Don’t let the cute smile fool you

Bubba has been a terrible sleeper. The worst of my 3 kids. At 7 months, She had only managed a 4hr nap less than 5 times…. (some babies sleep 12hrs)
We reached out to a “sleep therapist” to help bubba sleep better… here’s our story 5 weeks on.

Before sleep training:
Bubba was co-sleeping in bed with me and waking 10 to 15
times a night for a comfort feed. Obviously I was tired and worn out. This wasn’t sustainable for bub either. Day sleeps were not much better she might sleep for 20mins here and there.

After sleep training
Bubba now sleeps in her cot.
On a good night she sleeps from 6:30-2am then will have a feed and sleep 2:15-6:30am.
However every night is different and she might cry at various times, sometimes she self settles other times I have to go in and soothe her, we are yet to master consistency.
During the day she now sleeps in her cot and naps can range from 40mins to 2hrs (on a good day)

At week 4 of sleep training she slept from 6:30pm to 6:30am!!!!

The journey
The training was hard but we started gentle by letting bub cry for 5minute intervals, picking her up and settling her before putting her back down, giving her a comfort feed when necessary. Each night extending the intervals and minimising touch and feeds. This was a draining process and I felt more exhausted than I was pre-training.
Some nights she would be unsettled for a 3 hour period, some nights she would go to sleep easy and wake up for a feed on schedule.

Our sleep therapist was there every day (for the first 2weeks) to check in to see how bubba was going and to offer suggestions on the next night.

5 weeks on she has made amazing progress. I’m sleeping much better now myself which has a positive flow on effect for my mood and energy. I
never realised how important a quality sleep was.

Looking back I wish I had done this earlier.

How do your kiddies sleep?

Would you consider a sleep therapist?