7 Reasons You’re Running on Reheated Coffee and Still Snapping by 5PM

You pour it at 6:45. Then someone can’t find a shoe, someone spills the cereal, and the cup sits on the counter until 8:15. Into the microwave it goes, where you forget it until it’s cold again, so it goes back in.

And under the cold coffee is a sleep debt nobody warned you about. In a study of more than 4,600 parents, moms were still sleeping less than they did before pregnancy up to six years after their child was born.¹ A cup you reheat three times mostly buys you a few more minutes standing at the microwave.

So you have a second cup, or grab an energy drink at the gas station on the way to pickup. Twenty minutes later your heart is pounding in the carpool line, your stomach has turned, and your hands are shaking enough that the other moms could notice. You’re wired and still tired, and you’ll be staring at the ceiling at 1AM.

Researchers have looked at what changes that feeling. In a controlled study, people who took caffeine together with L-theanine, an amino acid found in tea leaves, switched between tasks faster and more accurately and were less thrown by distractions.² Green tea carries its own L-theanine, and coffee has none. Keep that pairing in mind, because it comes back at 2PM.

You get the lunches packed, the emails answered and the morning handled. Then 3PM hits, right before pickup, practice, homework, dinner and bath. Some days you have to peel yourself off the playroom floor just to start dinner, and the evening runs on whatever you have left.

In a study of 393 moms, nearly 9 in 10 said they felt solely responsible for organizing the family schedule,³ so when you stall, the whole evening stalls with you. And the timing works against you: a cup of coffee gives you about 1.5 hours of energy, so the 7AM cup ran out before lunch, and the 10:30 cup is gone before practice starts.

The cup tips, your voice goes up, and the kitchen goes quiet. Then comes the look on their face, the apology at bedtime, and an hour of replaying it in the dark while you promise yourself tomorrow will be different.

None of that makes you a bad mom. In a study at Iowa State, people who lost a few hours of sleep over two nights got angrier at an irritating noise, and instead of getting used to it, they got more irritated as it went on.⁴ Short sleep makes everyone shorter-tempered, and researchers can measure it. You’re running a 5PM kitchen on an empty tank and a 7AM coffee.

The kids are finally asleep. This is the hour you’ve been holding out for: to read, to call a friend, to shave your legs. Instead you lie on the couch with a show you’ve seen six times and scroll until midnight. You haven’t stopped moving since 6AM, so the tank is empty by the time the house is quiet.

A late coffee makes it worse. In a sleep-lab study, caffeine taken six hours before bed cut more than an hour of measured sleep, and people didn’t notice they’d lost it.⁵ So the last caffeine of your day belongs in the early afternoon, and it has to carry you from pickup to bath. Moms are giving that job to a 2PM packet.

Proper Wild is a packet of 4 gummies that moms take at 2PM in place of the second cup. It pairs 100mg of caffeine from green tea, the same as a cup of coffee, with 120mg of L-theanine, the pairing from reason 2, for smooth energy with reduced jitters. It takes effect in 15 to 30 minutes and lasts 4 to 6 hours, long enough to cover pickup through bath, then wears off with a softer landing than coffee’s crash.*

One packet covers the afternoon, which is as far as it goes. It won’t make up for a short night.

Proper Wild is sold in more than 50,000 stores, and verified buyers rate the gummies 4.8 out of 5. Here are four of those buyers in their own words, labeled with the product each one reviewed. Look for three things: the dose they settled on, when they take it, and whether they reorder.

Started with 2, now takes 4 · On a subscription
★★★★★ "I started with just 2 and now take all 4 when I need a push to get through! … I am glad I have a subscription so I don’t run out! I also love the convenience that I can pack them with me." Cassey Y., verified buyer, Energy Gummies

Doesn’t drink coffee · Waiting on her next shipment
★★★★★ "I’m a first time mom in my 40s and just completely lacked motivation and energy. I don’t drink coffee. I found these online and decided to try them and am hooked. … Looking forward to my next shipment!!" Charlene H., verified buyer, Energy Gummies

Takes them for the everyday fatigue of young kids
★★★★★ "I’m not a coffee drinker… I still take them to help with… fatigue from raising young kids/life in general, and just that simple needed boost to get through the day. … so convenient to use on the go." Sophie, verified buyer, Energy Gummies

One dose in the early afternoon
★★★★★ "I was having a lot of trouble getting through my days and became irritable and cranky with my kids in the afternoon/evenings. … One shot in the early afternoon and I am good to go until I’m ready for sleep. … Feels great to be me again!" Erin Z., verified buyer, Energy Shots (the same 100mg caffeine and 120mg L-theanine as the gummies)

👉Read more reviews from moms