There’s nothing like the exhaustion after a bad night’s sleep! When I became a Mum, I quickly got used to exhaustion. First I was doing night feeds for months, then soothing a teething baby and then dealing with the terrible twos…. and threes…..

None of the pregnancy books mentioned that I’d be running on empty for the foreseeable future, so I just kind of got on with it, and face planted whenever I got the chance! Honestly, I wish my exhaustion was just down to a bad night’s sleep!

Dreaming Of A Bad Night’s Sleep

Now here we are, almost 7 years later. I am STILL a sleep deprived mess, despite my kids being almost 6 and 7. My eldest is autistic, and to say he isn’t a great sleeper is probably the understatement of the year. His sister is almost 6 and she too has us up most nights for one thing or another.

Add to that two boxer pups jumping all over our bed all night, and you will probably understand why I forget my name most days. Sleep deprivation hits another level when you’re breast feeding around the clock, or expressing milk, in my case. But once your kids get older, they drop their naps. Coping with a day of activities or work, after a bad night’s sleep sometimes feels impossible.

Some days, I feel drunk, I’m so tired. 3am starts followed by a 20 mile school run really aren’t for the faint-hearted. So if you’re getting a bad night’s sleep more often than not, you may need to consider a closer school.

Broken Bed Woes

Last night when I was changing our bedding… I realised hubby’s side of the bed is a good 3 inches lower than mine. Sam likes to bounce on the bed on hubby’s side. So that’ll explain why hubby’s almost constantly got a sore back. After realising this, I set about hunting for a high-quality mattress to help hubby’s back. (And earn me some brownie points).

Thankfully, our bed is great quality and well made, so we don’t need a new bed frame as well! After almost 7 years of bedtime stories, doubling up as a trampoline and being slept on… Sam’s bed is amazingly still as sturdy as the day it arrived – unlike his mattress!

Sam’s had a mattress topper for a while, and it makes his bed comfier, but the sheets slip off for fun now. I definitely won’t be going down the topper route again, moving forward. It definitely reduced the instances of a bad night’s sleep when we got the topper for Sam’s bed. 

Shopping

After much searching online, I found some great mattress deals on Groupon, and am now going to save up so I can replace our King Size mattress and Sam’s too. Considering the way our expensive sprung mattress has died after being bounced on… I reckon it’ll be memory foam for him this time, and a sprung mattress with memory foam topper for us. I prefer memory foam anyway.

What about you – Are you on team Sprung or team Memory Foam? Remember back in the day, when water beds were the in-thing? I definitely don’t think that would last in our house. Between the kids bouncing on it, and the dogs’ claws, the bedroom would probably be more like a paddling pool within a week.

Finally, why not check out my Autism category!