Guest post by Christie Paterson

In the Beginning

When I first learned I was going to be a mom I never knew helping a child learn to sleep would be such a difficult road.

Our son was born not sleeping.

As a newborn we were lucky if he slept 4 hours in a 24 hour period. After months of colic we knew he had a sleep issue and had no idea how to help him. He was so chronically overtired that it would take hours of screaming

and bopping

and nursing

and walking

to finally get him to sleep out of sheer exhaustion only to have him wake up in 20 minutes screaming still tired.

The Breaking Point

We knew we needed to do something but had no idea what. I read countless sleep books about sleep training, we left him to cry himself to sleep, we had a sleep sheep, we got blackout blinds for his room and started a very early bedtime at 6pm. After the colic subsided, we started to see some improvement with his night sleep. He still woke through the night several times but we left him and were consistent with our training.

By 10 months, he was still very cranky, naps were a constant fight for a 20 minute nap only to have him wake up screaming and still tired. Our whole family was exhausted and emotionally drained. As I would soon  be returning to work, I knew we needed professional help. That is when I enlisted the help of Baby Sleep 101.

The Plan and Emotional Support

I learned that I was doing many things right but still nursing him to sleep and allowing him to become overtired resulting in a chronic sleep debt from birth that he needed to catch up on. With the help of Baby Sleep 101 I was given a custom made schedule to match Logan’s circadian rhythm. I didn’t see progress right away and was very disheartened when a month later we were still struggling. But with my sleep plan I was able to receive the guidance and emotional support to continue. Six weeks into our sleep plan the changes started happening and I couldn’t help but cry. Logan started falling asleep without crying and for longer periods. These small leaps kept happening until we were where we are today and I could not be happier or more grateful.

Where We Are Today

Logan is now a happy healthy 14 month old who has 2 consistent naps a day each about an hour and a half and sleeps 11-12 hours through the night.The biggest surprise is his attitude. He wakes up and happily talks and plays in his crib. If it wasn’t for my baby monitor I would not even know he was awake!

He has learned his routine so well that he actually goes to his room when it gets close to nap time and loves his nap and bedtime cuddles that he used to fight so ferociously. I never would have guessed we would be where we are today.

We are finally a well rested family.

All of us!

Thank you Baby Sleep 101 for your guidance, compassion and support in helping our family to get the sleep we need and for helping us give Logan the tools to sleep for the rest of his life! We are so proud of our hard work and could not have done this without you!