This Sleep Loss Calculator for Parents Confirms Just How Sleep Deprived We Really Are

Rachel Kiser
Blogger | Mom of Two

Since entering into motherhood, it’s become clear to me that one topic of conversation you can never avoid, and almost come to relish, is how exhausted you are. Trading the horrors of what hour your little ones woke up in the morning, or how many times you were up in the middle of the night are common occurrences. The tension between productivity and taking a nap at your baby’s nap time is real.

I, for one, remember rocking my oldest to sleep and wondering just how many hours I’ve passed rocking, or swinging, or shushing our babies down the hallway. Well, I need look no further!

If you, like me, were ever curious about how much sleep you’ve actually lost over the course of your child rearing years, Hillarys, a British interior design company, created a sleep loss calculator for just that. I’m not even kidding.

To find out exactly how exhausted you truly are, you simply plug in the ages of your children in the calculator and BAM. You’re hit with the cold, hard truth. Mine looked a little like this…

Hillarys

Right below this, you find out, on average, how many diapers you’ve changed in that time as well as the number of nighttime stories you’ve read. The calculator hilariously goes on to share that 1 in 4 parents has actually put their phones in the refrigerator (or, in my case, put the cereal in the fridge and the milk in the pantry!), 1 in 2 parents have put their clothes on inside out, and 1 in 3 have worn mismatched shoes before. Wow.

I’m not sure exactly what we ought to do with this information, but it sure is validating. Us parents sacrifice not only our bodies, our resources, and our time for our kids, we sacrifice a lot of days, too. When we feel like we’re quite literally losing our minds and unable to think straight, we can trace it all back to this. Thank you, Hillarys!

About Rachel Kiser

Rachel is a wife and mother living in Raleigh, North Carolina. She’s a fan of good coffee, wearer of gray t-shirts, and is constantly starting books she will never finish. Her family is her joy, and she loves to engage with other moms and dads on matters of parenting. Her blog posts have also been featured on the Today Show Parenting Blog and Scary Mommy.

View all posts by Rachel Kiser here.

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