I can’t think of one mama I know who isn’t constantly exhausted, sleep-deprived and who doesn’t find herself up around the clock tending to hungry newborns, dealing with sick tots, waiting for their teenagers (or 20-somethings, if you’re my mother) to creep into the house in the wee hours.

If you’re up at some ungodly hour like me (it’s 1:24am as I write this, by the way) and your husband is snoring like a freight train (mine is) plus your one-year-old keeps randomly bursting into tears in her sleep (like mine is), there’s a name for you. You, my dear, drained fellow mama, are a zombie mom – and you need to get onto Twitter with the rest of us, stat.

The #zombiemoms hashtag popped up last spring when a group of, well, zombie moms, connected on Twitter. There’s no official dictionary definition (yet,) but essentially a zombie mom is someone incredibly fatigued and so unbelievably worn out that she actually resembles (and feels like) the so-called walking dead. (Or exactly how you’d feel if you were awake trying to calm your toddler at 1:30am.)

“#zombiemoms is open to all moms because we all lose sleep over something,” says mom, Kids’ CBC host and one of the founders (and regular users) of the hashtag, Patty Sullivan. “After I had my second child, I found a great support system of other new moms on Twitter. Since the main thing we all had in common was sleep-deprivation and being up at all hours of the night, #zombiemoms was born.”

Since its inception the hashtag has ballooned into a thriving, supportive hangout. I’d bet my first-born that there’s a mother somewhere on Twitter right now typing #zombiemoms. That’s the beauty of it; there’s always a tired mama waiting to commiserate, help, share and chat when you need one.

Just an hour ago, for example, a mom in North Carolina tweeted the following: “Do you think Google can tell me how to get the screeching devil in my son’s crib to sleep? #zombiemoms.” At the same time another mom tweeted this: “Sleeping baby just pooed. LOUD. Dang, I hate to wake him. Off to the changing table we go. #zombiemoms.” (We may be tired and cranky but we still share a sense of humour.)

I’ll be honest; selfishly, it’s really nice to know that I’m not the only one awake and on Twitter at stupid-o-clock in the morning. Sometimes pity-partying with other moms helps. And sometimes scrolling through the hashtag tires me out and I doze off. Win-win.

Courtesy iVillage Canada

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