Fluffy Tush Clothing

My Sleep Consultant ROCKS!!

My first 2 babies were great sleepers, or at least that's how I remember it anyways! My third son has been a little bit different starting from the moment he decided it was time to meet us. He came 3 weeks early and was a tiny little guy weighing in at only 5 lbs 8 oz. We decided to have a home birth and in order for that to happen you have to be 37 weeks along and the baby has to be 5 lbs 8 oz to stay home after the birth. Well he met those qualifications right on the dot, no more than the bare minimum. The first couple months were a huge blur. He had a very severe tongue tie and we spent a lot of time trying to get him to breast feed correctly. By the time I knew it 4 months had passed and his sleep was still terrible. He would wake up after only 20 minutes of being asleep. I decided to try the swing and for a few days it was like a miracle. He slept about 7 hours over night and was taking actual naps. But after a few days he started waking more frequently again. For the next 4 months he slept in the swing, batwing swaddled and I would sit on the floor and feed him a bottle every time he woke up. I have no idea how many times I was doing this each night. Between exclusively pumping and feeding him I don't remember much. I had heard about sleep consultants and wasn't sure it was something that was truly worth the money you had to spend. After all, I was a pediatric nurse, I "knew" about babies and knew all the "do's and don'ts" of getting your baby to sleep well. I had it settled in my mind he was one of those babies people talk about- the ones that just aren't good sleepers. I had joined the club of exhausted mamas, with a baby who just didn't like sleep. I had a phone conversation with Deb from South Sound Sleep Solutions and thought maybe she could help but I still wasn't convinced. A few days after I spoke to her my little guy decided, out of the blue, that he now hated the swing so I started putting him in his crib. He did much better than I thought and didn't seem to wake up any more often than before so I figured maybe he would just figure this sleep stuff out and we wouldn't need to hire anyone!! A couple weeks later he decided to wake up 8, 9, maybe even 10 times in one night and I was D-O-N-E!! I could not take any more nights of broken sleep and days of dragging myself around trying to stay awake. I felt my own mental health was barely still intact. Deb came for our initial appointment and had some things I could change right away. Within a day or 2 Xavian was already taking very well to the changes and the best part was there were NO TEARS!! He was getting a bottle around 11pm and 4 am and was doing really well with that. Then about 2 weeks into it he seemed to figure out what time I'd be coming in to feed him and he was waking about 10 minutes before my reminder would go off. This little boy is too smart!!!  I called Deb and we discussed options. I knew it was time to implement an actual sleep method but I was dreading it. It literally made me sick when we were talking but I decided I needed to push forward. I was just so worried he would be screaming since the method that would work best for him did involve leaving him for short periods. That night I went in and fed him around 11 pm without any issues. I went to bed and when I woke up and checked the clock it was 430am. He hadn't woke up crying for his bottle yet and I was surprised. I'd like to say I went back to sleep until I got him up at 730 am but I had to pump and he did fuss a little off and on so there was not a lot of sleeping going on for me.


Baby X happy in his crib

But he did AMAZING! Babies are so much smarter than we give them credit for, probably because they can't communicate with us. If anyone isn’t sure that hiring a sleep consultant is worth the money, I say ABSOLUTLEY! I can put it like this: weighted blanket to help baby sleep: $40, extra pacifiers for the crib so he can find one: $10, night light: $3.99, sound machine to drown out anything that might wake him: $29.99, sleep consultant: priceless!!! He has continued to do so well with sleep and he even takes 2-3 hour naps on top of sleeping 12-13 hours each night. I am still in awe because I truly believed he was just one of those babies that don't need much sleep. There is no such thing, trust me! I am so thankful we had the opportunity to work with Deb. Being able to actually sleep through the night has given me my sanity back. I cannot thank her enough!