Bryan Caplan just offered up a baby-management solution:
Bryan Caplan just offered up a baby-management solution:
Newborn infants typically sleep in 2-4 hour blocs. When they wake up, they usually need a new diaper, and almost always want to eat. Most parents handle this by sleeping whenever they get the opportunity, then waking up when the baby starts crying. Many go one step further and "takes turns" for night feedings out of some sense of fairness.In Singapore, one can import a Filipina maid for ~ SGD 1000 per month to make sure the baby gets fed and changed throughout the night. She will also cook your food and clean your house.
As long as you have two available care providers, the conventional approach is extremely imprudent. What's the alternative? _One _care provider should pay the fixed cost to get on a nocturnal schedule. After a day or two, the person on the night shift adjusts to sleeping during the day, allowing the other care provider to sleep through the night without interruption. Instead of "fairly" "sharing the pain," you're cleverly slashing the total amount of pain down to a manageable size.
Good thing the US doesn't allow that sort of exploitation.