Recognized as a top sleep consultant in the U.S.
You’re not sure where to start when it comes to getting your child to sleep through the night. You’ve read plenty of books, searched the internet in the middle of the night for ideas and tried every piece of advice from well-meaning friends, family and social media groups can offer. Every night is a mix of frustration and exhaustion. Staying awake during the day is tough. You wonder if it’s always going to be like this...always tired and never knowing how the baby will sleep tonight. I know what it feels like to be sleep deprived mom... I’ve been there My daughter was like most babies. She slept most of the day and I thought maternity leave would be a great time to catch up on hobbies and experience being a stay-at-home mom for a few months before I went back to work. I knew babies slept, so why wouldn’t they just sleep when they wanted to? I had friends with babies and they all raved about how well they slept at night. Months went by and every night I wondered why my baby wasn’t sleeping like the others. Everyone, including friends, family and even a woman at the park, gave me advice about how to get her sleeping longer. Some ideas I tried, others I didn’t feel comfortable trying and some made me cringe. Picture me a few months later... It’s 2:00am and my cute little 6-month old daughter is screaming at the top of her lungs for what seems like forever. I have changed her, fed her, rocked her, walked back and forth across our house at least 10 times, and she still won’t go back to sleep. She’d only been asleep an hour and a half and I’d barely had enough time to take care of house chores and crawl into bed myself. I knew I had an early meeting at work that I wouldn’t be ready for if I didn’t get at least a few hours of sleep that night. Usually, I got between 3-4 hours of sleep each night. Tonight was no different. After finally getting her back to sleep, I slowly transferred her to her crib and slowly creeped back from her crib, hoping she won’t wake up for a few hours. This had been the way things were for months and I was at my wits end. I was terrified to be this tired. I knew something had to change, because I couldn’t continue to function in my sleep deprived state. I sat on the couch, with tears streaming down my face, and googled “why won’t my baby sleep” and I got 5 million results. I felt defeated and knew I couldn't keep up with barely making it through the day. I was already drinking way too much coffee. I wasn’t going to the gym, something I’d always enjoyed, because I didn’t have the energy. I knew being a parent was tiring, but not like this. I simply didn’t know what to do next. The next day, after a meeting at work, I called a friend with a daughter the same age as mine. I spilled everything. I told him that I was worried I was going to get fired because I was so tired. I was terrified that I would screw something up or worse, I’d get a bad performance report and hurt my chances for a promotion. He said that his daughter hadn’t always been a great sleeper, but that he knew someone who could help me; someone who would work with me to determine the right schedule for naps and bedtime, who would teach me the skills I needed to teach my daughter how to fall asleep independently. I couldn’t wait to learn how to help my baby sleep. I would have stood on my head if it would have helped my daughter sleep all night With a step-by-step plan in my hands that followed my parenting style, my whole family was able to get the sleep we all desperately needed and I didn't have to resort to crying it out. By the 3rd night, that baby slept 10 straight hours! For the first time since becoming a mom, I felt like my old self again, full of energy. I had the answers I needed to help my baby sleep through the night and get on a good nap schedule. I was finally be able to lay her down in her crib at bedtime and listen to her sweet coos before she drifted off to sleep. I was so happy that my baby had learned to fall asleep in such a loving and supportive way. Get eight hours of uninterrupted hours of sleep at night and you wake up in the morning feeling like a new person. Nothing was sweeter than hearing my daughter happily playing in her crib when I came to get her up for the day. I'd learned how to recognize when she was tired and how to make bedtime easy. I felt empowered to have found a solution that fit my family and my way of parenting. |
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