Sleep Problems Parent Feedback

Parents Talk About Sleep Problems And Their Children

From Natalie, mother of Sarah aged 5*

Our sleep problems started when Sarah was 3 months old and wouldn’t feed to sleep anymore.

She just wouldn’t settle. Then things suddenly went down hill fast. She was too sleepy to feed properly and too hungry to sleep. We were all so strung out I knew I had to do something quickly or have a real problem. Luckily my Health Nurse was able to get us an appointment with a baby sleep expert at a nearby clinic.

The day we arrived at the clinic Sarah had barely slept in the previous 12 hours and had refused her last feed. She hadn’t fed much the day before either so I was getting worried. I kept thinking “thank goodness the sleep clinic is in a hospital”. I knew if something didn’t improve that day she would be in trouble. The nurse taught us a form of controlled crying appropriate for Sarah’s very young age. It made an immediate improvement and after a good sleep she fed well for the first time in days. She slept well that night too. Of course we had to keep up the controlled crying technique. It did get easier.

We had to move house about two months after this all happened. It certainly stirred everything back up again. Thankfully, we were able to put a structured bed time in place quickly after the move and revisited the settling techniques we were taught at the clinic. Things soon got back on track.

Sarah now sleeps really well. Like any 5 year old, she knows every trick in the book to delay going to bed as long as she can, but really, there's no problem. I have to say that having this technique was a life saver for us all.”

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