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Comment by dyauspitr | Hacker News Reader

You have to listen to crying and lose some sleep for a couple of weeks? You’re an adult, this is possibly the most self absorbed and shortsighted thinking I seen in a while.

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Weeks? Try years. As a parent of a newborn, I can confidently say that my wife hasn't had a full night's sleep for even one night since the kid was born in early July - she watches the kid at night (we live in a one bedroom apartment with the crib in our room - it affects me, too, but I try to tune it out and focus on sleep, as breadwinner). She also watches the kid all day while I work (9-11 hours). She's drained. I don't see this getting any easier for at least 12 months. It's a long road.

We don't have family to support us and we can't afford childcare. So, that's our situation. Not complaining, just saying - it's not weeks of a little bit less sleep. It's chronically interrupted sleep for months, maybe years (according to Dr. Ferber), with severe affects to hormonal regulation and mood and weight.

I have two kids. After the first 3 months they were sleeping 7-8 hours through the night.

Not all kids are the same. Shocking I know…

I hope not, three-month-olds are supposed to sleep 14-17 hours a day. Also, what happened when they dropped naps? Night sleep typically worsens right beforehand, as the residual nap pushes their lengthening wake window into night sleep. How did you manage their congestion when they were sick? Many kids, especially those using a pacifier, lose the ability to link their short, 45-minute sleep cycles and need to be comforted throughout the night even into toddlerhood.

7-8 hours at a stretch, there are more hours of sleep that happen on either side of that stretch.

Congestion with those little pipe things that you can used to suck the snot out of the baby’s nose.

We never used a pacifier. The baby slept in the same room and my wife nursed her for three years.

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