Having a Baby? Well Enjoy Sleep While You Can

Sleep While You Can - Is a phrase I heard from nearly everyone leading up to the birth of my son. I thought it was a fact of life. You have a baby, and you never sleep again. And honestly, when we hit that four month regression, I exhaustedly started to accept my fate and drank coffee until my veins turned brown. But one day I had enough... The elaborate two hour sleep routine was just too much.⁠

When my husband and myself brought Bowin home after he was born we didn’t know anything about baby sleep, other than how to keep him safe and to try feed on demand. We wrapped him up in a borrowed Ollie Swaddle and he would easily sleep for 2, 3 and eventually 4 hours at a time. Those newborn days were hard, but I truly think they were easier on us because of that swaddle. Bo also had a pretty intense sucking reflex and so, like any desperate new parent – we popped a pacifier into his screaming mouth (we loved the BIBS Baby Pacifiers – especially the black glow in the dark one) and Bo was as happy as a clam.

A few months went by and Bo would have a pacifier in his mouth nearly all hours of the day. He loved that thing and we loved that he didn’t cry – until we started to play the dreaded “soother dance”. During the day the dance wasn’t so bad, but by night time… it was absolutely exhausting. Our routine was to get him ready for bed, swaddle him, pray that he would fall asleep nursing, put that soother in his mouth, gently lower him into the bassinette and tip toe out of that room or into bed as carefully as we could. But all to often, he would launch that soother out of his mouth with a velocity I’ve never seen before and scream cry until we could put it back in his mouth, he would need calming to fall back asleep and we would all be wide wide awake (and we would do that x10 times a night!).

So Shanel (The Sleep Consultant) to the rescue. During our initial evaluation call we discussed our specific sleep challenges and what would be the best way she could help support our family. Prior to the call she sent over a detailed questionnaire about my guy’s sleep and developed a personalized sleep plan for us which we discussed during our consultation. She took my husband and I step-by-step through her plan and gave us the encouragement we needed to get started. We were also provided with a digital sleep log which Shanel would monitor and make adjustments as necessary.

So that Friday night at 7:00pm we excitedly/tentatively started our sleep training journey and it was a nightmare. He was in his own crib, in an arms free sleep sack and was sans soother. I think the odds were stacked against him. Thankfully, Shanel had recommended a parent present approach where we were right by Bo’s side in his crib to support his independent sleep journey. However, Bo (and myself) cried a little too long before we gave up, offered him the boob and all had a horrible night’s sleep. That next morning, we re-evaluated with Shanel and discussed what may have been the issue. She did a fantastic job reminding us that with these big sleep changes, there could also be some big feelings that come along with it. But we did NOT expect three solid hours of scream crying – and to be honest, I don’t think she did either! We felt that there may have been too many big changes and made the decision along with Shanel’s support to pause our sleep training to the following week so we could set Bo up for success.

Remember that wonderful Ollie swaddle and BIBS soother we loved – well now they were our downfall. At around four months of age a baby has the ability to roll when they sleep and having their arms swaddled can lead to suffocation if they are able to roll and can’t push themselves up with their arms. Scary stuff. So we now had to get Bo comfortable in an arms out swaddle annndd ditch the soother – for good. We decided to start with one arm out for a few days, then two arms while still using the Ollie swaddle (so nice that it can be a transitional swaddle) and then move him into a Zippity Zip sleep sack by our next attempt with Shanel. The Zippity Zip sleep sacks from Sleeping Baby are perfect for a babe who doesn’t like to have their arms exposed but can no longer by swaddled. The design allows babies the use of their hands, but feel the edges of the fabric and still feel cozy. Now the soother took a little more work, he had to learn to fall asleep with out it and find a way to self sooth. Bo’s self soothing technique was to SLAM his feet down in his bassinette as hard as he could until he passed out – but after a few days he got the hang of it, found a calmer way of falling asleep and by Friday we were good to go.

TAKE TWO - Friday night: Bo fell asleep on his own, in his new Zippity Zip (without a soother!) within an hour and a half. The next night it took 45 minutes, the day after 10 minutes – it just kept getting easier and easier for everyone! IT WAS WORKING! SLEEP TRAINING WAS WORKING! The best part was that I was still able to keep nursing Bo in the night and we were able to continue to room share.

The Sleep Consultant’s sleep program was kind and gentle. As an experienced mom – Shanel knows exactly what her clients are going through. Her reassurance and encouragement throughout the experience was essential for this process to work and her support was endless. She truly wants the best for your little one and your family. With her guidance we are all now sleeping better, we’ve established a routine and most importantly we’re a much happier family.

Sleep training worked for our family and I’m so happy we had the opportunity to work with Shanel! Did you sleep train your little one or are you thinking about it? Let me know!

Taker Easy,