We have three kids. When I wake up in the morning, I ask my wife if I missed anything between the time I fell asleep and the time my four alarm clocks go off to wake me up. Sometimes, I wake up to find a child who made his way into our bed sometime during the night. No, my sleep did not get any lighter with kids.

However, I have an easier time staying up late (and a harder time falling asleep), so whenever our kids woke up / wake up "earlier" in the night (say, before 1:30 a.m.), I take care of it and my wife can go to bed / stay in bed. (The flip-side of what Joe said.) If you are giving bottles, you can be even more useful at these times.

Bottom line, if you don't become a lighter sleeper, you'll find some other way to pick up some slack.

We have three kids. When I wake up in the morning, I ask my wife if I missed anything between the time I fell asleep and the time my four alarm clocks go off to wake me up. Sometimes, I wake up to find a child who made his way into our bed sometime during the night. No, my sleep did not get any lighter with kids.

However, I have an easier time staying up late (and a harder time falling asleep), so whenever our kids woke up / wake up "earlier" in the night (say, before 1:30 a.m.), I take care of it and my wife can go to bed / stay in bed. (The flip-side of what Joe said.) If you are giving bottles, you can be even more useful at these times.

Bottom line, if you don't become a lighter sleeper, you'll find some other way to pick up some slack.