This baby will not sleep apart from us for more than half an hour. He used to sleep in his crib for many hours at a time, but no more. This baby has not slept in his crib for more than a couple hours in more than a month, and most nights he sleeps most of the time with us. I have become a human pacifier. He does not know how to soothe himself. This seems to be something we cannot teach him.

I intended to write here daily this month, but that did not come to pass. I do not believe in excuses, but by way of explanation, all we can do these days is try to get our children to sleep or back to sleep, or go to sleep with the baby. When that is not happening we are cleaning clothes and dishes or doing the basic stuff you have to do to live and work and parent. I do have a lot of things I want to write, but they remain trapped in my head, banging against the door trying to escape.

I know the case of the baby who won’t sleep, nurses round the clock, or always wants to be held, is not new. This situation is more universal than unique. But that does not make it any less exhausting. Oy.