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"I was so tired that I ..."

Mums confess the crazy things that happen when sleep deprivation takes hold:

"When my son was a year old, he got sick with a respiratory infection. The only way he could sleep was if I held him upright against my chest. I'd done this alone for about three nights, so I'd been awake the whole time. In the wee hours of the morning, I was propped up in my bed holding him, and I fell asleep. The next thing I knew, he was on the floor crying! I had fallen asleep and dropped him! It was so traumatic, probably more for me than him!"

"Last night I washed my face with lotion instead of cleanser."

"I put my daughter's anti-fungal cream on my toothbrush. Ew!"

"After my daughter was born, I went grocery shopping in my slippers. I didn't realise I didn't have shoes on until I got out of the car."

"My friend was talking last night and said something like, 'I have two little kids." We all started laughing, because she actually has 8-month-old twins and a two-year-old son. When we pointed out that she, in fact, had three children, she couldn't believe what she'd said."

"We always pick up our son on Thursdays beause he has a doctor's appointment after schoool. Well, not only did I forget to pick him up, but I also forgot the appointment. Both the school office and the doctor's office called before I realised what had happened. Talk about feeling like a bad mum! This was also around the same time that I found a rockmelon in the linen closet."

"I've had trouble sleeping for years and a doctor prescribed sleeping tablets. I took one that first night. Imagine my shock the next morning when I checked my email and found that I had won over $150 of merchandise on eBay. And I had already paid for all of it, too! My first thought was to check and see what someone else had ordered on my account. Then I saw what I ordered – craft supplies and a Jimmy Buffet t-shirt in my size. I knew it had to be me, but I can't remember a bit of it!"

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"I'm nursing two babies, and sometimes I wake in the middle of the night panicked, and I start looking for babies under the covers! I'm so tired that I can't remember if I've fed them, or if I fell asleep feeding one of them. Imagine how good it feels when I realise that they're sleeping soundly. It means I get to sleep, too."

"When my son was two and I was pregnant with my daughter, I forgot to turn my car off when I was at the petrol station. I was halfway through when I realised that the car was still on. It freaked me out and I went straight home and took a nap."

"My newborn daughter never slept through the night, and I was a zombie for most of her first year. I had a bottle sterilliser, but I went through so many bottles in a week that it just couldn't keep up, so I started sterilising bottles on the stove, too. One morning after yet another sleepless night, I was sterilising a batch of bottles and instead of using the tongs, I stuck my whole hand in the boiling water. My skin blistered immediately."

Have you ever done something bizarre while sleep deprived? Tell us about it …

Do you know a mother who could use The Gift of Sleep? If you have a girlfriend, sister, cousin, daughter, neighbour or friend who is currently in the fog of sleep-deprivation,  buy her the “The Gift of Sleep: teach your baby to sleep in 3 days”. The e-book is all about teaching your  little one how to self-settle. For more information go to www.thegiftofsleep.com.au

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