From the ‘sleep-all-night-like-an-angel’ newborns to the ‘scream-bloody-murder-til-mommy-comes’ babies, we all know that children are wired very differently. Still, it can be hard to not internalize their behavior as a failure in our parenting—especially when you are “blessed” with three of the latter type.
In the words of Jordan Harrell, “THREE hard babies? That seems illogical. Surely, the common denominator is their flipping ill-equipped mother.” She WAS the problem.
At least, that was her conclusion, until she recalled a poignant experience her young mother once had in church that completely transformed her perspective. The mommy blogger took to Facebook with a viral post that’s now encouraging mamas of those chronic criers in the most beautiful way:
I went 0 for 3 on easy babies.
There was a lot of colic and crying and ear infections and food allergies and little-to-no sleep.
My tubes are tied, just in case you’re wondering how much I loved it.
During those years of long nights (and long days), there was LOTS of crying. There were a few nights I wasn’t sure I could take it anymore. I wanted it to stop and told the baby as much. They never listened.
So the crying would go from a solo to a duet, me and the baby swaying in dramatic harmony, alternating heaves as we wondered who would be able to reign it in first.
A lot of those nights, I felt like such a failure. THREE hard babies? That seems illogical. Surely, the common denominator is their flipping ill-equipped mother. That would make more sense.
But during those moments of questioning my mommy-fitness, I would think back to a story my mom had told me.
She was a young mom with her first baby, my brother, who was, you guessed it, HARD. He was colicky and clingy. He only wanted my mom and never slept.
Sounds familiar.
