Baby-Trapped #7: 10 things to pass the time during the night shift

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Welcome to Baby-Trapped: Some things to entertain, inspire and pass the time when your baby won’t go the f*ck to sleep…

1) The Good news….

This General Election campaign is almost over!!

2) And the bad news…

We might wake up tomorrow to find out we are stuck with a Conservative Government for another five years.

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Helping Sleep-Deprived Parents Take Over the World (or at Least Make it to the Supermarket)

stsHave you forgotten what it is like to sleep for an entire night?

Do you hate 4am? Why do babies often refuse to go back to sleep at 4am?

Do you regularly Google ‘can you die from lack of sleep?’ ‘Why the hell is my baby still awake?’ or ‘why won’t my baby stay asleep?’ Continue reading

SURVIVOR STORIES: HOW TO TAKE DOWN A SLEEP THIEF AND SURVIVE

The first in a series of stories called Sleep Thief Survivors by parents who have achieved success against the odds. Having children inspired and motivated them to accomplish great things! 

DSC_2669 copyIt was not so long ago that sleep thief survivor Lucy Jones was down, desperate and so exhausted she was hallucinating. However, after finally finding the help she needed to get her daughter to sleep, she decided to quit her career in customer service management and retrain as a sleep coach. The 34-year-old from Lincolnshire went on to set up successful business Love Mornings through which she has assisted many sleep-deprived families across the UK. Continue reading

SURVIVOR STORY: How not to say it with flowers

Me in first weekOur latest Sleep Thief Survivor Steph Douglas is mother to toddlers Buster (4) and Mabel (2).

She was inspired to set up her unique business after she received countless bunches of flowers following the birth of her eldest child, Buster.

However, she found she lacked the energy (or vases) to care for anything other than her newborn! As a result, the 34-year-old launched Don’t Buy Her Flowers which offers thoughtful care packages for new mums.
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SURVIVOR STORY: How to Land Your Dream Job When You Have Babies

Early motherhood was not easy for 31-year-old Ruth Herd. She battled with postnatal depression for a year before she was diagnosed and her nap-hating baby could be very demanding. However, here she tells us how she overcame all of it and (literally) landed her dream job!

FB_IMG_1426158253954“I was recently making another futile attempt to bring some order to the chaos that is the spare room (AKA the place where unwanted things go to die) and I stumbled across a notebook. It was one of the many beautiful notebooks that I buy, scribble three pages in, and then discard because I ‘ruined’ them by trying to use them for something that turned out not to be the Next Great Novel. Continue reading

SURVIVOR STORY: How My Toddler Changed My Life!

convosIn our latest Survivor story the Internet’s most famous father-of-two Matthew Clarke tells us how parenthood turned him into a You Tube sensation!

The 34-year-old creator of Convos With My 2-Year-Old was inspired to turn his hilarious conversations with his toddler into a mini-series with a twist – they are re-enacted by himself and a fully-grown man…. Continue reading

Survivor Story: How Changing My Baby’s Diet Changed My Life…

The latest Sleep Thief Survivor Story is by nutritionist and herbalist Caroline Mentzer.  On discovering that her daughter’s very poor sleep was due to food allergies, the 37-year-old turned her life around and went from rock bottom to a radio gig!  

Caroline & Melissa selfieCaroline’s story:

Early motherhood was a strange phenomenon for me. I’d been used to filling my time working two jobs whilst studying for a degree. I was blissfully and ignorantly looking forward to Melissa’s arrival so that I could slow down and spend some quality time as a family. After all, how difficult could it be? I was used to working hard, and I was aware that the first few months were tough when your baby needed feeding through the night. But nothing prepared me for the total upheaval I would experience when parenting a child that just won’t sleep. Continue reading

SURVIVOR STORY: Changing The World (Or Believing That You Can) On Two Hours Sleep A Night

The latest instalment in the Survivor Stories is by formerly sleep-deprived mother-of-two Leila Boukarim. On discovering her son was a Highly Sensitive Child (HSC) she decided to change the world…starting with a series of children’s books!

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LEILA’S STORY:

Prolonged sleep deprivation is a miserable, unnatural phenomenon that will drive anyone to the brink of total insanity. At times, I was convinced it might even kill me. And no matter how many books you read or what people will tell you, nothing can really prepare you for the nightmare that is sleep deprivation.

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SURVIVOR STORIES: How To Travel With A Sleep Thief

The fourth Survivor Story is by adventurer and mum-of-two Bronwyn Joy who not only survived a ‘sleep thief’ but managed to travel the world at the same time!

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BRONWYN’S STORY:

I completed a Master’s Degree by coursework in Bioethics when my eldest was fifteen-months-old. The reason I’m starting an article about travel with kids like this (bear with me) is that I feel it was a great achievement in the face of extreme sleep-deprivation, only nobody ever seems to care.
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SURVIVOR STORIES: FROM DAD TO 10 DOWNING STREET

The third in a series of stories by mums and dads who have achieved success since having babies! Becoming parents inspired them to accomplish great things!

2Father-of-three, Ben Wakeling was not only inspired to write four books as a result of having children, but he also managed to bag himself an invite to 10 Downing Street… Continue reading