When it comes to my third child, sleep has been a constant source of stress. I worry that he doesn’t get enough and what that could mean for his development. I reached my breaking point when he was 6.5 months old and waking every 5 to 60 minutes through the night. When I burst into rage from the prolonged sleep exhaustion, I realized something had to change but I didn’t know how. So I just kept telling myself that he will sleep better, somehow, one day.
The sleep stress started to spill over into my everyday life — our home was in a constant state of anxiety. I broke down countless times and my husband finally saw that we needed some help to help our baby sleep better.
Under the recommendation of a close friend, I decided to enlist the help of baby sleep expert, Zoe Chu. And it changed our lives.
I engaged Zoe over a course of 3 weeks. I updated her on our sleep training progress, she evaluated them and offered me tweaks and encouragement. She offered me solutions for when my baby cat naps, when he couldn’t take solid naps, when he woke in the middle of the night. With each day, I felt less stress.
It turns out, working with a sleep consultant was more for me than for my baby. My worries were getting in the way and I needed someone to say, “He’ll be okay. Don’t pick him when we know he is just protesting.” I received amazing advice from my family and friends prior to working with Zoe, but I wasn’t listening. Because of the sleep training program and knowing Zoe was there if I needed some support or guidance, my confidence grew, and I let my baby develop the skills to self soothe, fall and stay asleep all by himself.
What I gained most from this experience was to trust myself as a mummy and to trust my baby. I think the hardest part was having that faith in myself. If you think you need a bit of help to get you there, do it.
This experience changed our lives for the better — when the three weeks was up, hubby said that he noticed how much lighter and happier I was. We put so much pressure on ourselves, but help is out there if we need it and are brave enough to accept it.
-Wendy, Mom of 3
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