I agree that one way to "solve the problem" of interrupted sleep during the
night is daytime napping and/or a reductions in daytime activities.  But I
still say that the more fundamental, underlying problem is our cultural
beliefs and expectations.  Many many American women are in lousy physical
shape -- and if a mom is in bad shape, with no muscle tone, no strength,
poor heart and lung health, and she is barely scraping by day to day on a
full night's sleep, then she has a baby and isn't getting a full night's
sleep -- what is the basic problem??  Is it that she isn't getting a full
night's sleep, or is it that she is in poor physical condition?  One of the
reason's women in Mali (for instance) are able to do the physical labor they
do is because, from their earliest years (literally 3 or 4 years of age),
they do hard physical labor -- by their early teens they are much stronger
than the males of the same age, who don't do much labor til they are in
their late teens or early twenties.  Women are strong and physically fit.
Women in the US often are neither.

Another problem in the US is the idea that you only need 6 or 7 hours of
sleep each night, but it needs to be uninterrupted.  So the baby goes to
sleep at 8 or 9 pm, say, but the mom stays up until 11 or 11:30.  The baby
wakes up at 1 and 3 and 5.  The mom gets up at 6 am, after only 6.5 or 7.0
hours in bed, with three interruptions.  If mom would go to bed at 8 or 9,
with the baby, and get several solid hours of sleep before the baby wakes up
at 1, and then get up at her usual time of 6 am, then she's been in bed,
mostly sleeping, for 9-10 hours.

I get 9 hours of sleep most nights.  People often ask me how I manage to
accomplish all the stuff that I do every day, and marvel at my energy
levels.  I accomplish more than they do in much less time because I am
healthy and well rested, even though my sleep is often interrupted.  Ditto
for hours at the office -- I leave campus every day at 3:00 pm and still
manage to accomplish as much as or more than people who stay every day til 5
or 6 or 7 pm.  They drag around half-heartedly, always tired, always too
busy to exercise, always complaining about how much they have to do -- and
they make fun of me for being in bed asleep by 9 pm.

So add to your bag of tricks/suggestions the idea that women with small
children should plan to go to bed when the kids do, and stay in bed for
8-9-10 hours every night.

Kathy Dettwyler