I suffer from chronic and sometimes severe insomnia. About ten years ago something triggered a “severe” episode and it refused to let up. After about two months of ~90 minutes of light sleep per 24 hour period, my mind began to shatter. I won’t get into details here about how bad it got, but I can totally see how someone could accidentally put a raw chicken in the crib and the baby in the oven.
I also suffer from insomnia - I regularly get 3 hours of sleep per night, and rarely get more than 6 (rarely as in 1-2 times per month). For a week and a half or so, though, after a death in the family, I was getting between 0 and a half hour per night, with obviously no deep sleep.
I developed severe ataxia (I couldn’t walk without a cane), I lost the ability to speak coherently and it would take me minutes to form a sentence. I couldn’t follow conversations, and my appetite decreased to the point where I was down to about 50-100 calories per day (eg, I could sometimes manage a can of coke).
When your brain starts to shut down, things really go south pretty fast. I managed to kickstart things using those meal substitute drinks (which I’d consume by chugging it in one go), and eventually my eating and normal 3-6 hour sleep pattern came back, but I was probably about 24-48 hours away from needing an ambulance.
Luckily I live with my partner and although I put them into a panic, I didn’t have to manage the house/pets and just took sick leave from work. Even after going back, it took some time to return to my normal level of working. At the peak, I would have been absolutely incapable of operating if I lived alone.
When my insomnia hits it’s days of zero sleep… Like I see the 3 hours of sleep and I immediately (and unfairly) dismiss that you have insomnia, I’m just like, “bro, but you ARE getting sleep”).
As I got my things under control I pivoted to Polyphasic sleep anyway. 1 30min nap every 6hrs and I absolutely adore it. Extra exertion or any kind of injury will warrant more rest, but then, thats resting with a purpose.
My god. Having a kid and only getting a few hours per night for half a year drove me to the brink, it’s genuinely chilling to imagine what you’ve been through. I hope you’re sleeping more now.
We got the “don’t shake the baby” talk at the hospital. It was extremely over the top and patronising. It made a lot more sense later however. What was obvious and extremely patronising when rested and alert, barely cut through the fog, once sleep exhaustion kicks in. I can fully understand how parents can shake their baby to death, with no ill intent.
A baby in the oven sounds bad, but I can see it happening, under the wrong circumstances, with the wrong person.
(Oh, and my daughter made it to almost 2 before reliably sleeping through the night. The sleep deprivation was hellish.)
We had a good run of keeping a solid bedtime ritual between 6 months and 3 years where ours would sleep through the night. Then we found out our kid is a morning person with ADHD. 🪦
