The Perils of Infant Sleep

In my friend group, we’ve got five babies all about three months apart, and we all have a unique experience trying to get them to sleep.  One of us had a baby that had her days and nights turned around, she would be up for hours in the middle of the night with her tiny human -- of course this happened right as mommy went back to work - Super helpful!. They tried the “Back to sleep” method and had a terrible time.  Finally once their little one started rolling over on her own they found that she was completely content sleeping on her stomach and would sleep all night long with no problems. After a few fearful nights, they decided that this baby needed to sleep on her tummy, and they should stop stressing about it.  

My little one slept alright on her back when she was tiny, but once she started rolling over, grew out of her swaddle, and got through that dreaded 4-month sleep regression we learned she is a side sleeper. And that has made a world of difference for us!

One of my other friends has a baby that never sleeps, no matter what she tries!  I’ve got friends that co-sleep, others that roomshare, and still others that never roomshare. Personally, my baby started sleeping in her own room at about 10 weeks, but sometimes if she wakes up, she ends up in my bed.  

We moms talk about the new recommendations and the struggles with getting our babies to sleep, and attempting to get sleep ourselves so we can be sane parents that make good choices. I’ve come to this conclusion for my family: There are a million hazards for our babies, choking, falling, drowning, animals, vehicles. It’s exhausting! I am so thankful that we live in a world that studies sleep patterns, and that the risk of SIDS has dropped significantly in recent years, and other dangers have dissipated as well. But I still can’t protect my girl from everything. I can do my best, and try my hardest to keep her safe, but at the end of the day, I put her to sleep, turn on the monitor, and from there I’ve got to trust that my girl is going to let me know when she’s in trouble. I’m not going to lose any more of my precious sleep living in fear.

Jenny Ditch is a decently rested mom in Illinois thanks to her little girl who is currently between sleep regression cycles