Your Sleeping Baby Has a Message For You, Mama: Slow Down

What if we saw children sleeping on us as a positive? What if we viewed the babies who refuse to go down to nap as a sign that we need to slow down?

What if we changed our perceptions on contact naps, and instead viewed them as an opportunity to relax?

Baby has just fallen asleep on me. I spend a few minutes browsing Facebook and then, my mind wanders toward the dishes piling up in the sink. The pile of laundry stacked up in the bathroom. The dust that has settled on the TV. I start to feel guilty. I start thinking about work that could be done. Or food that needs to be cooked. I try to put baby down, but no way. Baby is having NONE of it.

But what if, just say, WHAT IF this is how it is SUPPOSED to be? Alright yes, we know that evolutionary babies are designed to want to be close to their mothers, but what if that is also meant to work out for the mother to rest, too?

It’s meant to be for OUR benefit.

To sit back for just a moment, and forget about everything else going on in life.
To take in the beauty of our children, and REST.

Rest our minds.
And rest our bodies.

Childbirth has put our bodies under some serious stress. And there are always a million things that need to be done before the day is over. Perhaps our babies and children needing us to be still with them is nature’s way of telling us to slow down for just a moment.

Rest mama.
Take the opportunity

Originally published on Mrs. Mombastic

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Articles by Kate Thornalley

Kate Thornalley

I’ve worked with children for almost the entirety of my working life, including spending many years teaching in third world countries. I thought having worked with children from all across the board that I would have motherhood sussed. But I did not. I suffered with post natal depression after both births, and I decided one day that I would share my journey with other mums so that they would not feel alone. Alone in the same way that I did! No one should feel that way. The more I opened up, the more I learned that others felt the same. The more honest I was, the more other mothers would start to share with me, and in turn, the more normal I started to feel. I have two children: one 3 and a 1/2 and one 14 months. They are my world. I am also very lucky to have a supportive husband who works very hard to keep our family afloat. I would often feel like I had failed by having a child who did not want to go down to sleep, but I soon learned that many parents are in the same boat. I wanted others to know that it is very normal for this to be the case!

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