Why I Snuggle with My Daughter at Bedtime (It’s Probably Not What You Think)

I know they say your kids need to fall asleep on their own. I know they say your children won’t learn to self-sooth or fall back to sleep in the middle of the night if you hold your children until they fall asleep.

But moms of littles, they are not the mother of your children. They don’t know your child like you do.

After years – yes years – of trying unsuccessfully to get my child to fall asleep on her own, and her laying in bed awake for hours almost every single night, I finally decided to try something new.

I started snuggling with her and rubbing her back until she fell asleep.

Instead of spending hours repeatedly putting her back to bed, or creeping into her room late at night, only to find her still laying awake, I focused on helping her calm her mind as she drifted off to dreamland. She was asleep within minutes. Every. Single. Night.

And she (gasp!) stayed asleep too.

My biggest regret? That I listened to them instead of to my own instincts.

Do you have a child who won’t fall asleep? Are you frustrated about it? Try snuggling.

And if sleep isn’t your frustration but something else is, pray and then trust your instincts. After all, they aren’t responsible for the care and keeping of your child’s soul. You are.

“She watches over the ways of her household…” Proverbs 31:27