> What I'm wondering is this.....is this fatigue in direct response to their > co-sleeping r'ship with their child?
Tough one. All my kids have been poor sleepers from the outset and regular night-wakers. My first was in a cot in a neighbouring room - I truly was a walking zombie then. My second I would bring to bed in the middle of the night - often suffering her thrashing in our bed and disrupting the sleep of my husband too. My third has been in our bed full-time and while I'm still waking regularly at night, our sidecar arrangement means hubbie gets to sleep through... if the older kids don't call out in the middle of the night. Weighing it up, I was most sleep-deprived with baby in the other room. Co-sleeping is the norm in Japan. I was not a mother when we lived there, but I did have Japanese friends who were mothers. Whinging about lost sleep is just as common there (in fact whinging is a bit of a national pastime just like here LOL!). But my instincts tell me that because the rest of the family is an arms reach away there is simply not the disruption of rousing self from bed to feed in a chair and then pat/settle baby back to sleep. It can take 10 mins or it can take an hour - no possibility of sleeping on the job. ;-) > > And if so - do you believe that this sleep deprivation is more so a > reflection of our Western approach to sleep and daily life in general ie. > mothers are not only expected to tend to their babies at night - but also > get up and cook, clean, do school pick up etc all the following day? Mothers in Japan are still generally expected to do all this. If they live with their mothers-in-law they still do it. In Bangladesh too, as far as I know. Honestly, I think the difference is that there is often extended family in the house to watch children during the day so mum and bub can have a siesta without worrying about other children while they nap. I wonder if cultures that have "siesta" complain about sleep-deprivation at night? Jodie -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe.
