Scare Tactics

There are so many things people will warn you about when you a baby. If you hold them when they cry, you'll never be able to put them down. If you let them sleep in your bed, they will never leave. If you don't abandon them to scream in a crib for an hour before losing consciousness, they will never sleep through the night. The warning I'm talking about today is the one that says that if you nurse the baby to sleep every night, it will be the only way they can ever fall asleep.

None of the warnings are true, but they do all require one thing that today's parents seem to be deficient in: Patience. I have nursed Grace to sleep every night of her life, or at least offered to. You see, she is getting to an age where she doesn't always want to nurse to sleep. Gasp! How is that possible? Doesn't she know that "once nursed to sleep, always nursed to sleep"? Some nights, she will nurse as we lie in bed and drift off to sleep. On nights like the last one, she nursed for a while. Then she sat up, grabbed her IKEA nightlight ghost (Spoka), cuddled up with it, and fell asleep in my arms. Don't worry, I took away the ghost once she was out. I know from experience that nights like that will be interspersed with ones where she breastfeeds until she's asleep. Whenever we get to the point where she weans, she will be able to go to sleep every night without nursing.

By the way, I've managed to disprove all of the other warnings too. As a parent, you just have to be patient and know that when your baby/child is ready, these things will come easily. Fighting Mother Nature is exhausting; I don't know why so many parents choose to.