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It was one of those nights! My eldest was thirsty at 2am and called out for her water bottle (even though it’s on her bedside table literally a finger-space away). The twins had the sniffles so were tossing and turning from 3, which meant mum and dad were zombies at dawn.

Feeling like I had landed right smack bang into that hazy newborn sleep-crazed stage, I put the bread in the dishwasher to toast and poured the milk into the kettle (true story!). Thank goodness I snapped out of it before I clicked the kettle on!

Lack Of Sleep = Torture

No wonder, the CIA uses sleep deprivation as a form of torture. It really makes us do the most ridiculous things. On shocking nights like these, I am so thankful that I at least invested in a good mattress so that those tiny snatches of sleep are good ones. (Anyone that knows me, has heard all about my trusty TEMPUR mattress – it’s over 5 years old and still feels like I am sleeping on a cloud!).

Ridiculous Things Sleep Deprived Parents Have Done

To make me feel a bit better, I asked around for other ridiculous things that sleep-deprived parents have done. Here are a few funny ones:

Card Mix-up
When I was shopping I was wondering why my rewards card wasn’t scanning and then I looked down and I was trying to scan my library card. – CJ

Counting Sheep
My worst one was waking up for the 94726184th time to feed/settle my second baby. Then freaking out and being utterly convinced a sheep was in our yard. We live in the middle of town in an estate so it was 100% not possible. I woke hubby and made him go outside in the rain in the middle of winter. Only to find out there was a frog sitting on my son’s window sill. – Ashlee

Lost Shopping
I did a weeks worth of shopping, paid, went home then 2 hour later thought: Oh, no the meat… Only to go to the car and find it completely empty… I had left all my shopping at Woollies – Sammi

Oops
Both mine play up most nights since having second lil man 10 weeks ago. I’ve done lots of sleep deprived silly things like forgetting to put pants on before checking the mail. That was not my finest hour – Ari

Not-So-Super Glue
I spent a night glueing in all my recipes to a scrap book, getting super angry and frustrated at the cheap glue that just didn’t stick, Anyway I thought it will stick overnight. I woke the next morning (probably had a few hours sleep here) it still wasn’t stuck. I told my partner in utter disbelief and he asked me what glue I had used? I showed him my special urine cup (clean people,  never used I hope, after all, I was sleep deprived) of glue. He just laughed and laughed at me. It was sun cream I had transferred into the cup for trips out instead of taking the whole bottle. Why I didn’t smell the lovely smell of “glue” was beyond me. 6 years later I still ain’t living it down – Tina

Come here Doggie
I tried to attach the dog’s lead to my son while trying to take him to daycare – Jenna

He’s Gone Green!
While I was giving my 4-month-old son a bath, I started to panic — his little feet were green! After a moment, I realised I was so exhausted that I never took off his socks! – Laila

Seriously?
I was so deliriously tired that I folded an entire basket of dirty laundry. Doh! - Susan

Where Is She?
After many sleepless nights, my husband and I went shopping with our 1-year-old daughter. Hubby and I went our separate ways, and when we met back up I panicked and screamed, ‘Where’s our daughter?’ I was holding her. – Tasha

Ultimately we have very little control over how often our kids wake up, so let’s focus on what we can control – making sure our bed is so comfy that we don’t waste any time trying to fall back to sleep.

Here are my top tips for a better sleep:

Clean up your bedroom
If your bedroom is cluttered, messy or in need of a major clean, it can become a stressful space instead of a peaceful and relaxing one. Make time to de-clutter and clean it so that when it comes time for bed, you look forward to being in that space. Donate unwanted items to charity. Splurge on a bedspread that you love so that you look forward to climbing into bed each night. Play relaxing music while you get ready for bed so your room feels more like a luxury spa than war-torn zone.

Pick the Perfect Pillow
The worst thing about going on holiday, is that I have to leave my beloved pillow at home. Sleeping on a strange pillow can often lead to a disrupted sleep and aching neck and back in the morning. I love my TEMPUR ergonomic pillow which makes sure I don’t toss and turn too much during the night and keeps my neck in alignment. There is a TEMPUR pillow for side tummy and back sleepers as well as a range of pillows which offer a firm, medium or soft feel. I pick firm all the way but it’s worthwhile going into a shop to try out which feel you prefer. I love that TEMPUR offers top quality pillows which are durable, hold their shape and last longer than any other memory foam pillow on the market.

Make Your Mattress A Priority
Buying a bed for the first time was an important decision. I knew that finding my perfect mattress would be a good investment and if I chose the right one, it would give me the support I needed for years. Every night, I am grateful that I decided to go for quality. I tell everyone I know how much I love my TEMPUR Mattress. It’s had my back for over 5 years now and it’s still going strong. TEMPUR is well known for providing pressure relief and uses technology to enable weightless comfort and body conforming support.

My pick was the TEMPUR Original, which is on the firmer side but there is also the Cloud Range for a softer feel, Sensation for ease of movement and Hybrid, which provides the ultimate in responsive support. TEMPUR offers a 10-year guarantee on all their mattresses so you can rest assured that they’ll last.

Avoid Alcohol Before Bed
We know our kids can often drive us to drink and a glass or five of wine definitely does drown the craziness of the day away. But studies show that drinking alcohol before bed impairs the quality of your sleep. Consuming alcohol before bed can send you straight into deep sleep, skipping the first stage of sleep, rapid eye moment (REM). As the alcohol wears off, your body can return to REM sleep, which is much easier to wake from and can lead you to have a restless night’s sleep.

TEMPUR is a manufacturer of mattresses and pillows made from viscoelastic foam, and adjustable beds. TEMPUR® Material lies at the core of all their mattresses and pillows and is the only mattress product recognised by NASA and certified by the Space Foundation.

Find your nearest TEMPUR retailer or REQUEST AN INFO PACK HERE

This article was commissioned by the team at TEMPUR. The MoM editorial team compiled this article after working with the team at TEMPUR and realising how important it is to pick the perfect mattress and pillow for the best possible sleep.

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