A note from Josh · Summer of Sleep
It's 2am. The monitor crackles. You're awake before the cry even fully lands — because some part of you never really went all the way under.
You love them more than you knew you could love anything. And you are tired in a way that's hard to explain to people who haven't been here. Both of those things are true at the same time. That's parenthood.
You're not imagining it — and you're not alone
Nearly one in three American adults gets less than seven hours of sleep a night, according to the CDC. For parents of little ones, that's the gentle version.
A University of Warwick study of more than 4,600 parents, published in the journal Sleep, found that in the first three months after a baby arrives, mothers lose about an hour of sleep a night and fathers about fifteen minutes — and that sleep doesn't fully bounce back for up to six years.
Six years. So if it feels like you've been tired since the day you brought them home — you're not being dramatic. You're being accurate.
Why "just push through" stops working
Here's the part no one warns you about: lost sleep doesn't only make you sleepy. Decades of research tie short sleep to thinner patience, foggier focus, and a much shorter fuse — the exact things parenting asks the most of.
So when you snap at 6pm over a dropped fork, or well up in the car for no reason, or can't remember the last clear thought you had — that isn't a character flaw. It's a depleted nervous system doing precisely what depleted nervous systems do. You can't give from a reserve you don't have.
Which is why the kindest thing you can do for your family might be the most selfish-sounding one: get some sleep.
Their sleep and yours are the same project
Here's the good news hiding in all of this. When your child sleeps better, you sleep better. It's the rare lever that moves both at once — a calmer night for them is the night you finally get back, for yourself and for the parent and partner you're trying to be in the morning.
That's the whole reason Dreamer exists. Not as one more gadget for the nursery shelf — but as something that helps the entire house settle.
A quiet word on why sound works
A steady, soothing sound does a few small, useful things. It softens the sudden noises that jolt a sleeping child awake. It gives a restless little nervous system a predictable signal that all is well. And night after night, the same gentle sound becomes a cue the body learns to trust: this is what sleep feels like. (Grown-ups included.)
Summer is the worst time to wing it
And it's almost here. Long, light evenings. Travel. Grandparents. Schedules that quietly fall apart by July. Summer is when little-one sleep tends to come undone — which makes it the worst possible season to leave to chance, and the best possible time to put something steady in place.
The Summer of Sleep
So we're doing something about it. From now through September 1, we've brought Dreamer down from $85 to $69.99 — our Summer of Sleep. Same Dreamer. Just an easier yes, right when your family needs it most.
Give them the calmer nights. Give yourself back the mornings. You've earned both.
Shop the Summer of Sleep — $85 $69.99 →
Sale ends September 1
Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Health Interview Survey (2024). Richter, D. et al., "Long-term effects of pregnancy and childbirth on sleep satisfaction and duration of first-time and experienced mothers and fathers," Sleep (2019).
