The Son of a Preacher(wo)man

Without sounding like a Baz Luhrmann song, everyone needs: a rocking chair / bouncer / pram / fuel efficient car / strong arms (delete as appropriate). I did say I wouldn't preach or write this blog to give out advice, but what a godsend any of the above are.

It hadn't occurred to me that having a baby would entail hours of finding tricks of the trade to get them to sleep. You'd think that a little human being would instinctively close their eyes if they were tired...or maybe our little boy is like his mummy (as I should be resting rather than writing this).
You join the I-am-at-my-wits-end club when you're out pushing the pram at dusk (aka the baby witching hours) and when you see other parents doing the same you give each other a knowing tired nod. 

But wow: the adult rocking chair - a new discovery at 'week 13'. We could have done with this before - good for getting little ones to sleep whilst simultaneously winding them and giving your arms and back a break. Mind you, you also feel like a 90 year old lady who's lost her marbles sitting on her front porch in Louisiana rocking back 'n' forth on her chair. But still, it's quite therapeutic.

The 'books' say to start sleep training them early: getting them to sleep by themselves, all good in theory but what if that means trying this for over two hours? It's no coincidence that Rock-a-bye Baby is a popular nursery rhyme, people have been using the swaying technique for centuries.
If you are a parent reading this, own up - how many of you have been caught out moving back 'n' forth automatically when you hear a baby crying? Queuing up is my favourite place to jiggle without even realising. Even our baby bouncer has been engineered to rock when our little one stirs.

We were at our antenatal friends' BBQ the other day with all our new family additions (that's how we roll these days) when they announced they had found a new way to get their little one off to snoozeville. They coined this 'the daddy swing' - involving a certain moving technique coupled with the father and it even came with props - I wonder how you patent that?

So it works for us for now, and yes we know we may have made a rod for our sore backs, but we need to sleep too, speaking of which...