Here's what I learned from my sleep experience with Brady...
When I was pregnant, one of my biggest and most daunting concerns was the thought of never EVER having a full nights sleep again. I honestly don’t know what it is about being pregnant, but I swear people constantly tell you horror stories, and fill your mind with fear! Like, thanks guys – I wasn’t already scared enough now I reaaally cant wait to never sleep again in my life! But, having said that, there were also those on the other end of the spectrum (you know the ones, the lucky 1% who have magical babies that start sleeping through the night at 6 weeks old). So basically, I just didn’t really know what to expect!
After Brady was born, I became completely besotted (if you have been following me on Instagram for a while, you will already be well aware of this!). He was feeding regularly, so I was awake the usual 3 or 4 times per night for a feed, and then he would go back to sleep in between. I thought it was amazing that he didn't stay awake for extended periods of time, and started to feel like it wasn't so bad after all!
I started to wonder what all the fuss was about, because I was feeling like I was coping just fine with Brady as things were. I remember getting to the 6 week mark, and when he didn’t sleep through the night at that point, I remember being very disappointed, because for some reason I had this expectation that he was just going to magically happen. When it didn’t happen for us though, it took me a few days, but I finally got over it and adjusted my head space to the fact that it will happen one day (just not today!), and reminded myself of how wonderful it still was that he would only wake to feed and then go back to sleep again most nights anyway.
Alas, the days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into months - 9 months actually.
I was still managing okay with the waking up 2-5 times a night. But as the sleepless nights rolled on, the unhealthy sleep habits started to creep in, and were not great foundations for getting him to sleep through. I was exclusively breastfeeding, and the exhaustion started to creep up on me from this as well. I would put Brady in the bed with me and feed laying down (because 1: it was amazing, and 2: we both got that little bit more sleep). Brady soon learnt that this was the norm, so he would wake up more during the night, unless he was on the boob or next to me! At this stage he wouldn’t take a bottle or formula or anything - but what can I say, he had good taste! (just kidding), and there wasn’t much more that poor old dad could do to help anyway! Brady finally started taking a bottle at around 7 months, and that was amazing for us, however he would still wake-up throughout the night.
One morning, I got a comment on one of my pictures from the beautiful Sleep Mama (much to my surprise). I was so flattered because I have been following her story for years, and I didn’t realise that she was following mine in return. So when she commented on my picture, I thought, GREAT, this is my chance to reach out! So I did... I messaged her directly, and I asked for her help (and thank god I did!). Kylie's programs and sleep support is second to none! We started following the program for Brady’s age immediately, and it took a couple of weeks, but now he sleeps through the night from 7pm to 7am just like the dream boy he is! I cannot recommend highly enough or thank her enough!
Please if you are having any troubles with implementing your own healthy sleeping patterns, and are suffering from the torturous sleep deprivation, then Kylie and her team is what you need! She saved our lives - so THANK YOU Sleep Mama!
Kylie Camps of 'Sleep Mumma' with her family.