p. 145-146 "Dr. Jay Gordon puts it a bit more succinctly: 'If your goal in life is to get your sleep, you made a mistake about nine months ago.' . . . Infants don't sleep the way we do, and we shouldn't expect them to, any more than we should expect them to walk and talk when they're born."
p. 146 "At 6 months, babies are physiologically able to sleep through the night without food--that doesn't mean they will. . . . "
p. 147 "They are waking you up not to bug you, but because they are hungry and need to be fed."
I suppose it's easy for me to take these thoughts in stride since I haven't lived the months of sleep-deprivation yet. Still, the prospect makes me think of some of the things Jesus said, like in Matthew 10:42
"And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward."
And John 15:13
"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends."
Surely, laying aside our sleep for the sake of a helpless little one is a huge way we can demonstrate this kind of Christ-like love. And if we ever lose sight of why we're doing it in the first place, we can try to remember this final thing which Tamaro said:
And John 15:13
"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends."
Surely, laying aside our sleep for the sake of a helpless little one is a huge way we can demonstrate this kind of Christ-like love. And if we ever lose sight of why we're doing it in the first place, we can try to remember this final thing which Tamaro said:
p. 148 "Some of the most 'difficult' babies grow up to be some of the brightest, most creative people."
:-)
I love the first part of the first quote. Yes, I'm tired, but I chose this and I need to be careful that I don't complain excessively about it.
ReplyDeleteI think what I find more difficult than nighttime parenting is the pressure everyone else puts on you to have children that sleep through the night. People will make you feel like a bad parent over it. They will. Its everyone's favorite question and you will totally confuse people if you answer, no he doesn't sleep through the night with a smile. I have to remind myself that I don't have to make my children's sleep habits measure up to what other people want. I only need to worry about what works for our family. Its very easy to get feeling like you're a bad parent because your child doesn't sleep 12 hours straight. If you need 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep, then get it, but don't let other people tell you how much sleep you need.
And it may not be all that bad at first. I've got more sleep since Charlie was born, than I did the last 3 or 4 years. He wakes up 3-6 times a night, but we have a nice rhythm going it seems. It doesn't bother me much at all.
I'm so excited for you. I can't wait to hear about your little one and see pictures :)
Oh, sorry for leaving such a long comment!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Amy. It is so hard when everyone thinks that babies should be sleeping through the night at 6 weeks, just because some babies do. Aleyna didn't start sleeping through the night until 10 1/2 months, but since she started teething again at 14 months, we've gone almost 4 months with her back to getting up 3-5 times a night. You just never know what your child is going to do and when.
ReplyDeleteMy best advice for how to get the most sleep possible though? Pull that baby into bed with you! haha. It is so much easier to nurse in bed and go back to sleep than to get up, walk to another room, sit in a chair, finish nursing, walk back to your room, and try to fall asleep again. Especially in the winter. I found I started resenting my child when I was forced to get out of a warm bed! And some of my favorite memories are of her snuggled up next to me at night, just watching her sleep. Of course, do what works for you and your family though!
I like that last quote. I hope it's true because Aleyna has definitely been one of those "difficult" children!
I like long comments, Amy. :-) Especially ones like that.
ReplyDeleteAnd, Megan, the author talked a lot about having your baby sleep with you! We certainly don't expect our little girl to be in her own room for a while (except maybe for naps), because it's upstairs and ours is down, but as far as in the bed, we'll just see!
Just wanted to add that for me its just been easier to let the boys in bed, at least part of the night. Like Megan said it helps you get a lot more sleep. We'd swaddle them and put them down for the first part of the night, but once they wake up, I nurse them in bed so I could just sleep. Otherwise I'd fall asleep sitting up all night long and have really bad back aches. I have so many bad memories from being up with Paul all night, but nice ones of Charlie sleeping quietly there beside me.
ReplyDelete