Written by Rachel Gorton, our bleeping sleep expert

“Sleep when the baby Sleeps”

“Don’t let your baby cry it out, it will damage them forever”

“Co-sleeping is too dangerous, don’t do it”

“Better get your sleep while you’re pregnant because when that baby comes, it’s over”

Every heard any of these phrases?

It’s funny how so many parents offer you their “expertise” the moment you have a baby.  It’s like they have been hiding all of the solutions to Motherhood from you all this time and then suddenly they are your own personal baby critic.

Motherhood is tough, and most of us are happy to try anything that works, especially when it comes to sleep. When you’re running on 3 hours of sleep you’ll take advice from the drunk hillbilly next door if it means some shut eye. But here is my advice to you…

Stop.

Stop asking for the advice and stop believing everything you hear.

Maybe some parents actually have some good insight or better yet, some methods that have worked. But listen to me carefully when I say…these people are giving you advice based on THEIR personal experience with THEIR baby.

They mean well.  They really do.

Well most of them.

But I can’t tell you how many times I see a post on Facebook that goes like this…”Moms I’ve gotten 3 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours, help!” And then roll in the comments from Moms who tell you “When my baby was her age we did this”…

And

“Well you just have to do this and then this will happen, trust me”. Your baby is not these babies, and YOU are not them.  Get it?

Instead start to analyze your situation, do a little research and see how you can take a gradual approach to your challenges and some small steps you can make to reach your goals.

Or better yet, hire a Sleep consultant!

But whatever you do, STOP soliciting advice from your Mommy circle…instead talk about how much your baby pooped that day or how many times you leaked breast milk, ya know stuff like that.

Image courtesy of kdshutterman at FreeDigitalPhotos.net