Late Night Wake Ups

Most of my friends have their babies on well-regulated nighttime sleep schedules. Felicity on the other hand has yet to attain that accomplishment. Mostly, because of the ease of slipping her into bed with me for a nighttime snack as opposed to listening to her very opinionated and long-winded protest that getting out of her crib is really the best plan, is just easier with a one-bedroom house.

And there is something sweet about it. Something sweet in knowing that when she wakes up in the night, I can comfort her. All to soon, she will not need her nighttime snacks. The little face, which nuzzles down next to me won’t need literal nourishment from me any longer. All ready she is three times the size of the little, bitty girl that I met eight months ago. Combing back her hair and cuddling with her is precious.

These late night wake-ups make me reflect on a couple of different things within the light of day. First, the picture of a mamma feeding a baby makes me think how parents in one sense always need to feed their children. Their kids don’t just need physical food, but they need emotional and spiritual nutrients as well. It impresses upon me the seriousness and the grace from God that we need in order to feed our children. Secondly, a line from a Tennyson poem keeps going through my head. “No language but a cry.” Though the context of the poem doesn’t make the application I am currently making, the line reminds me that for a baby, crying is her language. I want to answer her cries. Yet that desire is contrasted with another desire. As she gets older and gains more language, as I have seen with many an almost two year-old, the cries become tantrums railing against the rules set by mamas everywhere. How does one answer the real cries while training and directing the other cries? Mothers everywhere need wisdom.

Am I indulging her cries in these late night wake ups? Maybe. Is it ok to bring her to bed? Yes, for now.

God, grant us and parents everywhere the wisdom and the strength to parent our children well. Feed us, so that we can feed them.

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