Night nanny vs doing it yourself

[stress_head]

Fantastic news! So so pleased for you!

[Convex]

Hurrah!

[mamastylist]

Hi Ladies,

I am a mother of twins aged 3 and I remember thinking how on earth am I going to cope. I had tried for first 6 months and I was desperate, I called night nannies as I told my hubby it was that or he simply had to leave his job, not a well thought out choice. We had night nanny in within a week, she was super and working together, we had the children sleeping through and then I felt able to conquer the world.

Hope it helps you as much as it dd us.

[Strawbs]

Well unbelievably he slept through last night!!! I know it's early days and I'm sure more work to be done but we are gobsmacked. If someone had of told me this time last week I would have had a full night of sleep I would have laughed! X

[dildals]

Just out of interest though, what does Nicola or the night nannies do that we can't? What was the 'diagnosis' if you like? And what happens when they're teething or ill? Is it OK for them to have a little relapse?

[Strawbs]

She tweaked a lot of what I was currently doing including day schedule and technique for helping him to self settle. I was the same and wondered what else I could be doing but within a day of doing it I could see very clearly where I had been making errors. She says temperatures and teething are definitely reasons that things would temporarily change but it should go back to normal once those things resolve. It is such an amazing result in such a short time if I'm honest I can hardly believe it myself! X

[Gooders79]

We found Nicola really helpful with both of our children. I think you can do it by yourself but she really helped reassure us about some of anxieties. I think as a couple we were both much more committed to the sleep plan once we had committed financially to it. Nicola also talks through all of the different options and then designs a plan specific to your own needs. She was really pragmatic too and appreciated the needs of our first son in getting the second to sleep I.e. napping in buggy, looking at overall sleep during day with a flexible approach. She very quickly diagnosed a suck to sleep association for our second son who was waking ever 40 mins day and night, at that point I was pretty much incapable of implementing anything on my own let alone reading the options and following them...

[Strawbs]

Totally agree with all of the above, she is a miracle worker!

[rougepamplemousse]

I have done it myself, I have a 3yo and a 1yo that slept for 12 h with a dream feed since they were 3m and 12 h when they started solids, at about 7-8 months. And helped a couple of friends for free... dohhh.. I should have charged them, I didn't realize it was so expensive to get someone to help :) But as someone said earlier, if I couldn't have done it myself, I would have been prepared to go bankrupt in order to be able to sleep! :)

[Strawbs]

Our update is that baby Strawbs has slept through for over a week now and the last two nights did 7-7, for anyone reading this that is feeling desperately tired then give Nicola a call and I bet she can help you too. I continue to be amazed that only a week and a half ago I was like a dead person walking and now I am getting proper sleep and my days with toddler And baby Strawbs are so much nicer now as my patience isn't constantly running at zero!

X

[BookyTea]

Sorry to resurrect this thread Strawbs, but am suffering from sleep deprivation with my 4-month old and after a bit of advice. I was wondering if people think you should wait until 6 months before sleep training?

I know with such a young baby, and one that is exclusively breastfed, night feedings are to be expected, but I'm not convinced he's waking from hunger. Plus I also have my toddler to look after and no childcare, so completely exhausted and would love to get some sleep (so please no judgement)! It was completely different with my first, she was an amazing sleeper, slept through at 10 weeks and she was exclusively breastfed at the time too. We used the baby whisperer and did lots of shush/pat and pick-up/put-down, and as she was the first we had lots of time to sort out routines, get her used to her cot etc.

However, with my son, he had reflux, so has always been a terrible sleeper. Now he's on meds it's much better, and he can self-settle to sleep and has a set bedtime of 7pm, all of which is an improvement. It's not getting him to sleep which is the problem - it's staying asleep! On a good night he's up once at around 3.30am and then we have to wake him up at 7am, but that kind of night is very rare. On a bad night he's up 3 or 4 times a night and then up at 5am/6am for the day! The wakings are always completely random, I never know what kind of night to expect.

