10 Pieces Of Co-Sleeping Advice I'm So Glad I Ignored
bySabrina Joy Stevens
There's no shortage of unsolicited advice out there for moms, especially when it comes to the topic of sleep. Unfortunately, the people giving it don't necessarily consider all the things they don't know about the intended recipient of their advice, which is why most of that advice goes in one ear and out the other. That's definitely what I did with most of the unhelpful co-sleeping advice I've heard since pregnancy and, honestly, I'm much better off for it.
Personally, I’m a pretty poor sleeper. (For the record, I was sleep trained, so before the co-sleeping haters descend: not co-sleeping is not a guarantee of solid sleep down the line. Turns out, our lives are shaped by more than the decisions our parents make when we are babies. Who knew?) It takes me a really long time to fall asleep, and if something disturbs my sleep I'm screwed for hours. By the time I manage to get sleepy again, it’s almost certainly time for me to wake up. So having to endure crying every couple of hours, every single night — even if my partner was the one who actually went to handle our son — would make it impossible for me to get decent rest. I prefer not dying in a fatigue-related accident to not co-sleeping, so that's my choice.
Like everything else with parenting, choosing your family’s sleep situation involves trade-offs. You have to do as much research as you can and figure out the best, safest way to balance your priorities and needs with the practical realities of your specific situation. Unfortunately, there are folks out there who think that what they believe, or what worked for their family, must be the One Right Way™ for all families. (Even worse are the people who don’t even have kids, who nevertheless feel compelled to share all their parenting non-wisdom with the rest of us.) For my own sleep and sanity, I'm glad I tuned out the following advice (and admonitions).