Night time waking – whose job is it?

I guess every new parent knows this feeling – you have just fed the baby, settled him and put him in the cot. You listening to those little snuffling settling sounds until you are confident bub is sleeping. You then drift off yourself and just as sleep seems within your grasp a whimper clutches you back from the edge of dreaming. You listen for another moment hoping that it’s just one little cry but then it escalates to a full on scream and you know that you are up again ... and this is the fourth time in a row this has occurred. It’s at this point that you notice your partner happily snoring beside you. You feel a surge of anger at the quality sleep that is eluding you. You consider waking him for “his” turn but decide against it because:

1. You’re awake anyways so you may as well go


2. He has to go to work in the morning and you feel guilty waking him (despite knowing that it’s perfectly reasonable to share the night time duties)


3. You know that if he can’t settle bub within a few minutes he will be in the bedroom suggesting that the problem is that baby is hungry (even when you know he’s fed and full)

However, I must give some credos to my husband who has a magic way of settling Isaac when I can’t. He will go into the lounge at 1am and cuddle Isaac to sleep whilst he watches whatever sport inhabits that hour, and more impressively , won’t fall asleep himself and will put Isaac back into his cot before rejoining me in bed.