I started talking to Nat after responding to one of her Instagram polls. She asked if I needed help and I honestly didn’t know where to start. Despite having been through baby sleep already with my now 3 year old, I felt totally lost with my 4 month old. There is such a barrage of information online I felt totally overwhelmed. I was a 2nd time mum, I should know what I was doing, but it’s so true that every baby is different. We had co-slept since day one, something we never did with our daughter, and our evenings consisted of yo-yoing up and down the stairs all evening to resettle the baby, until I would give up and just stay in bed with him, normally around 9pm, waving goodbye to any alone time with my husband, or giving me a chance to decompress from a day of solo parenting. Our son was either fed, rocked or bounced to sleep, which most of the time came with some sort of crying protest. Daytime sleep was also a mess – all naps were either contact, carrier or car. I thought I was following the right wake windows for his age but nothing seemed to buy us longer than a 90 min stretch at night. We were so, so broken and I felt like I was letting my toddler down as a parent. I had no energy, craved sugar and was constantly in a state of anxiety, dreading every night.
I loved Nat’s approach and the one to one support was something I really felt I needed to be able to finally address my son’s sleep. My husband works in a boarding school and is out the house 6 days a week, so knowing Nat would be there at every nap and every bedtime felt like the lifeline I needed. I also really liked that I didn’t have to confine myself to the house for a couple of weeks, which is impossible when you have a toddler to entertain on the days she’s out of nursery!
Nat sent the plan in advance and before we even started working together she was happy to answer questions I had about the approach, how it would fit with our current lifestyle and any concerns I had – which was natural given you’re about to make a huge change to your baby’s sleep and subsequently, your life (for the better, I must add).
On the first day of working together, I followed the plan to a T, and within 48 hours my son slept through the night. I was in shock. I felt like a new woman after a night of unbroken sleep. Even if we did face night wakes (which is biologically normal for a 5 month old) Nat had equipped us with the tools we needed to manage them. The ongoing support from Nat was invaluable. How she manages to message you before you’ve even thought about the next nap, along with so many other families, as well as raising her own 4 children blows my mind.
Nat has empowered myself and my husband with the skills we need to ensure not only that our son gets the sleep he needs, but that we do too. It’s made us far better parents to both children and we even made it out for a date night before our time with Nat was over.
I feel like I’ve made a friend in Nat, I’ll be really sad to not see her name pop up on my phone anymore! But she will be the first person I recommend if I hear anyone say they need help!
Charlotte and 5 month old Jesse