Sleep deprivation is familiar territory to anyone who has dealt with a newborn, but what no one tells you is that it doesn`t end at 6 months . . . or 9 or even a year. Sure, some lucky moms have little ones who sleep through the night, but after you have a baby, you will NEVER sleep the same again! Every little rustle or tiny cough wakes you and that quickly translates into a tired mom.

Combine this with working at home and you have a recipe for disaster. It`s very easy to underestimate how much sleep you need (hey, you survived four years of university with just 3 hours a night!) and end up completely overtired.

Sleep deprivation can affect work at home moms pretty severly. Your mood will change, you will find that your brain is cloudy and it can be difficult to concentrate on things. Not only is this bad for business, it`s not great when you`re trying to keep an eye on a kid or two, either!

So, what can you do? First, realize that sleep really is important. Just as important as answering your emails or bathing your baby. If you don`t get enough sleep, you will end up being pretty unproductive.

It`s not always possible to get work done when your kids are awake and running around, so you may be tempted to work when they are asleep. If you do this, though, be sure that you still get enough sleep. One way to do this is to take a nap with them in the afternoon and then stay up a little later in the evening.

Another way to catch up a bit is to alternate weekend mornings with your spouse. Saturday he gets up and lets you sleep and you do the same for him on Sunday.

There is no set number of hours to get per night. It really does vary between moms. Some women are just fine with a short night of five or six hours, others need a good long sleep of 9 or 10 hours. You know yourself best and you will know how much you can actually get by on.

Without sleep, you won`t be productive and your family life and business will suffer, so take some time to get some rest, even if it`s in bits and pieces.