When people hear Riley’s age, they often assume we’re sleeping through the night. That we’ve moved past the constant wake ups. That life has settled into a predictable routine. The reality looks very different. Riley arrived early, and he’s still only around 6 months corrected. He has his own timeline. His own little journey. Some nights he wakes because he’s hungry. Some nights he wakes because he needs comfort. Some nights he just needs to know I’m still there. I’ve stopped asking myself how many times we woke up. I’ve stopped comparing our nights to other families. Because comparison never made me feel better. It only made me feel like I was somehow getting motherhood wrong. What has helped is accepting that my job isn’t to fit Riley into someone else’s expectations. My job is to meet him where he is. Some babies need more time. Some need extra cuddles. Some need more feeds. Some need slower days. And that’s okay. When the nights feel especially long, I open the map. Those yellow dots remind me that every family has a story you can’t see. Behind each one is another mum feeding, rocking, settling, comforting, and loving her baby through another night. Different babies. Different journeys. The same fierce love. If your baby isn’t following the timeline everyone talks about, I hope you know you’re not behind. You’re simply parenting the baby in front of you. And that’s exactly what they need. 💛 #newmom #momlife #NICUbaby #postpartum #motherhood - @meg.beacon