sleep clinics

[hichm]

Hello,

We have a 9 month old son and we haven't managed to get him to settle on his own at night, ie we rock him to sleep.

plus he wakes up often (5 times) for what I think may be comfort feeding, though he may be indeed hungry.

Did any parent get help from a sleep clinic? are these all private clinics or are there some attached to NHS?

Also, has anyone had a night nanny?

the situation is not extreme but we are worried it may worsen.

regards,

[nunheadmum]

We used Night Nannies - a private service. Not that cheap but we only needed a couple of nights and follow up support so wasn't as expensive as we'd thought it might be. And definitely worth every penny!!

[hichm]

Thanks,

What are talking about here for a couple of nights? a grand?

Were a couple of nannies enough to stabilize the situation?

regards,

[nunheadmum]

Nothing like that much - about 100-120 quid a night I think it was. We were put in contact with one nanny, she phoned us first (for free) to talk and assess if she could help and then came out for one night and saw how things went, helped us to start to address things and gave us advice generally. She left us in the morning with a plan to address it and her phone number to keep in touch on a daily basis for a few days, after which she came back for another night. In our case the second night was a bit of a waste as the baby slept through and she wasn't needed! But I didn't grudge it as she'd helped us so much and continued to keep in touch (for free) over the next few weeks on and off.

In the end we paid for 2 nights but it was the best money we spent on the baby. It may take longer in some cases (it was our second baby so we were slightly hardened to the need to do something). But I can't underplay the difference it made to us, knowing that a professional had agreed that there was nothing special about our baby and she was just playing all the normal baby tricks on us.

Once the sleep was sorted, our LO was so much happier and we were actually able to enjoy our time with her and feel confident in knowing where to draw the line with her. It's not a 'once and it's sorted forever' remedy - the sleep issues will probably reoccur in different guises as your child develops. But I found I felt much more ready to deal with it, after having had professional help.

[hichm]

that sounds very interesting, thank you for telling us your story.

[HarrietM]

we used mill pond sleep clinic and they were amazing. the best ?300 we ever spent. our baby (a bit younger than yours) went from waking every 20-40 minutes all night - i kid you not - to sleeping 7-7 and self settling in 3 weeks. there was NO controlled crying involved either.

we had used night nannies before but it only ever seemed to delay sorting out the problem and within a few days we were back where we started and just as exhausted.

PM me if you like!

Good Luck!

[LauraHW]

Another recommendation for Millpond. We went from waking 6 -7 times a night to waking about twice in the space of a week. Within a month we were sleeping through the night, not consistently but enough to make me feel human again. I think the main thing about the sleep clinic was that it made us feel like we were taking control of the situation and gave us alot more confidence. I would definitely recommend it as I'm able to enjoy our little boy so much more now!

[LeilahB]

Quick question on Millpond - how old were your babies when you used them? Wondering whether 4 months is too young? Our daughter is waking every hour and it's driving me mad!

[supergolden88]

I may need some help sooner than anticipated. My boy is waking every two hours again. He is teething but I am about to wave goodbye to breaking point

[hichm]

we have just followed advice from our health visitor and got into a routine of 7 to 7 with 2 feeds at night and 1 or 2 extra times waking up because of an uncomfortable position or losing the dummy.

unfortunately, our son got sick this week with a very high fever and so it broke the routine completely.

I had him sleep on my chest 2 nights ago, which was the only thing settling him.

now that the fever's over yesterday, we're trying again the routine from scratch.

expect 2hours or crying first night, and a few minutes the following nights.

all that said, having stay asleep all night is still some distance off, and we may get the help of a night nanny anyways.

[supergolden88]

Sorry to hear baby was sick. That's too awfull

why do your say expect two hours of crying? When? When you first put him down or during night wakings?

my brain is fried

[sillywoman]

I have a feeling that your Health Visitor can refer to an NHS, Kings run sleep clinic, sadly I can't recall who told me this or where I read it, so I can't be sure if it's even true or maybe I just dreamed it! Still - it's surely worth the asking?