I'm sure one of the problems is inconsistency, sometimes my husband tries to sooth him and often works, but then other times I feed him (which always soothes him), partly because I don't want to wake toddler or husband and I are both too tired, but I suppose I'm worried that it's too early for hardcore sleep training until 6 months. But then also worried about leaving it too late and bad habits etc.

Sorry for the ramble, as you can tell am v tired! Any advice welcome!

[Strawbs]

Both of my children had reflux and it is v hard so hats off to you there. The sleep lady I used had 6 different techniques to choose from in terms of sleep training so maybe (and I'm no expert) you could choose one of the more gentle ones that still get the same result but it takes longer. My advice would be to call Nicola and ask re the 4m age thing as she will tell you honestly over the phone before scheduling an appt. Nicola takes all things in to consideration including the reflux etc and will work with you with those things in mind. My eldest had reflux and didn't sleep til he was 2 but I honestly think now if I had used Nicola as I did with my second he would have slept a whole lot sooner! My youngest has the same issues my eldest had yet since night 4 of the sleep training he continues to sleep through.

Things are so hard when you aren't getting sleep so I rally feel for you. Nicola overhauled everything for me including feeding schedule , day time napping schedule etc and it worked and honestly I was so sceptical. I can't urge you enough to call her and just have an initial discussion with her before you decide to do anything, it can't hurt.

X

[stacker285]

Bookytea - there is a significant sleep regression at 4 months, so maybe this isnt helping matters? It seems that some children sail through these developmental stages with a mere blip whilst others let you know about each and every one of them. My son is one of the former. At nearly 14 months he has slept through a total of 5 times, and really does seem sensitive to any changes. However, some of my friends have children like your daughter. I have done some gentle sleep training, and the main thing that has made a difference is night weaning, but all of the literature i have read on sleep training is to wait until they have passed each developmental stage. the wonder weeks app helped me realise when these were and i could plan around these. Good luck!

[Fmm]

My situation sounds similar to yours - my first slept through by 10 wks, by second wasn't consistent at 4 months and I was on my knees with tiredness, illness and PND. Both were exclusively breast fed. I couldn't cope with the lack of sleep etc and did speak to Nicola, putting in place her plan before little one was 6 months. It 'worked' and baby slept through pretty much ever since. I would recommend calling and discussing your concerns and she can tell you whether it's worth paying for her service now or waiting a few weeks.

[BernieG]

I've recently been in contact with Nicola because of the 4 month sleep regression. After suffering years of bad sleep with my first child I decided to take action this time. I too was concerned about doing this before 6 months. I chose to go ahead with one of the gentle forms of sleep training called gradual withdrawal. It does take longer, though fine with me as I wouldn't want to leave my baby alone crying. It's now night 11 and we've definitely made progress but still have a way to go. Must confess I haven't stuck to the programme at times as it's pretty hard not to cave in at 4/5am after being awake for hours listening to baby crying. Nicola has offered great support along the way. I'm hoping we will be in an even better place in a week or so.

Good luck.

[BookyTea]

Sorry for the super slow reply, things have just been getting progressively worse and I'm a walking zombie! My son has just been catnapping and snack feeding all day and night and I'm on my knees. We've been trying some gentle sleep training and trying to get him into some kind of a routine, but it means staying at home, which is so boring for my toddler (poor thing has been plonked in front of Peppa Pig while I spend 30 minutes shush-patting my son in his room) :-(

If we don't make any progress, I've asked my husband for a sleep consultation with Nicola as my Xmas present as I really can't go on like this, I'm just so tired, and neither children are getting the best of me. Thank you all so much for the support, will update with progress soon I hope...

[Strawbs]

It will be the best christmas present you have ever had, lets hope he gets it for you!! (Otherwise get it for yourself as a xmas present I say!)

[Convex]

If you are going to book her, I'd do it now rather than wait.

good luck, and lots of sympathy!