When I was a first time mom, the parenting landscape looked a lot different than it does today. Responsive parenting was not mainstream, and there was a lot of pressure to follow certain ‘rules’. When my baby was 6 months old, we did the only thing we were told we could do about our โsleep troublesโ: we sleep trained.โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ
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We painstakingly searched for someone who would fit our parenting style, and found a sleep consultant who seemed the least aggressive of all the ones we spoke with (the holistic world of sleep – and coaches like me today – literally werenโt a thing). Her methods were, in short, a wolf in sheepโs clothing, and though we asked for a gentle approach, what we were actually presented with was anything but.โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ
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These quotes are a snippet of her advice – which she suggested implementing at 6 months of age – regarding night weaning. Night weaning wasnโt presented as a choice, but rather a necessary part of our sleep plan. Without it, she couldnโt ensure ‘success’.โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ
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On the first night of implementing this, I left my husband and our crying baby home alone. My husband continually texted me throughout the evening as our baby screamed, and I stayed out so that I wouldnโt โcaveโ and feed her before midnight, which was the arbitrary time at which a feed was allowed. โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ
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I came home around 11pm, and she had been screaming for hours. Just thinking about it breaks my heart. My husband was so stressed from it all that he insisted I feed her to make it stop. Needless to say, as soon as I calmed her and fed her, she went right to sleep (SPOILER ALERT: she was legitimately hungry). โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ โ
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๐๐ฝ THIS ๐๐ฝSH*T ๐๐ฝ NEEDS ๐๐ฝ TO ๐๐ฝ STOP. I’m here to normalize ๐ป๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฎ๐น infant sleep, and I hope you’re here for it, too.
