Sleep Deprivation is not a rite of passage

Baby, baby, baby.
Just sleep.
Please baby, just sleep.

Why is the only place you will sleep on my chest?
Why do you move and make so many noises when you finally get down?
How do you know I leave the room?
I have to pee! C'mon. Let me pee!
Oh, baby, please just shhhhhh....shhhhhh.....shhhhh.....
It's just a diaper change.
I promise the world is not ending.
Baby, I have to change your clothes!
Your poop is all over your back!
How does the time between feedings end up being exactly the amount of time it takes to change you, rock you, swaddle you, feed myself, and chart our progress?
When am I supposed to sleep too?

Rite of Passage: Noun
1) a ceremony performed in some cultures at times when an individual changes his status, as at puberty and marriage 2) a significant event in a transitional period of someone's life It is seen as a rite of passage to be sleep deprived in early parenthood. I'm here to tell you that is a lie.

It is not a rite. It comes as a slow delineation of adequate support. This thinking comes from being apart from families. It comes from feeling like we are the masters of our universe... and then a new human arrives who doesn't acknowledge our superiority.

But just like babies don't play by the rules, you don't have to do parenthood alone like the current "rules" teach you. You don't have to be sleep deprived at night so you are in a state of constant catch-up during the day.

Being tired will not feel like a badge of honor, so lets stop selling it like one.

Guess what we do.

We come to your house. We help and teach in the early days. We encourage and guide. We offer care and support. We are postpartum doulas and a new family's secret weapon for having a smooth transition from pregnant to their new normal.

We are postpartum doulas and we genuinely care about the success each family is striving towards. With each overnight shift, each swaddle we wrap, and each time we give comfort to a child that has not yet found his or her way to sleep through the night - we are trying to soothe.

Having support in the hours when you are tired doesn't seem like a huge deal before labor. It's just night time, right? But those lonely hours when it's dark and quiet are usually when the ugly voices come out.

A new mom may start hating herself for not being able to get her baby to feed at the breast.
It is right there! Just put it in your mouth and suck!

A new mom may wonder why they let her take this new human home when she doesn't have any idea what to do.
She's crying! She won't stop crying and I've done everything I can think of.


What if, instead of feeling alone and ill-equipped, you had a caring person to be with you? Someone to say "That is perfect. You are doing exactly the right thing. This just takes some time and you are doing so well as your baby is learning."

What if you had a person that was able to bring your baby to you, help you get her to latch, bring you a glass of water in the middle of the night, then swoop out of the room when the baby was done, to complete the burping, diaper changes, and ease your baby to sleep?

Being a parent is hard. Being a new parent is really hard.
You deserve to be equipped with tools that help you feel confident in this new stage of life.
You deserve to give your baby the best, and a parent who is rested is a better version than a parent who is tired.
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New moms and dads do go through a rite of passage when they become parents: that is labor. That is birth.
The nights that follow are life, and you don't have to go through life and parenthood alone.

Written by Ariel Swift