Case Study with 'Baby C'
Name: Baby C Age: 16 months Props: Numerous night feeds to re -settle, bum patting, dummy, rocking, pram sleeping, car drives to get to sleep then transfer.Baby C Sleeping Background: Prior to working with The Gentle Sleep Specialist, Baby C was up a minimum of four times every night. We turn on music, Lulla doll, close the door, turn off light, give cuddly with dummy attached. Sing and then into bed. We bum pat and rock to no avail. We have resorted to pram every night for the past 3 weeks. Best case - she is up every 3 hours with a feed back to sleep. Worst case - C wakes an hour after going to bed and screams solidly for up to 5 hours with us trying to settle her and then proceeds to wake every 15-20 minutes for the rest of the night. C was never a good sleeper she had few health concerns early in life and we kept blaming that for our poor sleeper. However as her health concerns resolved we began to realise it was just our little bug! We turned to the normal methods of help, mothers group, family etc. this just led to self-doubt and confusion. Through desperation my partner and I began resorting to whatever we could do to get the baby back to sleep! A good night would be us giving her a bottle and she would go back to sleep (this meant a bottle every 2 hours over night! Our 1 year old was getting 350-500ml of formula overnight) a bad night however was us doing this every 2 hours and then for wakes in between we would rock/pat/pram the baby back to sleep. We knew we were doing everything wrong but had lost faith in any support we had previously got as nothing had worked to help our baby including other sleep consultants. We had followed the advice…. All the advice! In fact our bedtime routine was huge…. Dinner, bath, books, quiet time, bottle, music (researched most relaxing song), lulla doll, naturopath drops, essential oils you name it we tried it! We were desperate! We were shift work sleeping, husband would take baby until 1am and then I would have her. Until my husband got a new job and would be away a lot. I googled our situation and found a thread, on this thread one person had commented that they had found help in Perth!! Perth!! I was so excited and then read sleep consultant and my heart sank as I had lost faith after our previous sleep consultants. The person on the thread had written the most heartfelt comment and I couldn’t help but relate… so I called Tara.
Night One (Tara) When I arrived to this family's home it was clear Baby C was in an extremely loving environment. Her parents were eager to learn and trusted me completely, it was a pleasure to be there. We first talked about the changes we could make in the bedtime routine, including where the feed was happening and at what point. We discussed the amount of wind down time C had and her personality in general. From there we began the bedtime routine which I ran through with them step by step including a shorter wind down process. The settle process was one that allowed the parents to still be comforting but also allow C enough opportunity to learn the skill of self settling. During this process it gave me the opportunity to see how C responded to efforts of comfort and make any necessary changes. Once Baby C went off to sleep we went through the plan for the rest of the evening and from then on. During this time Baby C's parents were given a plan that not only addressed night sleep but naps, feeding and everything in between.
What Happened? Night one - Baby C's longest settle was 30 minutes (supported) followed by a 3 minute settle at 4 am then up for the day at 7:30am. Night two - Baby C slept through the night 11 hours straight and has ever since. Her parents noticed their daughter changing in a positive way, not only in sleep but her wired demeanor had settled too. Baby C became more calm & relaxed in general.
A note from Baby C's Mum I will confidently say it was the best decision for our whole family! We are a well rested and happy family!!! Could not recommend her service more highly to anyone!! I have also learnt that every baby is so different and what worked for all my friends/families babies was never going to work for our girl! So grateful for Tara’s expertise!!!
