Babies Don't Keep

Looking a bit tired in the early days

All the "experts" tell you not to rock your baby to sleep. People will tell you that it creates bad habits. Baby will never be able to fall asleep on their own, etc... But, I have to be honest. There is nothing in the world I enjoy more than rocking Georgie to sleep. I love looking down at his sweet little face as he drifts off to sleep. Here is one of my favorite poems that I think of often as I rock my baby to sleep. I tear up as I read the last line.

Song for a Fifth Child by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton (1921- )

Mother, oh mother, come shake out your cloth!
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking!

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby, loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo.)

Oh, cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
But children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust, go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby. Babies don't keep.