Ups and downs

Life with a baby is a constant roller coaster of emotions. The past few days have been rough, but today was filled with enough small wins to almost make me forget the collective tears Miles and I have shed lately.

Today, Miles took his morning nap in his crib without any tears(!!!!) and he also spent 40 minutes asleep in his crib tonight. Those might not sound like wins to you, but I feel very accomplished right now.

We have been experiencing some sleep issues around here—namely, Miles’ preferred sleep locale. At night, when Miles is out, he usually stays asleep for hours at a time. When he was in his bassinet, I could count on upwards of 5-hour stretches of sleep.

Unfortunately, our tall boy outgrew his bassinet long before I’d intended to move him to his crib, and perhaps the sudden change messed up our otherwise good little sleeper. So, for the last month-ish, Miles has been co-sleeping with Kane and I.

Before you judge—in case you want to—safety precautions have been considered, and I’ve even consulted our family doctor. Frankly, if you take issue with co-sleeping, I invite you to come over every night and try to put my kid to bed yourself.

We have a game plan to slowly transition Miles back to sleeping solo and in his crib. The main piece of this plan is the Huckleberry app. I’ll report back with how that’s going, since we’re only on day 5 with it.

One of my biggest takeaways from this current, sleep issue phase, is that people are incredibly judgemental of co-sleeping. It’s shocking, really. However, according to a 2018 CDC article, 61.4 percent of mothers reported that they were bed-sharing with their babies!

Right now, co-sleeping means more sleep for Kane, myself, and most importantly, Miles. It is certainly not meant to be forever. Most parents probably don’t begin co-sleeping as a first resort, given how negatively the practice is received and advised against. The thing is, though, if it means making sure we’re all a little more rested around here, at the very least, I’m going to do my research if I’m considering it.

I thought I would share this little bit of our life in case anyone else is going through their share of sleep issues with a little one. It’s so easy to judge and provide unsolicited advice, but please remember that every baby is different, and we’re all trying to do our best, with little to no help for a lot of us (because pandemic). Take it easy on pandemic parents! It’s tough for us out here!