“Life changing in every way”- the sleep journey of a BabyBliss family

Our first 6 months were tough as a family when it came to sleep
My life with our baby boy, Noah, before Jo came to the rescue was five to six hours a day wearing him in a wrap for his day naps and co-sleeping with him in our bed at night, with my husband in the spare room.

Noah is a light sleeper so during the day I was bouncing on an exercise ball to put him to sleep. I couldn’t cook for myself during this time or talk (nor could anyone else in the house). At nights, Noah would wake between five and seven times a night and the only way I could get him back to sleep was to breast feed him. I would then be stuck lying on my side until he woke up again, because he would wake if I rolled onto my back or moved.

My body was aching from being in the same position without being able to move, night after night, and I wasn’t getting a lot of deep sleep due to the amount of times he was waking throughout the night. The first few months of this were manageable but it really started to wear on me into the fifth month.

Then Jo came and things changed overnight
Noah was finally able to sleep in his cot for all his day sleeps which allowed me to:
– Cook and get washing and cleaning done
– Catch up with family/friends over the phone/Skype while he slept
– Get any work done that was needed for my husband’s business
– Shower and rest if I needed it
– Share meals and a bed with my husband again and reignite our intimacy
– Get a minimum of 6 hours of solid sleep a night, which meant I could start to feel normal again
– Have the daily freedom to leave the house for longer periods of time and run errands that I kept putting off as they were too far away from our house
– Have confidence that I knew how to settle and resettle him every time he needed it
– See the benefits of Noah getting solid, uninterrupted sleep
– Have my girlfriends over for dinner after Noah went to bed for the night

The day it turned around for us
Just before Noah turned six months old we brought Jo in one day to help transition him from his day naps in the wrap to his cot. It was amazing to stand beside her and watch her accomplish what I hadn’t been able to do on my own, no matter how many times I had tried.

Her experience with settling so many babies throughout the years means she has all the tips and tricks that work. When you’re a first-time parent you can sometimes feel like you’re stabbing around in the dark trying to figure out how to settle your baby.

Noah took to Jo’s gentle settling technique straight away and from that day forward he has been having all his day naps in his cot. I knew that to be successful at fully transitioning him I had to be persistent and consistent with using the technique and not fall back into old routines. Because I could see it working it was easy to stick with it.

The three night stay
The following week we brought Jo back for a three night stay to help him sleep through the night with just one wake in the early morning for a feed. The first night she was there he woke nine times! The second night he woke four times and by the third night he woke only twice.

The first night Jo was there my husband and I went out to dinner, our first together without Noah since he’d arrived. I bawled the entire way to the restaurant. I knew it was the end of us sharing the beautiful experience of co-sleeping together. It is something I will cherish and remember always. Even though I was getting woken so many times a night I was still going to miss it.

This was also the first time I was able to sleep in the same bed as my husband again after six months. It was also the first time I was getting more than three hours sleep in a row in six months and boy did I need it.

First night on our own
The first night we were on our own after Jo left I was both nervous and excited to see how he would do. He woke up ONCE for a feed at 4am and went back to sleep until just after 7am!

Since then his night sleeps have been AMAZING. Solid and consistent.

I learnt so much
Because he’s a lighter sleeper he needed his own space, in his own room so that he wasn’t being disturbed by me or other noises. As much as I would have loved to have kept co-sleeping with him, unfortunately it just didn’t work for us.

Before Jo came, Noah would start crying if he was in the car for longer than 12-15 minutes so I wouldn’t go very far from home to avoid this situation.

Once Jo taught him to sleep on his own in his cot this removed me as his sleep association and allowed him to fall asleep in the car. This completely freed me up to be able to get more errands done and go places again that I hadn’t been able to go since he was born. We took a weekend trip out of town and he slept the ENTIRE way there and back which was the longest he’s ever slept in the car before!

Extended support
Recently, we did our first overseas trip with him to Maui where I had to do an overnight and day flight with him as well as adjusting to different time zones. I emailed Jo an SOS email in the middle of the night in Maui as I was struggling and felt I was regressing with him. She wrote back within 20 minutes with amazing support that WORKED as soon as I implemented it.

I’ve paid to extend my email and phone follow-up support with Jo, and will continue to do so as the support she provides is second to none and is INVALUABLE in both my opinion as well as my husbands.

I have Jo’s book, BabyBliss, book on my iPhone and continue to read it when I need a boost. I’ve read several baby books and hers has been the most helpful to me. It’s a MUST read and is so helpful just to understand the developmental stages of your baby as well.

The greatest investment for you and your family

If you can afford it, don’t even think twice about getting Jo in. If you can’t afford the overnight stays there are several other options available to meet everyone’s needs.

I recommend Jo to absolutely everyone I know who is struggling with settling their baby or going through a sleep regression/transition. I buy her book for my pregnant friends as it’s the perfect baby gift and I will continue to call on her when I need the support.

I will forever be grateful to Jo for everything she has done for us. Thank you, Jo!