Davina Smith has never been shy about revealing the less Instagram-worthy moments of motherhood.
And the Channel Nine news presenter did just that on Monday, penning a honest account of how much she has struggled getting her baby girl to sleep.
Davina details at length just how hard the last 17 months have been with Rose Rita, who often left her and partner Mark ‘Higgs’ Smith snoozing just two hours a night.
Channel Nine news presenter Davina Smith has penned an honest account of how much she has struggled to get her daughter Rose to sleep through the night
Davina details at length just how hard the last 17 months have been with Rose Rita, who often left her and partner Mark ‘Higgs’ Smith snoozing just two hours a night (pictured together)
‘There have been moments when I wanted to give up – on motherhood, being a wife, being alive,’ she wrote for nine.com.au.
‘Rose the rager’, as Davina dubbed her, appeared four weeks after she was born, her screams, yelps, and cries unable to be soothed or tampered by anything.
Davina revealed that the only place where Rose ever found any peace was upright on her chest, while she bounced on a fitball.
It didn’t matter if she was in a pram, cot, car seat, baby carrier, or even daddy’s arms. The screams would begin once again.
Davina found that even the most basic parts of her everyday routine – eating, talking, using the bathroom – had become impossible without a tantrum.
And one day the fitball stopped bouncing, and so Davina tried to squat.
Davina revealed that the only place where Rose ever found any peace was upright on her chest, while she bounced on a fitball.
Davina found that even the most basic parts of her everyday routine – eating, talking, using the bathroom – had become impossible without a tantrum from Rose
But three hours went by and Rose wouldn’t stop screaming, and the desperate mum ran outside with her baby in her arms.
She bounced Rose in her arms for another 90 minutes at the beach, tears pouring down her face from exhaustion. After an hour of quiet, Rose began again.
Rose was diagnosed with ‘silent reflux, dairy/soy intolerance, and an egg allergy’ at four months old. But even though she was put on medication and Davina – who was breastfeeding – completely changed her diet, nothing changed.
There would be two hours of peace, every night from 7pm to 9pm, before Rose would cry on the hour, all night, every night.
Davina, who returned to work at seven months, and her husband Mark were clocking in at two hours of sleep every night.
Davina searched for solutions, reading countless books, seeing numerous doctors, sleeping in different rooms, even buying a ‘ridiculous space-ship swing’ – but nothing worked
‘There have been some incredibly dark, desperate, teary, and terrible moments in our lives in the last 18 months…it’s pure torture that messes with your mind and your marriage,’ she wrote.
Davina tried supplements and naturopaths and sleep nurses and a woman who ran a stone over her head to ‘read’ Rose’s emotions
Davina continued to search for solutions, reading countless books, seeing numerous doctors, sleeping in different rooms, even buying a ‘ridiculous space-ship swing’.
She tried supplements and naturopaths and sleep nurses and a woman who ran a stone over her head to ‘read’ Rose’s emotions.
But even as Rose met her baby milestones and began to sit and roll and crawl, she still could not sleep.
It was only a month ago, while on holiday, that Rose suddenly slept through the night.
The couple had broken all the rules in their ‘sleep book’, as Rose was in a different room, in a new cot, and out of her ordinary routine.
And yet there she was, snoozing soundly until the sunrise.
‘It was so bizarre to see her peacefully sleeping and dreaming, not thrashing about, and waking in screaming fits, fighting the fatigue,’ Davina wrote.
It was only a month ago, while on holiday, that Rose suddenly slept through the night for the first time since those first few weeks after she was born
Davina said she has stopped trying to fix or change something that isn’t broken, but just hasn’t been learned yet
Since then, things have gotten better. There hasn’t been another completely cry-less night, not yet, but Rose is only waking up two or three times instead of every hour.
But Davina said she has stopped trying to fix or change something that isn’t broken, but just hasn’t been learned yet.
‘Maybe babies just start sleeping when they’re ready – a bit like when they start learning to smile, crawl, walk, wave and talk,’ she wrote.
‘Some babies are fast learners, and others take longer.’