Sleep

Why is it that sleep is central to how we feel as a mother? If our child sleeps well, we feel successful. If our child does NOT sleep well, we stress about everything. If we get sleep, we're happy mommas. If we DON'T get sleep "the devil takes over" (demonstrated here).

When Nicholas takes good naps during the day, I feel like a different person. I'm more confident in my own mothering skills. I mean, I must be doing something right if my baby is sleeping well, right? That's the mentality of our culture---sleeping baby= good mother. Why is that? We try to get our babies to go to sleep on their own and stay asleep all night long from such an early age. We don't try to force them or coerce them into crawling before they're ready or walking before they want to.....so why do we have such high expectations with sleep? Isn't it just another developmental thing for them to start sleeping more independently and for longer periods of time?

I have no answers.... only the questions. Just wanted to throw this out there because we're going through another spell of bad sleeping. Every time it happens I freak out and think I need to change everything I'm doing because something is not quite right and "something has to be done." But it always ends up being something out of my control like teething, fever, congestion, reflux, or just a developmental milestone (sitting up was a big one for us---every time he stirred, he would roll over and want to sit up because he could.... also standing). Yet every time his sleep habits change, I start fretting about my parenting habits and skills. Within in two days of diminished sleep for him and me we are both at the end of our ropes.

I'm such a better mom when I get sleep. Which is why I should go to bed now instead of writing more :)