Taking Turns with Baby

Oops, looks like I fell asleep during my turn

My wife and I have adopted a simple system of taking turns. One morning, I'll get a little extra sleep, while she gives the baby the bottle. The next morning, I'll let her sleep some more. One night, I'll handle the bath. The next night, she will. If my wife put the baby down for her last nap, then I'll handle getting her down that night.

We found from way back at the beginning that this was the only way we could really handle things. When Baby J. had her nights and days mixed up, we would take turns, staying up all night long with Baby J. We'd give the other 2-3 hours of sleep, before we'd hand the baby over. It was better than one of us having to stay up all night, and it was the only way to deal with a reflux baby, who had a terrible bout of colic (she liked to scream and cry for hours, and the only effective response to this, was to stay up the entire time rocking her).

I bring it up, because I know some people who never get to take turns, some people who are with the baby all day while their spouse is at work. And then, when the spouse gets home, they don't get relief, they're still taking care of the baby, giving the bath, getting him/her down for sleep. I don't know how it's done. I couldn't do it. I know how exhausting Daddy Daughter Days are and those usually don't last more than 8 hrs before my wife comes back into the picture to help out. If I had 24 hr long Daddy Daughter Days 7 days a week, I'm sure I'd be clinically insane by now. So, for those who do it, how do you do it? How do you keep from going insane?

D.