Elizabeth Preston

Well, a lot of animals have to do it all the time with no breaks.

So they make it look automatic, if not easy.

So I'm thinking of like the, you know, opossum mom with the whole row of kids on her back, or the gorilla who has to carry the baby clinging to her chest all the time.

For them, it looks like something they don't even have to think about.

But the truth is that when the mom does all the work like that, it's very intensive and it uses up a lot of her resources.

So it's actually hard, even if it looks natural.

Totally.

There are some mothers that give their body to feed their children, not just in the sense of like making milk like we mammals do, but there are spider moms whose hatchlings will eat them alive, for example.

Yeah.

That's too real.

It's too real.

I know it's taking the metaphor too far.

There's also a really strange amphibian called a Sicilian.

It's kind of like a salamander with no legs.

And she grows this kind of thick, extra fatty skin when she has babies.

And then the babies are born with these specialized sharp teeth and they peel pieces of her skin.

Like, I want to say like a banana, not to be too disgusting.

And they eat her skin.

She survives, but it is horrifying.

I think my only advice is maybe some reassurance that humans are not alone with the problem of trying to get our kids to go to sleep by themselves.