Mom Breaks Rules & Sleeps In Baby’s Crib— But Her Fervent Explanation Will Have You In Tears.

There are so many “parenting experts” out there, and they all seem to have conflicting advice:

Never share a bed with your infant; you could crush her! No, co-sleeping is the best thing! Don’t be too quick to respond to her cries; she needs to learn how to self-soothe. No, no, no! Your baby needs you right away!

With so many books and podcasts and programs out there on how to parent, the answer to a simple question like “What do I do when my newborn cries in her crib?” can seem complicated. But when mom Dayna Mager heard her newborn Luella cry, she didn’t hesitate to hop into the crib with her.

In an emotional Facebook post (edited for length below), Dayna explained why:



Facebook

Yes, I climbed in the crib in hopes to soothe my screaming, teething, blushed faced, and tear soaked little girl… There I was in the heat of this exhausting, beautiful thing we call parenthood, and I remembered a promise I made to her.

One of the first times Matt and I left Luella, was to a worship concert. At that conference, a missionary shared his story, and it shook me to the core.

That missionary was in an orphanage in Uganda, and he has been in many before, but this one was different. He walked into a nursery with over 100 filled cribs with babes. He listened in amazement and wonder as the only sound he could hear was silence. A sound that is beyond rare in ANY nursery, let alone a nursery where over 100 new babes lay. He turned to his host and asked her why the nursery was silent. Her response to him is something I will never, ever forget. EVER.

She looked at him and said, “After about a week of them being here, and crying out for countless hours, they eventually stop when they realize noone is coming for them…”

I broke. I literally could have picked up pieces of my heart scattered about the auditorium floor. But instead, it stirred in me a longing, a hunger. A promise in my spirit.


Facebook

We came home, and that night as Luella rested her tiny little 10lb body against mine and we rocked, I made a promise to her. A promise that I would always come to her.

Always.

At 2:00am when pitiful desperate squeals come through a baby monitor, I will come to her.

Her first hurt, her first heartbreak, we will come to her. We will be there to hold her, to let her feel, to make decisions on her own, and we will be there. We will show her through our tears and frustrations at times, that it is okay to cry, and it’s ok to feel. That we will always be a safe place, and we will always come to her.


Facebook

Share this mother’s moving promise today.

Want to be happier in just 5 minutes a day? Sign up for Morning Smile and join over 455,000+ people who start each day with good news.