Sleep itself is a feminist issue. A 2006 meta-analysis found women are 40% more likely to develop insomnia than men. In families with children in which there are two parents of opposite genders, mothers were doing two hours a day more childcare and housework than men. It’s no wonder we’re exhausted. But is sleep training the answer we need? Is sleep training the “feminist” approach?

This is such a common worry for parents who aren’t interested in CIO (cry it out) or controlled crying methods for sleep training. They so badly want to be responsive to their babies and worry that if their baby cries in the car it must mean they are letting them CIO.

Given all of the persistent medical advice that was emerging in the mid 1900’s, parents came to see feeding as the enemy of sleep and were encouraged not to respond to any hunger cues given by their baby at any time the parent defined as nighttime. This ultimately led to a decline in a breastfeeding mothers’ milk supply, thus prompting the need for formula supplementation, and eventually exclusive formula use.

Have you ever thought about where it all began? The pressure to sleep train, and all of the guidance that you receive from your pediatrician to avoid night feedings and other “sleep crutches?” This two-part blog post looks at where it all began and provides some historical context for how and why sleep training became a highly sought-after technique in infant care. 

While sleep location recommendations differ across cultures and countries, a baby seeking sensory proximity to its mother is universal. In North America, where an infant sleeps has become a topic of contention among parents, health care providers, and sleep experts. This contention may partly be due to different cultural practices of infant sleep coming to light in America.

Completely sleep deprived and desperate like many new Mamas, I finally caved and bought one of those pre-made sleep guides from a very popular “celebrity” sleep coach when he was around 3 and a half months old. It was geared towards newborns but I figured I needed to start from scratch. I got a generic e-book sent to my inbox ready for download. I opened it and read as it started outlining all the ways I had already failed.