Hey there, sorry been absent for a while...
Not sure whether you meant a good night for our LOs or for ourselves? My criteria changes for DD depending on where she is with nap transitions, how her naps were that day, whether she's teething (in which case I'd accept a few short NWs as inevitable and if the night was long enough overall I'd feel it's ok under the circumstances), and probably other things too! At the moment I'm happy if she gets 12h although if she had a poor nap or was especially tired I'd hope for a bit more, as I know she's on the HSN end of things. At other times though, especially I remember with DS at nap transitions, I'd be happy with 10.5h nights. If you meant our own nights - well, I guess an uninterrupted stretch of 7h would be lovely, more would be even better, I do get this occasionally when sleeping in the living room (because I need to get up in the morning earlier than she does and she sleeps in our bedroom), but more often DH is up late working in there too (no other rooms available!) so a 'good' night's sleep is a fantasy for me
Of course, even if everything else goes 'well', there's no guarantee I'd sleep well anyway
Sleep is important to me as I really struggle without enough and I see the struggles my LOs have when they don't get enough. I believe 'enough' is an individual thing though. I'm prone to depression and sleep deprivation is definitely a trigger, so I did have a period of a few weeks a while back when DD's night sleep was awful, of sleeping in the living room every night, to try and get myself back onto a more even keel. I don't like myself much when sleep deprived
Outside the home I try really hard but can struggle to keep my eyes open at work, sometimes even after drinking too much coffee. I also struggle to find words and form sentences more than when I'm well rested, or lose track of what I'm saying (or thinking!) half way through. So I sometimes get blank looks from people
but generally I think they understand
Definitely less efficient at work though, take longer to make decisions and problem solve, that sort of thing. And sometimes I feel a bit off guard, I don't really drink but suspect that it would be a bit like getting tipsy, like saying things I might feel silly about saying at other times, if that makes sense? A bit delirious, maybe? At home, however, it's another matter
Snappy with the kids, snappy with DH, far less patience and prone to bursting into tears. Not pretty
Sleep aids - white noise, still use this as DD is still in our room, it really helps to block out our sleeping noises so we don't wake each other up more than necessary. If DD does wake us, we wait to see whether it's just an isolated cry or if she's actually properly awake. Usually if she is awake, then I'm immediately wide awake and struggle to get back to sleep afterwards even if she doesn't
DH is amazing though and will get back to sleep immediately, so if she's upset then he usually goes to DD to apply teething gel or find bunny, generally one of the two at the moment will suffice. If she's just babbling a bit or wriggling around trying to resettle herself, we'll leave her to it. We also use black out so the room is pitch black. We swaddled until around 6mo and after that use sleeping bags.
Definitely agree with Ali that when I don't understand why she's waking at night, or waking early in the morning, or perhaps know why but have no idea how to fix it, then I struggle much more. If I know what to do, or know that the cold or whatever will pass, it's easier. It's also easier if I have a plan, even if I don't know whether it will work! Teething is a bit different though, because DD is a late, sloooowww teether! It just seems to go on forever, swollen gums, constant fingers in mouth, crying out in sleep or waking with the pain
Tbh her nights aren't that bad with teething, as I don't think she actually wakes half the time when she cries out in her sleep, but I certainly do, and struggle to get back off again
Early waking is also hard for me to deal with, I'm not good at going to bed early (guess I'm often on here too late as that's the time I can do it), and if I know she hasn't had enough sleep then I'm frustrated for her as I know she'll struggle that day.
Sorry, you've just had a sleep deprived ramble from me there
