Wippa on sleeping in a separate bedroom to his wife

Radio host Michael ‘Wippa’ Wipfli reveals the toll exhaustion can take, in a candid confession about his daughter’s sleep struggles, which rendered he and wife Lisa feeling “physically ill” from sleep deprivation.

As any parent or carer of young children will know, good sleep is often hard to come by, but for Michael (better known as Wippa) and Lisa Wipfli, their youngest daughter Francesca’s sleep issues almost pushed them over the edge.

While the Wipfli’s eldest children (Theodore, 7, and Jack, 6) were sleeping through the night by 2, Francesca’s sleep took a turn for the worst once she turned 18 months.

“She didn’t know how to settle herself,” explains Lisa, who often resorted to co-sleeping due to extreme exhaustion.

Wippa and his wife Lisa were almost pushed over the edge by their daughter’s sleep issues. Picture: Steven Chee for Body+Soul.

“We would have to lie on the floor and hold her hand until she fell asleep. I was doing that four or five times a night.”

With Wippa sleeping in another room due to the start time of his Nova FM Fitzy & Wippa show, the couple, like many new parents, struggled to enjoy time alone together.

“I can tell that Lisa, day by day, is keener to get back into the marital suite,” Wippa reveals, prompting a knowing laugh from Lisa.

“But [Francesca’s sleep] has affected us both being able to lie together and have a moment of peace together.”

When the couple began to feel physically ill from a lack of sleep, with Lisa noting she often felt like a “shell of myself”, the couple enlisted the help of Sydney-based sleep consultant Elizabeth Sloane to help settle Francesca (who is now almost 3) into a better routine.

Wippa: ‘you go through those moments and think, I don’t know how I’m going to get through the next 10 minutes.’ Picture: Steven Chee for Body+Soul.

And while the topic of sleep training is a controversial one, the Wipflis felt like they had literally exhausted every other option. Without adequate rest, their family unit was breaking down.

“You need to [ask for help] for yourself and your partner, but also for your other children,” Lisa points out. “I don’t want to be a snappy version of myself in the morning because Francesca has kept me up all night and poor Ted and Jack cop the brunt of my sleep deprivation.”

With Francesca now sleeping soundly – for the most part, at least – the Wipflis feel like they have a new lease on life. But that doesn’t mean they’re immune to the other challenges that come with raising young children.

Wippa and Lisa feature in this Sunday’s Body+Soul. Picture: Steven Chee for Body+Soul

“I just know that it’s going to be a slog. We all understand that,” Wippa tells Body+Soul.

“And I think at times we go into survival mode. That basically means we’ve just got to get through today.

“That’s happened a bit in the past, especially when the kids get sick and when they start going to daycare; that’s just the worst of the worst.

“We had it not long ago where basically everybody was vomiting in the house. And you go through those moments and think, I don’t know how I’m going to get through the next 10 minutes.

“You just have to push through and know that the sun comes up the next day.”

Originally published as Wippa on sleeping in a separate bedroom to his wife