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MOTHER'S DAY GIVEAWAY: What Kept Your Mother Up At Night?

Posted: 05/07/2012 5:10 pm Updated: 05/07/2012 7:38 pm

From the time we're infants demanding a 2 a.m. feeding until we're sneaking into the house past curfew as teenagers, children have their own special ways of keeping their parents up at night. One U.S. study, for instance, found that half of mothers aren't getting appropriate amounts of shuteye.

According to those findings, a full 59 percent of full-time working mothers weren't getting enough sleep, and 48 percent of stay-at-home moms reported the same, according to MSNBC. A National Sleep Foundation poll found that the average woman between the ages of 30 and 60 only sleeps six hours and 41 minutes a night.

"Becoming a parent was to insomnia what a box of cupcakes and a gallon drum of Hershey's chocolate syrup is to diabetes," HuffPost blogger Teresa Strasser wrote last March. "What can be managed under the best of circumstances is now a full-scale crisis that has been ignited by the sweet nectar of parenthood."

By now we all know the serious health effects linked too little sleep, including weight problems, moodiness and hypertension, among others.

2012-05-07-TEMPURTraditionalSoftinPackagingFRONT.jpgSo this Mother's Day, give your mom the gift of rest. To thank her for all those years of sleepless nights -- and encourage her to get plenty of healthy rest now -- we're offering five readers the chance to win a TEMPUR-Traditional Pillow Soft from Tempur-Pedic valued at $99.

To enter, tell us in the comments below (or tweet @HealthyLiving) with what you did to keep your mother up at night when you were growing up.

Need a little inspiration? In a recent poll of 1,000 people, Tempur-Pedic asked what caused their mothers to lose sleep when they were growing up. Top answers included: the friends I hung out with (17 percent), missing curfew (14 percent), unsupervised driving or traveling on the road (13 percent), my performance in school (13 percent) and the people I dated (8 percent).

A few rules for the giveaway...

The comment or tweet must be left before 12 p.m. eastern time on Friday, May 11, 2012.

Open to legal resident of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older. You may enter one time. Five winners will be selected in a random drawing. Please enter only once. Click here for complete Official Rules.

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From the time we're infants demanding a 2 a.m. feeding until we're sneaking into the house past curfew as teenagers, children have their own special ways of keeping their parents up at night. One U.S.
From the time we're infants demanding a 2 a.m. feeding until we're sneaking into the house past curfew as teenagers, children have their own special ways of keeping their parents up at night. One U.S.
Filed by Laura Schocker  | 
 
 
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03:02 PM on 05/12/2012
I would constantly ask her to keep bringing me cups of water - I was not thirsty but did not want to go to bed and knew I could squeeze a few more minutes of awake time in :)
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Joanne Pang
12:00 PM on 05/11/2012
I bring home stray animals... So all the stray animals raiding the kitchen at night or tearing up the house when they would escape from my room. Oh boy! Did I get in HUGE trouble.... ahahahahaha 30 years old and I still bring stray animals to my mommas house.... AND she still loses sleep over it.
06:03 PM on 05/10/2012
Gotta say I wasn't the one keeping Mom up....it was my brothers that did that.
05:20 PM on 05/10/2012
One night my brother & I decided to see how long a brand new roll of package tape was. We unwound it all around the house including walls, furniture, ornaments, the kitchen. She heard us giggling when we got upstairs and was not amused!
02:56 PM on 05/10/2012
What didn't I do to keep my Mom up at night? I would sneak out of the house, but I was always late for curfew and she was ALWAYS waiting up for me. She never liked the guys I dated either so that bugged her and kept her up at night until she knew I was safe at home. She knew that I was out drinking with friends even though I had a DD she would still wait up to see that I stumbled in safely. She was very over protective.
10:18 AM on 05/09/2012
Um....what kept my mother up at night was A LOT! Number 1...my father left her for her sister, and before my mom could tell her sister that she forgave her, my Aunt died in a horrible car wreck that I was in also....and this made my mom cry herself to sleep every night...Number 2...this is hard to talk about....but I was sexually molested from the age of infant till I was 9 by her sisters husband...and my mom blamed herself and still does to this day...Number 3...just recently my sister was hospitalized for thoughts of killing herself and harming others, and has been in and out of hospitals for two months now, and my mom also blames herself for this...My mom raised me and my sister, and I can remember times that we didn't have electricity and our neighbors would let her run an extension cord from their house...She tried her hardest to raise us right, and gave up many things just so we could have the things we needed.
09:00 PM on 05/08/2012
My Mom had 5 children, We were poor , but she gave us all so much love, She worked at night at the local donut shop. She would get home at 1 a.m. I would wait up for her. Then after we had the donuts she brought home, I would go to bed and my Mom would stay up and say the rosary and wait for my brother to get home from his job at 2 a.m.. She would wait until we were all home and safe in bed before she would go to sleep. I miss my Mom so much,her love lives within my heart.Happy Mother's day Mommy.
11:22 AM on 05/15/2012
yes you may use my comment
10:39 AM on 05/08/2012
i was always staying out late, past my curfew.. i'd come home and she'd be waiting up by the door, ready to kill me! LOL
09:39 AM on 05/08/2012
What kept my mother up was the friends I hung out with.
09:10 AM on 05/08/2012
The friends/ guys I hung out with kept my Mom up at night......
01:47 AM on 05/08/2012
I would turn my cell phone off and claim that the battery was dead when my mom was trying to call me to come home at night.

pircy23 at hotmail.com
09:23 PM on 05/07/2012
When i was little my sleep walking kept my mother up and on her toes lol.

emeraldsnewlife@yahoo dot com
09:01 PM on 05/07/2012
Understand now ,I'm going back to the 70's, I'm YOUNGEST of six and born 1958. At 17(a junior in high school)curew on a special night? 10pm.Thats right, I said10pm. Now i'm out with friends to my mother but I was really witha girlfriend and 2guys just kissing. We were having a ball laughing, kissing,singingthen cametime check. You know the saying time flies when your having fun! It was 10:45 Its DONE! I'm DONE!, my mothers going to Beat me and groundme for all eternity. I'm rushed home, I get it together and I non chalantly walked through the door. It was quiet, no lights and i think mom's in bed. Then it comes that voice in the dark from achair in the corner of the room. Breaking the silence she stands steam coming from her nostrils, she shouts louder than a mountain lion "WHERE! have you been ALL NIGHT!?" I knew at that moment I better not even try to say"ma I was only a few minutes late, but....I said it! All I can say is that I was chased by the devil herself and took off for my LIFE! I know my mother stayedup late at night for a very long time. I made up for those days later. I was sorry and I learned the best things from my Mother to this day. I love you Mom! God Blessed us. Rest in Peace.
06:06 AM on 05/13/2012
It would be fine to use my comment. It is ironic now that after having 5 children, I know what my Mother went through. Now I have experienced the sleepless nights.....lol. However, I wouldn't change a thing. Thank You so much for wanting to post my comment on "Sleepless nigts" and without furthar adooo...........HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO EVERY MOM ". God Bless.
mrbyaninch
unaffiliated
08:30 PM on 05/07/2012
welll, I would imagine my father
07:53 PM on 05/07/2012
staying out late with my boyfriend. Trying to sneak in the house and ultimately failing!