Like many millennial parents, a mom from Arkansas spends a lot of time worrying about safe sleep practices for her baby—no pillows, no blankets, no bumpers and certainly no added mattresses in the bassinet.
But a recently resurfaced home video from 1993 stopped Erika Glidden in her tracks.
In a clip on TikTok, Glidden, 32, shared footage herself as a 2-month-old in her crib—complete with plush bumpers, thick blankets, a pillow and sleeping on her stomach.
A text overlay on the video reads: “Me: worried about a mattress in my baby’s bassinet. Also 2-month-old me in 1993.”
Glidden told Newsweek she discovered the footage after her mom had a collection of old VHS tapes digitized using the iMemories app.
What started as a nostalgic viewing session quickly turned into a hilarious and eye-opening reflection on how parenting norms have evolved.
“I was just so shocked to see how much different the sleep practices are now compared to 30 years ago,” she said. “[Back then], I was sleeping in a crib in my own room with extra padding, crib bumpers, a comforter and laying on my stomach. No owlet or breathing monitoring system and no baby monitor.”
Now, Glidden’s baby sleeps in a bassinet with a fitted sheet and a sleep sack. “She wears an owlet sock to monitor her breathing and has a camera monitor on her the entire time,” she told Newsweek.
Today’s sleep guidelines, recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), says safe sleep practices to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
Key recommendations include placing babies on their backs to sleep, using a firm, flat fitted sheet and avoiding soft bedding such as pillows, blankets, crib bumpers or stuffed animals.
Glidden’s clip has gone viral on TikTok, amassing 4.3 million views and a further 377,000 likes.
Thousands of users commented and were equally as shocked as the millennial mom was.
Many others weighed in with the parenting practices they were raised with.
“My pacifier was tied with a string around my neck,” one user wrote.
“I literally asked my mom how she got me to sleep through the night and she said, ‘Idk [I don’t know], I just went off to bed. I was tired,’” another commented.
A third user added, “We’re honestly built differently. My crib looked similar.”
“I did not expect it to blow up as much as it did, but I do agree with the majority of the reactions,” Glidden told Newsweek. “I think millennials use humor to cope and that has been the majority of the responses, so I have enjoyed reading through them.”
The post Millennial Mom Anxious About Baby’s Sleep—Then Finds Her 1993 Crib Video appeared first on Newsweek.
