"When you become a mom you just learn how to function sleep deprived and you do get used to it. I came back to work when Finley was three months old and the first few months were rough. Then somehow you learn to exist on no sleep and now when he does upon occasion sleep through the night, which is like a full six hours, you're pretty sure he's suffocating. So you don't sleep anyway"
About this Quote
The most telling pivot is the joke that isn’t really a joke: when the baby finally sleeps, you assume he’s suffocating. The humor lands because it reveals the trap door beneath “getting used to it.” Sleep deprivation isn’t only exhaustion; it’s a new baseline of vigilance. The subtext is anxiety as a kind of maternal afterimage: even when the problem disappears, the alarm system stays on. That’s why the punchline stings: “So you don’t sleep anyway.” The enemy isn’t the baby’s schedule, it’s the hyper-alertness motherhood installs.
Context matters here, too. She’s an actress talking about returning to work at three months postpartum, which quietly flags the cultural expectation that women should bounce back fast, professionally and physically, while absorbing the hidden costs. By calling six hours “a full” six hours, she’s also sketching how parenthood shrinks your sense of normal. It’s comic, yes, but it’s also a critique: the bar drops, the worry rises, and you’re told to call it coping.
Quote Details
| Topic | New Mom |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Combs, Holly Marie. (2026, January 15). When you become a mom you just learn how to function sleep deprived and you do get used to it. I came back to work when Finley was three months old and the first few months were rough. Then somehow you learn to exist on no sleep and now when he does upon occasion sleep through the night, which is like a full six hours, you're pretty sure he's suffocating. So you don't sleep anyway. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-you-become-a-mom-you-just-learn-how-to-150924/
Chicago Style
Combs, Holly Marie. "When you become a mom you just learn how to function sleep deprived and you do get used to it. I came back to work when Finley was three months old and the first few months were rough. Then somehow you learn to exist on no sleep and now when he does upon occasion sleep through the night, which is like a full six hours, you're pretty sure he's suffocating. So you don't sleep anyway." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-you-become-a-mom-you-just-learn-how-to-150924/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"When you become a mom you just learn how to function sleep deprived and you do get used to it. I came back to work when Finley was three months old and the first few months were rough. Then somehow you learn to exist on no sleep and now when he does upon occasion sleep through the night, which is like a full six hours, you're pretty sure he's suffocating. So you don't sleep anyway." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/when-you-become-a-mom-you-just-learn-how-to-150924/. Accessed 19 Feb. 2026.
