i have just recently finished helping a couple sleep train their young daughter melanie. melanie is 13 months and is not an a schedule, doesn’t fall asleep unless she is rocked, naps a short period of around 45 minutes only on occasional days or if she is in the car, goes to bed around 9 pm and wakes throughout the night screaming. the only way for them to get her to stop screaming is to go to her, which ends up in rocking back to sleep or in the end co-sleeping until the morning. melanie’s mom, anne marie is so exhausted and has hit the “wall” that i often speak about. she didn’t want to hear melanie cry, but she knew she couldn’t go on living this way. she was beyond tired, not enjoying her daughter, her husband and her were in separate bedrooms so one could sleep while the other dealt with. they were both extremely overwhelmed and felt that they were never going to live a ‘normal’ life! overall, life was not what they expected it would be with a baby.
anne marie was certain that her little girl was just a difficult child and hard to manage. she was also certain that melanie didn’t need a lot of sleep. she had contacted tracey, from the www.sleepdoula.com but hadn’t been able to follow through with the process she was given over her phone consult. at the time, anne marie, probably wasn’t ready to commit to the process and/or wasn’t comfortable with the philosophy she was given. that being said when anne marie contacted me it was a bit of a struggle to get her on board with what needed to be done in order to see results and make it worth everyone’s time and energy. through a few phone consultations and multiple emails back and forth anne marie and her husband found themselves feeling comfortable with my sleep training process and were able to commit 100% and remain consistent. you must have these two things in order to have a successful sleep training experience.
what’s amazing about this story is the wonderful success anne marie and her husband have found. we worked together and i offered her all the support and guidance she needed to get through the training. i will post her follow-up soon and you will be equally amazed with the outcome. if you have a baby who you feel doesn’t need sleep or is just a so-called “bad sleeper” it doesn’t have to be that way. you too, can have a good sleeper and it only takes a couple weeks! you’re life can be turned around just like anne marie’s!
stay tuned….