Evgenia, Ealing - Anya 4.5 months.

Sleep Training
Routine
Behaviour

I contacted Brenda after a friend recommended her as a sleep trainer for babies. This was at a time when my daughter was 4.5 months and I was on the verge of a breakdown due to sleep deprivation, as well as feeling completely out of control and dreading each new day. My daughter was not on any routine and I had miserably failed with DIY sleep training after reading multiple books. The baby was sleeping with white noise from my phone app which disturbed my and my husband's sleep, and we were struggling with swaddling because by that age she was already fighting it. The worst thing was that the baby didn't sleep for longer than 40-60 minutes at a time at night, and I found myself getting up and giving her the breast every hour (!), because I didn't know when I should feed her versus just comforting her. Her naps in the daytime were erratic and I was super-stressed trying to get her down. The naps were super-short. The baby was super-tired, clingy and difficult to manage. Dummies didn't work and the only thing that I could do to send her to sleep was to either rock her to sleep or keep her on the breast. The whole experience was exhausting and I hated myself for resenting my baby.

 

When Brenda arrived, the change in my baby's behavior was almost immediate - it was like Brenda was a magician! Implementing Brenda's recommendations was the single best thing I had done since becoming a mum. Anya's sleep improved by 80% within 48 hours and she was sleeping from 7pm till 6-6.30am within several days. Brenda's coaching during her visit, as well as support afterwards really helped me to change my mindset from a victim to feeling like I am in control. All the hard work over the first few weeks really paid off, so that even after Anya was ill for a few days (and I was afraid that all the hard work would have gone to waste and we'd be back to square one with disturbed nights), she was able to quickly get back to sleeping through the night after recovery while keeping all her naps. Every day now, I am still amazed that it is possible for me to just put my baby to the cot, walk out and she would quickly fall asleep by herself (something I could have never imagined just 2 months ago). When I look at the baby monitor, I cannot stop being amazed how this baby who I thought would never be able to learn to sleep on her own is now happily resettling herself without crying for help. My daughter is a happy baby who is growing and developing well and is a real delight to be with.

My quality of life has massively improved in the past few weeks, and I am finally enjoying my baby! When I hear how my NCT friends with babies of the same age are now struggling even though their babies appeared to be good sleepers in the first few months, I can fully appreciate the value of Brenda's recommendations (especially a strict routine). Hiring Brenda has been one of the best investments I've ever done, and I am recommending her to my friends.

Thank you so much once again for all your help and support.