Is your baby a terrible sleeper? Do they wake countless times through the night demanding for food? Are you utterly exhausted and in need of desperate help?
For us, the answer to all these questions was, ‘Yes.’ And then we had the opportunity to have a Skype conversation with one of the UK’s leading sleep experts, Jo Tantum. And she totally changed our lives. If you are in need of a decent nights sleep, then you must watch this video, take copious notes and then watch it again. The treasures held in it will potentially transform your life. She talks about common mistakes & sleep techniques to get your baby sleeping like a … well… like a baby.
If you’re a follower of our Blog, Instagram or Twitter you’ll know that in the last 6 1/2 months my wife has accumulated 3 Hours and 23 minutes sleep. That’s almost true!
During the day the boy could not be any more wonderful. His is content, happy to play on his own, happy to be put down and can happily amuse himself. He is a very contented baby; I like to think that he has inherited his fathers laid back disposition.
But…
At night, when he woke up, and he woke up a lot, he didn’t settle back to sleep without a feed. He has been known to wake up every hour through the night and a good night for us, was one where we were only up 4 times. So it was amazing when we found out that we were going to have a chat with Jo Tantum. I knew that she would solve all our problems in the blink of an eye… what I didn’t consider was that actually, her advice is brilliant, but it’s us that has to implement it. (Despite us offering for her to move in for a short while…)
Watching the video will hopefully be very useful to you too, as much of what she says is transferrable. You’ll see what we were doing wrong and what her advice was to fix it and 2 weeks on from the conversation, I can safely say that our lives are transformed. We have dropped from 12 night feeds to none. It was a tough 2 weeks but we stuck it out and the results speak for themselves. Ted now falls asleep between 6.30 and 7 and we don’t hear from him again until 6am. *touches wood very quickly. Anyway, watch the video and I hope it gives you some hints & tips for things you can do in your situation.
We also heard about how Pampers nappies can help your baby sleep too. Staying dry and comfortable can be a massive help! Worth investigating!
If you have any questions, send us an email via our contact page or sign to The Dad List!
Thank you so much for sharing this! I hadn’t even thought of how his daytime routine of naps and feeding were affecting his sleep at night. Mikey will be 6 months on Tue & I exclusively breastfeed probably about every 2 hours and he only naps about 30-45 min 3 times a day. He wakes anywhere from 4-7 times a night and I put him to sleep usually with feedings. I know things need to change. I look forward to setting aside the next 10 days or so to changing our routine and not feeling so sleep deprived.
How is it going Elvira? Any signs of improvements? I do hope so.
Jen
We are having some improvement! I’ve had a few things we’ve had to do & my father in law is here till Tue so nap times were a little later yesterday and today but he has been sleeping much longer during the naps- esp the afternoon one. We’ve gone from 30/45 to 90/120 minutes! And the other two naps are at an hour. He’s only woken 3 times at night with 2 feedings which are a definite improvement from avg of 4 feedings and a lot more waking up. The soothing methods have helped and work most of the time. I couldn’t believe how he fell so quickly asleep with the butt jiggle. My hardest part is spacing the feedings. I’m At about 2 1/2-3 hours in between. I didn’t realize just how often I was feeding him before and how much that affected his routine.
Thank you for thinking of us! I will definitely still keep you posted on how were doing. The struggle is real but I have a lot of faith, especially that we’ve already had some improvements.
So pleased things are improving. I know it is hard but stick with it. Here if you need me so just shout :)
Well, day 4 and we’re seeing improvements! I didn’t feed Eliza until 6am last night and she didn’t mind at all! She still wakes up a couple of times but is happy to be soothed back to sleep by us (the other benefit of not feeding her – my husband can help!!!) Her naps have magically become a bit longer too, but she needs white noise on to help with that. Life is already changing, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!
So, so pleased to hear tha, can’t wait for the next update.
Jen :)
Sooooo… 2 weeks on and she has slept for ten and a half hours for the past two nights! I literally can’t believe it :D
Naps are still a bit rubbish, but have gone from 30 to 40ish minutes so we’re getting there!
Can’t thank you guys enough.
Quick message from Jo for those of you asking about Teds day routine –
At 6 months Ted has 4 hourly milk feeds, 3 meals a day and has naps every 2 hours of wake time. (3 naps a day.)
Hope that helps :)
I think eliza is about a week younger than ted. Are you still following that routine? I’m clueless as to when she should stay awake for longer!
this was very helpful but the background music added is so distracting. I had to watch a couple of times because I couldn’t hear over the noise of the music.
Thanks for your feedback – will definitely bear that in mind next time! :)
Thanks for the feedback. You are not the only one that said that so ill sort it. Thank you. good luck with the sleep training.