I had the pleasure of hanging out with a girlfriend’s beautiful girl over the weekend, and she’s just perfect. She’s a textbook baby in every way. Obviously, the conversation eventually rolls over to sleep and how she’s going and Parker is a dream baby. She will feed to sleep and sleep well, she rarely cries, uses a dummy and will sleep wherever when she’s tired.
What a joy way to be around this gorgeous little girl, because even though I know these babies exist I seldom get to meet them he reality yours I know These babies exist I know that they exist in high numbers but they’re not the babies that I meet.
I understand why so many people say just trust your instinct, trust your baby, feed them to sleep it’s fine, they will be fine. It’s natural. It’s normal you’re not creating a rod for your own back.
I get it, I know that there are lots of babies and families that have beautiful harmony with all the feeding cosleeping and going with the flow, and that’s absolutely wonderful. I hope that many parents are lucky enough to have babies like this.
But I’ve been working in this industry for 20 years and I know that not all babies are like that, for them, everything seems to be a battle. Sleep, feeding routine or just general flow the day and being happy just doesn’t come naturally for whatever reason. For many of the families that I work with most days are a struggle, mums and babies are exhausted and confused, as much as mums try things are not getting better they are getting worse. I work with mums who spend hours day and night standing bouncing their baby’s to sleep because every time they go sit down they cry hard demanding their mum gets back up again. I work with parents whose babies sleep in blocks of 45mins to 2 hours. I work with mums whose babies need to stay latched for five or six hours to stay asleep, mums whose bodies ache from being stuck in uncomfortable positions so their baby would stay asleep, parents who spend 1.5 hours trying to get their baby to sleep only for them to wake 45 minutes later and the process starts all over again. I work with parents who are emotionally mentally and physically exhausted, knowing that what they’re doing is not working and beating themselves up because everybody else seems to have it so easy.
And then they feel judged for “Sleep Training”
No matter how much I try to help people understand that there is a HUGE difference between Sleep Training and Teaching your baby how to sleep, its so easy to judge and make assumptions when someone says they have enlisted the help of a sleep specialist
I’ve worked with over 15,000 families over the last 20 years. I have made it my mission to show parents how they can GENTLY support babies and toddlers onto better routines. I have sat beside cuddles and supported many mums and babies day and night. Not closed the door walked away and left them to it as many would like you to think.
A mum reaching out and seeking help is not doing so because she’s lazy, she’s doing it because she needs help, and to ask for that help is difficult, it’s even harder to feel judged because of it.
I know that no two families are alike. I have made it my mission to help parents understand their babies, support them through their journey, and help mums become more confident in their own parenting because these years truly are the best years and when mums are more confident families thrive.
So please next time think twice before making assumptions about another mother’s choice, understand that her journey is not the same as yours.
If I have helped you in any way please share this post so another mother who may be hiding her struggle finds the confidence to reach out.
