These Breastfeeding Doodles While Dad Sleeps Are Hilariously on Point
Courtesy of Mattea Goff
If you're a breastfeeding parent, we know you're currently exhausted, unlike ever before. But do you feel like your partner gets it?
Parent-of-two Mattea Goff not only knows the struggle, but after her husband, Kris, went as far as to ask her why she is so cranky and tired in the morning, she decided to sketch out (with adorable stick figures) the multiple middle-of-the-night breastfeeding scenarios that he misses while he's sound asleep in the same bed.
"So this past weekend, I was having a hard time finding the words (probably because I haven't had any sleep) to express to Kris why I'm not in the best of moods first thing in the morning," Goff wrote to Facebook. "So I sat down with my coffee and drew him a visual."
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The doodled outcome was hilariously relatable, and the Facebook post has since gone viral with more than 300K shares. If you feel Goff's pain, we recommend printing your own copy as a PSA to your partner because really: Is this not the most accurate depiction you've ever seen?
It always starts out with everyone nestled in their spots, feeling hopeful that sleep may actually come. But if you're a nursing parent, you just know that in those seconds before your drift off, that first tiny wail will shake you awake. In the first doodle, we can see how hilariously the baby is screaming, but only one parent is wide awake—why does one partner always manage to sleep through that level of noise?
Courtesy of Mattea Goff
Yup, you can lay there and pray that your little one will let you just at least one eye for a few minutes, but then the slapping begins, and it's usually paired with kicking and stretching. It can be cute at first, those little hands figuring things out, but when it's somewhere between night and morning, and your eyes are burning hols of exhaustion, that slapping isn't so sweet anymore.
Courtesy of Mattea Goff
A baby's nails are sharper than a saltwater croc's, or so they can feel when you are being pinched and scratched in the middle of the night. Goff's depiction of her frustration of being pummeled by tiny nails and then getting barfed on while her partner and his "still useless nipples" sleep soundly in the same bed are hysterically funny.
Courtesy of Mattea Goff
One universal truth about nursing in bed is that one of you will be too hot and the other will be too cold. As the parent who is nursing, you're likely so exhausted that you could fall asleep in a nanosecond (if anyone let you), but incredibly, sleep won't come because you're worried about your wiggly little one. That's the parenting paradox.
Courtesy of Mattea Goff
The punchline in this brilliant series of doodles is when Goff's husband wakes up well rested and ready to cuddle. Goff looks ready to explode in a confetti of exhaustion and frustration, but at least the baby is finally asleep. Here's to hoping Goff got a nap at some point to catch up on some Zzzs.
Courtesy of Mattea Goff
We can't help but laugh as doodle Kris and his "useless nipples" sleep through scratching, vomiting, slapping, shivering, and crying. "My husband is a fantastic guy, but sometimes if you haven't lived something, you don't understand it," Goff told BuzzFeed. She continued, "Support and encouragement for exhausted new moms is extremely important from everyone around them, especially their partners."
The comments under Goff's popular Facebook post have shown that not only is this a universally felt experience among parents but that a little humor can add some much-needed levity to an otherwise intense experience.
One Facebook user wrote, "This is seriously so accurate! Bless you for being a fantastic mother while having a great sense of humor." Others tagged friends and left encouraging notes like this one that read, "you got this!" And still, others noted that even though this doodle series depicts breastfeeding, the reality is the same for parents who bottle feed too.
We couldn't agree more, and we have a feeling these doodles are going to be put to good use by exhausted parents everywhere.
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