Nothing could prepare me for the shock of having a baby who woke hourly between the ages of 6 months and a year. Unfortunately, there’s a stigma attached to talking about sleep deprivation amongst new mothers —an unspoken 'if you can’t cope, there must be something wrong with you, just deal with it' attitude.

One of my biggest fears about becoming a parent was the lack of sleep. My husband and I are not the 'up at sparrows' sort who leap out of bed at first light. No, we're more the 'how long can we stay in bed before it becomes criminal?' kind of people. And need my 8 hours a night!

Those challenging, seemingly endless months introduced me to what sleep deprivation truly is.

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