Rockabye Baby : Why I rock my baby

I rock Henry to sleep. Every day. For every nap time.
I rock him when he wakes in the night, and I rock him when he's struggling to sleep before bed.

I rock my baby to sleep, and I'm perfectly OK with it.

Many will say that I'm making life difficult for myself by rocking him to sleep, and not working hard to break him out of the habit. But as with pretty much all aspects of parenting, there isn't exactly a perfect formula for every child.

I walked a lot when pregnant, which I guess makes up some of the reason Henry likes to be rocked to calm down, or to go to sleep. As a newborn, he'd fall asleep easiest in our arms whilst walking, or in the pushchair or baby carrier if we took a stroll outside. Dann spent hours wandering around our local area getting Henry to sleep during his witching hours in the afternoons so I could catch up on sleep, and I know the entire layout of our upstairs floorboards thanks to pacing in the middle of the night with him in my arms.
Now he's quite happy to cuddle up in our rocking chair in his nursery and rock to sleep before being placed in his cot.

Yes it is most certainly getting harder. Harder on my back. Harder on my arms. And every so often, harder on my sanity.
Yes I often wonder what he's going to be like for bedtimes in the future as he relies on us to help him go to sleep. But he is getting better at settling. He has on occasion put himself to sleep without any rocking at all (yeah we were shocked too!).

His nursery will likely help us break him from the habit during the day when I return to work in June. So in the meantime, I'm making the most of the cuddles.

Because yes I have to rock him to sleep, but I also get quiet time with my boy on my own, where his only need is me. There's something uniquely satisfying and heart warming about hearing their breathing change as your little one drifts off. There's something deeply comforting knowing that your arms around them make them feel safe and protected. There's something very settling about rocking in a chair and having no distractions. I often think up blog posts, or dinner ideas whilst settling Henry down for a nap.

I'll never be sorry I rocked my baby to sleep, because the time we have together rocking is one of my favourite times.

Did/do you rock your baby to sleep?