Buddhism for Mothers and Me

Confession: Allowing myself time out from being 'Mum' is something I struggle with.

This realisation delightfully hit me up side the head recently when I tried to enjoy lunch with two of my closest friends. We only had one hour to summarise and share news from the previous month over toasted sandwiches and flat whites, but I felt like I couldn't even achieve that. 

While I fed myself with one hand, I cleaned up spilled drinks, picked up toy cars and generally juggled E with the other. No matter how hard I tried to concentrate on the conversation and spend time with my friends I couldn't relax.

Sleep Training: One Tired Parent's Diary

After more than four months of E's constant night waking - ranging from every 4 hours to every hour - Teach and I have decided to try and teach E to self-settle during the night.

Self-settling is also referred to as Controlled Crying (CC), Crying it Out (CIO), Sleep Training (ST) and Controlled Comforting (again CC). No matter what you want to call it, it's a controversial subject. Many wise women before me *cough* have prepared papers on the pros and cons of CC, some declaring it causes psychological harm on the child and instils a sense of abandonment. Others say allowing a baby to cry and fall asleep on their own (without being fed, rocked, nursed etc...) will not harm them in and infact could teach children resilience.