Sleep, Interrupted

I recently wrote an article for Hybrid Mom about the, ahem, sleep situation in my house. The situation being we get very little sleep. The article was also picked up by Yahoo Shine, and, wow, did some moms have something to say to me.

Pinkdazy chastised me fairly harshly, scolding that: "This addiction to your child's need for you will breed not only poor sleeping habits, but very poor coping mechanisms."

Kris B was a little softer: "Maybe if you weren't so nice to your kids when they woke you up they would stop doing it."

"Congratulations. You are selfish." This came from Joy in Seattle. (No pun intended.)

As I mentioned several times in my article, I accept blame. My defenses are asleep at 2 am - I can't help it. I actually cite to the research by sleep researcher Jerome Siegel from UCLA, as comforting news. Animals do not need sleep to survive, according to Siegel, they simply use periods of sleep to stay out of the way until necessary. Nocturnal predators, 3 of whom are my offspring, emerge at night to stalk their prey and who am I to argue with mother nature?

So for now, you can chastise me, call me names, and criticize me. Jerome Siegel understands. And I am much too tired to fight back anyway . . .