Calculate How Much Sleep You've Lost Since Becoming a Parent!

My 17-month-old (as of today!) sleeps all the way through the night about 9 out of 10 nights these days, and I’m so grateful. Really, I am.

But getting my requisite shut-eye remains tough.

Here’s why: Given that he’s only sleeping about ten hours, that leaves me just under 10 hours between nighttime and dawn to sleep myself, while also doing things like eat dinner, shower, check in on work or email, have a civilized conversation with my husband that doesn’t involve the phrase “squeezie” or “sippy cup,” pay bills, do dishes, maybe watch half an hour of TV—not to mention teeth-brushing, puttering around the house and texting pals and family.

What that means is I usually manage to get about 7.5 hours a night, which is OK—except, when those occasional nighttime wake ups do disrupt the routine and some cuddles happen between midnight and dawn, I can never really catch up.

Add that to the sleep deficit I built up over over a year of erratic to nonexistent sleep, and I’m pretty freaking tired.

So I was delighted to find this lost sleep calculator created by (of all things) a British curtain and blind company to help explain why things dance before my eyes and I often feel like I’m going to faint for no reason! Wheeee!

It says I’ve lost a lot of sleep. Like, three whole months.

How much have you lost?

Sarah M. Seltzer

Sarah Seltzer, former editor for Kveller, is a writer and editor in New York City. She is a journalist covering culture, activism and gender, most recently as Deputy Editor at culture website Flavorwire.com. Her print and online work has appeared in publications including Poets & Writers, The Forward, Lilith, The Washington Post, Ms. Magazine, The New York Times, Salon, The Nation, The Wall Street Journal, Jezebel, The Hairpin, Refinery29, The Toast, Rolling Stone, and many more. She is a graduate of Harvard University, where she edited The Crimson’s weekend magazine, as well as the MFA in writing program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her first baby, Mikey, is growing up way too fast and she can objectively report that he is very cute. You can follow her at @sarahmseltzer and reach her at sarah@kveller.com.