23 moms share the odd + crazy things they’ve done while sleep-deprived

Relentless exhaustion. Sleep-deprived. Simply worn out. Whatever you want to call it, there’s no doubt that the joy that comes with being a mama also brings a lack of sleep. No matter how hard you try or what stage of parenting you’re in, we just can’t ever seem to catch up on our Zzz’s.

And sometimes it makes us downright delirious. We asked #TeamMotherly what the silliest thing they’ve done while running on no sleep—and they delivered the best responses. Next time you think you’re crazy for putting the milk away in the cabinet or trying to start your car with a banana peel (no judgement here), take a deep breath, mama.

You’re not alone:

“When my alarm went off on my phone, I placed it against my chest in an attempt to nurse it back to sleep.”—Chelsea Druso

“Found out tonight via my husband that apparently we’ve been washing our child with babyganics foaming dish soap for the last two weeks, result of a sleep-deprived Target run.”—Jacqueline Shaw Rech

“I patted and shushed the cat to sleep instead of my already sleeping baby.”—Amy Tas

“I had nursed the baby and went outside to say ‘bye’ to my husband going to work. He stops the van and I am like you forget something? He’s like no but your boob is hanging out! I was so shocked because I seriously didn’t even notice it! ???.”— Whitney Lett

“I dumped the water out of a glass into the garbage can instead of the sink. A couple nights later I was washing dishes and washed a celery stick that had gotten into the sink, like scrubbed it with my sponge and everything.”—Glorian Bonnette

“I caught my hair on fire while cooking, kissed my own arm instead of baby’s head, washed the same load of laundry nearly 10 times because I kept forgetting to dry it.”—Hanna Nakano

“I was buckling my 4-year-old up and I had my newborn’s pacifier in my hand. Once I was done I tried putting the pacifier in my 4-year-olds mouth. She looked at me crazy and asked what I was doing.”—Sarah Boothe

“Desitin on my toothbrush, trying to open house door with car key, remote in the fridge, forgetting to put milk in the fridge, I had put coffee into baby bottle instead of Similac, and salted my coffee.”—Azra Berbić

“I woke up, changed my newborn son’s diaper, and got ready to give him his next middle-of-the-night feed. But when I looked at my phone, I realized I had JUST put him down from his previous feed—15 minutes before.”—Liz Tenety Galle

“Fell asleep after pumping, answered door where UPS guy handed over package and then left very quickly, went back to sleep as baby was still sleeping, woke up an hour later to both boobs hanging out. To this day I don’t know if they were out when I answered the door.”—Lauren Mould

“I got up to change my first son’s diaper in the middle of the night and just put a new one on overtop the old one ?.”—Taite Marie Kyle

“I was nursing my son and I was looking around the room for him. I almost asked my husband if he knew were he was, then I realized he was nursing.”—Stephanie Downard

“Let’s see: Used hand soap as toothpaste, went to use the bathroom in the middle of the night and forgot to take my bottoms off, used formula as my coffee creamer.”—Monika Halit James

“Threw my keys in the garbage and tried to start the car with a banana peel, clearly I shouldn’t have been trying to go anywhere!”—Fenced In Momma

“Since my son was born five months ago, I have paid and driven away without my coffee three times ??‍♀.”—Kait Phares

“Put my shirt on backwards and went shopping at several stores, wore my pants inside out, forgot to screw the lid on the shake n’ pour pancake mix and proceeded to shake pancake batter all over my kitchen, I’ve done this with sippy cups, too. Washed my hair with conditioner first…I’m sure there’s more, but I’m too sleep deprived to think of any.”—Melisa Doherty

“Made a coffee without putting my mug underneath the machine. Went to two appointments in one week all on the wrong day.”—Jaye Byron

“I called my husband and told him I’m trying to find my phone then he asked me to breathe then asked, ‘What phone are you calling me from?’ I was using my phone lol.”— Rachel Lewis

“I put a dirty diaper in the fridge one night, hubby found it the next morning. Also have a habit of putting other things in the fridge instead of the cabinets.”—Chrissy Kubacka

“I stood in the Target parking lot about in tears hitting my car’s unlock button but couldn’t get the door to open. After about five tries, I actually looked in the window and discovered it wasn’t my SUV. Mine was right next to it??‍♀️same exact SUV, minus two car seats??‍♀️.”—Brandi Phillips

“I pulled into the driveway and got mad because the garage door wouldn’t open. Turned out I was at the wrong house.”—Denise Lehr

“I poured my morning coffee into my son’s drinking cup! Oh joy! He takes the first sip and goes, ‘Mmmm coffee’ ? ooops!.”—Barbara Kalniņa

“Took the TV remote to work believing it was my cell phone?.”—Rainer Willingshofer