It was 3  in the morning. We’ve had a hell of a three weeks.Little Man had gone from an epic cold to a serious case of Bronchitus which we ended up in hospital for. My husband,red eyed, hopelessly rocked our unsettled son. He blankly stared at me and said:

“Will we ever sleep again?”

I mean a rational well slept mind would realise that ever is a long flippin time. That sleep will happen one day ( Just look at my lovely newly retired folks sleeping easy most nights- so only 27 years to wait?).

There I was at 3am envisioning a  lifetime of sleepless torture. My face would of been swallowed by the growing dark patches under my eyes. My words just mumbles of sounds (only understood by fellow sleep deprived people). 

Don’t get me wrong sometimes he does sleep, sometimes with no rocking or white noise (there is no rhyme nor reason?!). My husband and I often go through periods when we are obsessed with his sleep (mainly when we have had none).

And it is not just me and my husbamd obsessed with his sleeping. A common question we are asked is:

Is he sleeping through the night yet?

People look at you in shock as you reveal your six month old (I know right.. have they ever met a baby) is still not sleeping through infact far from it (that he is waking up every hour due to those gum cutting teeth). I guess I was also expecting (or more like hoping)  Little Man to of been sleeping through by six months too? 

This question is often followed by ‘advice‘. The problem is (other than the advice often is a load of old wives tales-Blog to follow) ‘advice’ implies that your doing something wrong. Nothing is worse than being zombie mum and then also feeling like crappy zombie mum.

Cheers people if I wasn’t already worrying about some aspects of parenting (like EVERYTHING). Seriously it adds way too much pressure. I am a freak? Is my baby a freak? I have missed the magic trick?

But guess what? Oh yeah, you already have. It is natural for our little people to wake. Infact healthy. 

Hater gonna hate,hate,hate. Babies gonna wake,wake,wake. I’m just gonna shake,shake,shake it off! 

Please read Kellymoms website. It is very good and based on research. It will put your mind at peace (and give you some research to back up your answer to any unhelpful comments).

Click here to see what she says about babies and sleep: http://kellymom.com/parenting/nighttime/sleep/

Okay, it doesn’t change the lack of sleep but it does help knowing that we are doing something right. 
And really, who has heard of a 12 year old who still needs rocking to sleep?