Becoming a First Time Parent
Can you remember the joy of becoming a new parent? From the time you found out that you were expecting and the wonderful feeling of knowing that you are creating a small human being! The thought of needing to sleep train my child never entered my mind.
Throughout my pregnancy I read a few books about pregnancy and most of all about sleep. I knew that I wanted my child to sleep. Not just for me but for the development of my child I knew how important it was. Little did I know, the books wouldn’t really prepare me as much as I thought they would.
The one thing I did not anticipate was that my child would come into this world six weeks early. I remember being in a fog those first few weeks. Even though my daughter was in the NICU, I was still waking up to pump every three hours during the night.
While in the NICU my daughter feed every four hours and would basically sleep four hours from feed to feed. It was amazing!! This even continued once we came home twelve days later. I remember thinking, “I can do this”! I remember her stretching to six hours and then to 8 hours. She was sleeping through the night at 10 weeks old! This was wonderful, because I was getting ready to go back to work.
A Ticking Time Bomb!
Soon enough I would realize that this would not last forever. You see, our daughter tricked us. She was a wonderful sleeper from the beginning. Until…I decided to stay home from work when she was 8 months old. She went from sleeping from 8:00 pm – 5:00 am, feed, and back to sleep until 8:00 am. Glorious, right? But then she flipped a switch. At 8 months old she decided to take FOREVER to fall asleep and was waking multiple times a night. What a rude awakening we had!
We started doing all the things to get her to sleep. Rocking, bouncing, nursing, you name it! We would lay her down as if she were a ticking time bomb! Wishing every night that she wouldn’t wake up once we put her down. After about 6 weeks of this my husband and I knew that we couldn’t continue this way. Oh, did I mention that her naps were now HORRIBLE as well?
We were starting to get angry. Angry! At our baby girl. Why? It wasn’t her fault that she was struggling to sleep. Never the less, we blamed her. At this point we knew we had to do something to help her sleep and for us to gain our sanity back. That is when I started doing research on sleep.
Choosing a Sleep Training Program That is Right for You
We found the Sleep SenseTM program and gave it a shot. What we loved about this program is that it was gentle and parent supported. Did my daughter cry while doing it? Absolutely. However, we were there with her and giving her cues to learn to fall asleep on her own.
Was she crying because she was hungry? NO. Hurt? NO. Scared? NO. She was MAD. Mad because we changed up her routine. As your child learns a new skill they sometimes get frustrated. When your child is learning to roll and they get stuck, do you rush over immediately to help or do you stand back and see if they are going to figure it out themselves? The same applies with teaching independent sleep skills; they are going to get mad for a bit while learning a new skill.
What Sleep Training Gave our Family
Sleep training saved our family. In one short week our daughter was sleeping independently. We could now lay her down, walk away and she would sleep 11-12 hours every night. She was also taking two great naps EVERY day. She was a much happier baby and my husband and I felt amazing knowing that EVERYONE in our family was sleeping well. We now enjoyed our time with our child instead of getting frustrated every time she was tired, screaming and wouldn’t sleep.
I love what sleeping training gave our family, SLEEP. Not just sleep but time with my husband. We weren’t able to enjoy our time together. I began to spread the word about this wonderful program and help friends and family through their sleep journeys. The time came when this mama needed to do something for herself again. I LOVE sleep and decided to become a certified Infant and Child Sleep Coach. What program did I choose to do my extensive training through??? None other than, Sleep SenseTM, the very program that saved our family five years ago. Since becoming certified I have help many families find the gift of sleep. Not only here in Colorado but all over the US and around the globe.
If your little one is struggling with sleep, know that you are not alone and it is okay to ask for help! If you feel like you want to talk about your specific situation, please reach out. Let’s chat. You can do so through my website at www.yourdreammaven.com
