Realistic Sleep Needs and Expectations for a Momma Flexibly Working from Home

Good for you trying to get life back on track!! Congrats! Sleep deprivation is different for everyone. I get about 6-7hrs of sleep (hopefully uninterrupted) and some days is perfect and others is still exhausting. I teach toddlers and pre-school children from home a couple days a week and also have preparation time. I try to get that done during naps or after baby has gone to bed around 7pm or when hubby is home to distract the little guy. It all depends on how active your child is and how much energy she sucks out of you. :) I can tell you one thing, if well prepared....it is easier to teach and work a little sleep deprived than it is to care for a child sleep deprived. Remember....coffee works!

It depends... on the child, on the baby, on their transitions through developmental phases etc.

How much sleep do you need? If you are one who really has to have 8 hours of sleep in order to feel normal... then no. You will not get that.

For me, I can exist on even 4 hours of sleep and do fine... and it actually makes me real efficient. And for me, since my Daughter was born... I did NOT have any semblance of normal sleep nor an 8 hour stint... in like about 7 years. Until BOTH of my kids, were sleeping well and all night... like an adult. (not like a baby). Because "sleeping through the night" in baby terms, means sleeping 5 hours a night. Both my kids, started sleeping ALL night, from about 2 years old...

So, that is realistic. And it seems to have happened with my friends too.

Working from home (with kids and not sans kids), well that will be tricky too. If your work time from/at home is flexible truly, then you will probably have to work while the kids are napping... or when they don't need you... which means about every 10 minutes or so, you will have to stop yo ur work/concentration, because a baby or child will need you or they need to play with you or you will need to take them out etc.

So, in that respect, getting enough sleep and getting in enough "time" for working (at home), will both be challenging. Working from home, is not necessarily easy nor convenient... but, it is great.. because we are Moms and that is what we believe in doing, being a SAHM, and being with our kids.

I work from home too amongst all the other stuff... kids and household and that in itself is crazy busy. But I can, being the way I am, squeeze things in and complete it in nano-seconds.... all day. But it is exhausting.
A couple of SAHMS I know who work from home.. actually have a Nanny come to their home to help mind the kids/baby... because if not they are NOT able to work, period. And their "Boss" would not like it... them not being available at certain times of the day... even if telecommuting or working from home.

Anyway, each person being different and each baby.

All the best,
Susan

Wow! 6-7 hours of sleep...that's excellent! I am a WAHM as a medical transcriptionist. I usually transcribe from about 10 pm-3 am about 3 days a week. On the days that I can sleep, I am up every 2 hours breastfeeding my 5-month-old or soothing or scaring monsters away or waking myself up! :-) So I am probably lucky to get about 4 hours of sleep a night, though on the really bad days (and the mornings following when I work all night long), I do tend to take catnaps off and on for a few hours on the couch, so 6-7 is wonderful and perfectly reasonable! I wish I could get that amount regularly! :-)

I think that it's highly variable with each individual person.

At one point, I could exist/function quite normally on 3 hours of sleep a night as long as I got a good solid 12 once every week or 2. This was also during a period in my life where I could stay up for 72+ hours (I maxed out at 3.5 days, but could swing 4 or 5 without chemical aid if I really had to... but I'd start showing side effects). Gradually though, as I used up my "reserves", I started suffering psychological side effects. My body got to the point where I could only barely tolerate those 3 hours nights, and then couldn't tolerate them at all.

Then, for several years it went like this:
5 = could cope if I had to
7 = okay but not my best
9 = best
12 = luxurious

Nowadays I can't get less than 7 unless it's an emergency... and even then, as soon as the adrenalin wears off I crash. These days

7 = best
9 = guilty
12 = much needed rest

My DH however, needs (and has always needed) 8.5 Any less and he's a bear, any more and he gets 'sleep-drunk' not able to ever really wake up that day. My mum who has always needed 7-10, once she hit menopause has almost as much energy as my son with 4. She's been doing the 4 hour thing now for 10 years.

On the kid vein... my ds7 gets to sleep himself out nearly every night. Typically that 8pm-9am. Sometimes an hour earlier or later... but even at 7 he's averaging 12-14.

After my second child, I never get more than 5 hours of sleep at night! I wish you the best of luck in your endevors as I can't imagine how you could function enough to actually study and attend classes with so little sleep! But we mom's get it done and you will manage. Certainly getting an education is a very good investment for you and your family!