bed on a regular basis in order to settle it down for sleeping as this becomes a ‘trained problem’ that you will need to wean your baby off.
You will expect to have a lot less time to yourself in the beginning however if you are ever feeling down or overwhelmed then just remember that everyday you get one day closer to easier times when you will have more time and be able to cope better.
Don’t use your babies sleep time to get extra work done if you are already over tired when a short sleep could do you the world of good.