The Paradigm of Infant Sleep is Creating Unrealistic Expectations for New Parents.

Most of what we tell new parents about baby sleep is a lie.

Did you know that you don’t have to sleep train a baby? Did you know that sleep is as developmental as walking or talking? Did you know that the sleep training industry makes millions every year by exploiting desperate, sleep-deprived parents?

Disclaimer: I HATE the concept of sleep training. To. My. Core. If you sleep trained, I absolutely do not judge you. There is SO much pressure to do so, to the point where most believe it isn’t even something you don’t have to do.

I am going there. Not because nobody else has gone there, but because I feel so strongly that this needs to be discussed. Over and over again until society realises that this whole obsession with babies and sleep is bullsh*t.

At some point, somewhere, someone decided that the fact that babies really need their parents at night was super inconvenient. A problem to be solved. How DARE this tiny person incapable of doing anything for themselves not realise that the sun is now down and Mum and Dad need their sleep?!

The entire premise simply defies all logic to me. I remember reading about baby sleep as a new parent and all the things I needed to do to successfully “train” my baby to sleep through the night and feeling sick to my stomach.

Let me get this straight. You want me to put her down “drowsy but awake” in a cold, empty, dark space, where she will then get upset because she is tiny, defenceless and alone. Then you want me to leave her there to “self-soothe” when she is hysterical because I am the only thing in the world she knows, and she thinks I have abandoned her? And after she’s cried herself blue and given up all hope that I am coming for her, she will drift off into a restful and restorative sleep for 12 hours?

“Yes, this is a POSITIVE way for her to learn to sleep. Please do not “give in” to your instincts to provide the NEGATIVE associations of comfort, security, attachment and love by rocking, cuddling or feeding her to sleep. Absolutely do not co-sleep. You will NEVER get her out of your bed. And do not hold her for naps; do you want to create a rod for your own back? If you really want to, you…

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