This is my son Wyatt's sleep journey
We welcomed our son into this world on August 27, 2020, and at that moment, I had no idea how difficult conquering the sleep world would be. We felt so lucky that Wyatt was a good sleeper from the start, those first few weeks at home felt like a breeze. There were several times I woke him up after 4 hours because he needed to eat! My husband and I took shifts, and we both managed to be get 5-7 hours of sleep each night, which seemed like a dream with a newborn.
Around the time Wyatt turned 3 months his sleep started to get worse and worse. He was fussy all day. I, being a stay at home mom, was desperate to get us both some sleep so I began rocking/feeding to sleep, contact napping, co sleeping, driving in the car, you name it I did it, just to get a decent nap for him- but I was running myself into the ground.
I found myself on Google, a lot. researching sleep training, following several accounts of sleep consultants, but I had no idea where to start. Wyatt was diagnosed with acid reflux and was prescribed medicine to help with it. It took 3 different medications to finally find one that seemed to help, but I knew acid reflux wasn't the entire issue. He was dependent on me to sleep. I knew to keep my sanity, we needed to make some changes, and that's when I reached out to a sleep consultant. Once his reflux was under control, his nighttime sleep seemed to improve and he was giving us 9-12 hours, so we left everything as is. As for naps, we were struggling hard. I wasn't following wake windows, I wasn't practicing independent sleep, and I had no set routine in place for him. After learning more about following age approbate WW, nap duration, and finding a gentle coaching method that worked for our family we began our journey with sleep training!
After 1 week we saw huge improvements. I was finally able to place him down for a nap in his crib, and leave the room! I was free to rest, or get work done around the house knowing my babe was getting the quality sleep he needed. I felt like a new person and a better mom for it. Wyatt went from taking short 20-30 minute naps, to taking 1+ hour long naps, and being able to fall asleep without me, and self soothe when he did wake up after a sleep cycle.
We started sleep training 2 weeks before the dreaded 4 month regression (which I didn't know was a thing as a FTM) and I was beginning to panic again. Was all the hard work we just put into this, going to set us back to square one? Luckily we DID NOT SKIP A BEAT. Wyatt's sleep stayed on track and we never hit that dreaded regression until the 6 month, thanks to teething, but even then after a few days of protesting his second nap, things got back on schedule again.
The sleep training experience for us was so life changing, that I decided this was how I wanted to spend my time, helping other families out there struggling to get good quality sleep. Families who were overwhelmed with the sleep training process, and at a loss as to where to start. I wanted to support them and empower them to be in control of their little ones sleep again.
Now as a certified sleep coach, I have helped so many families and met so many great mamas along the way. I'm passionate about what I do, and I believe it shows in the quality work I provide to my clients.
We still follow a pretty strict schedule with Wyatt, but I always try to follow and encourage other families to follow the 80/20 rule when it comes to sleep. Sleep isn't always perfect, we still experience hiccups with Wyatt. just know that your childs sleep does not have to control your life, and you are not alone!
Do you have a sleep story you would like to share? Drop below, I would Love to hear them!
Sweet Dreams,
Alexa xx
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