Moonstone Midwives

Check out the newest episode from Laura's podcast! Available to listen to here: https://podcasts.apple.com//pod/askmidwife707/id1439639883

A 5,000 year old statue of a Mother breastfeeding her baby. From the Caral cultural of Peru.

I've been doing this work for a long time. I was a volunteer breastfeeding counsellor for 8 years before starting my private practice as an IBCLC (lactation con...sultant) 7 years ago. And over these past 15 years there is one thing that I keep hearing time and time again. That women are told by friends, family and health care professionals that their baby "should" be sleeping through the night by a certain age (funny how no one can agree on what that magical age should be)! BUT GUESS WHAT. It's actually bullshit. No one sleeps through the night. Not even adults. We all go through sleep cycles. The difference is that when we briefly wake, we can either get up and grab a drink of water, go pee, put the blanket back over us, kick the blanket off, turn over, and then we put ourselves back to sleep. Every, single child gets to an age where they start to put themselves back to sleep without needing a cuddle or a breastfeed. This happens when they are developmentally ready to do so. This can happen very young, or it can happen much later well beyond babyhood. Breastfeeding to sleep, mid-sleep and to wake up is the biological norm. It's what we have been doing since forever. It's not a sleep problem. Some societies around the world have pathologized something that is actually 100% normal. So when someone questions that your child is waking to breastfeed, reassure them that actually they are doing what children have been doing since the beginning of time. Seeking comfort in the night. The times does come when they won't reach out for you anymore.