This was the year I nearly resorted to an elite baby sleep trainer. But there is another way | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

After a tired and desperate 2023 with our baby, finally my family found the deep bliss of sleep

• What brought us hope and joy in 2023? Writers share their stories

Sleep, I came to understand this year, is everything. Without sleep, action, change and momentum all feel impossible. Without sleep, you are living half a life, an existence that is less about living and more about getting through. My husband and I entered 2023 in a state of complete exhaustion. Our baby had been hospitalised several times and through a combination of terror, survival and necessity, he and I had entered a co-sleeping arrangement that saw him waking every hour for milk.

My husband was working full time and I was trying to juggle being essentially a stay-at-home mother with writing my column and promoting a book. The only reason I was still sane was because my husband consistently shared feeding and nights from the beginning, and at the worst times would often take the baby until the early hours so I could get a block of sleep from, say, 8pm until 2am. If I had had a less supportive husband or a baby that didn't take a bottle from him, or if my lovely mother hadn't stepped in when things got really tough, I suspect I would have lost my mind.