Karyn Parsons Says Sleep Training Is for the Birds
Submitted by Valle
When I was pregnant with Lana, I read every pregnancy book out there. I was so curious about pregnancy and so nervous about my delivery. But my husband? All he really wanted to know about was sleep. So we talked about sleep with every parent we knew and read every single book we could find about baby's sleep—we were totally ready for the whole sleep thing. Or so we thought. Then Lana was born.
We tried pretty much everything. Nothing worked for us. And we felt horrible about it. We thought, "Maybe she's not ready, maybe we should wait and try again." And so we did. We tried again. It didn't work—again. Then we made our own adjustments to every "sleep solution" to the point that we were taking the whole method of sleep training off-course.
Ultimately we chucked every book and said, "Forget it!" We need to see who Lana is, figure out what she wants. So what if her naptimes and bedtimes aren't cemented in stone? Now, five years later, Lana doesn't go to sleep until 10 PM sometimes. Of course it drives the in-laws insane, but they don't have to live with our kids every day. And this is what works for us.
I admit though, and I'll keep it real: Sometimes I feel maybe our kids (and my husband and I) need more structure with their sleep. When they do go to bed by themselves and stay in there for long periods of time, I'm like "Ooooh! That's soooo nice!" Maybe one day the whole sleep thing will magically sink in, maybe my husband and I will have to figure out a plan of attack, but for now, we're cool with what we're doing.
You probably recognize Karyn Parsons as Hilary Banks from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990–1996). Since becoming a mom, Parsons has put acting on hold and created a company called Sweet Blackberry. Check it out!
What else is on Karyn Parsons' mind?
House Cleaning
Casual Parenting
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