Thank you to all of those who submitted questions for this podcast interview! I’m so stoked for today’s #momtalkmonday.
I’ve never done a podcast before but let me tell you, it was so fun. I really felt like I was on a radio show but without the giant microphone, lol! Let me start by giving some background to my own personal experience with Melissa from Sleep Shop OC. If you’ve followed along for a while, you know that Austin and I really struggled with Colette in the sleep department. From day one, she hated sleep at night. She was diagnosed with Colic, cried constantly and would wake up multiple times each night from birth until 17 months. Sometimes it would take me an hour to get her back to sleep. I honestly don’t know how we survived but I dreaded the evenings with every ounce of my being. Several of our friends had babies around the same time and one by one, I saw them sleeping through the night…some by sleep training them and some just naturally figured it out. I felt really anxious and defeated that we just couldn’t figure it out with Coco. One of the most annoying questions you’ll get when you have a newborn is, “is he/she sleeping through the night yet”? Like so many things with motherhood, it almost seems like a competition. And that the fact that your baby is not sleeping through the night gives a sense of inferiority. At least it did for me. I only wish I were confident enough in myself to be able to let those comments pass me by but I just wasn’t at the time…colic, sleep deprivation, fluctuating hormones was a recipe for pretty much insanity.
Right around 17 months, I was working with one of my closet clients (see her closet overhaul here), and she promptly suggested I call Melissa having worked with her before. I was hesitant because I assumed it would cost a fortune and I would be forced to having Coco “cry it out” which I was really against (although tried out of desperation many times). Austin and I mulled it over and decided to reach out to her. And in 10 days, Coco was sleeping through the night. It really seemed too good to be true. Is she still a pistol when it comes to sleep? You bet. Did she and does she still cry at bedtime? She did and she still does sometimes. Is sleep a seemingly constantly evolving battle with her? Yes. Some kids are just shitty sleepers. Go figure. But now I know what to do and how to navigate it which makes Austin and I feel like they have a handle on the situation. I also felt very empowered working with Melissa which was something I hadn’t felt since Coco was a newborn! My baby was finally sleeping through the night. Many of you reached out directly to ask me about my experience working with a sleep consultant and if you have questions or reservations, please feel free to do the same! I’m happy to share more in depth details about our experience if you’re interested. But for now, take a listen and subscribe to her amazing podcast. I promise, you’ll learn a ton from her on caring for your children. Melissa is giving away a free consult to one of my readers! Be sure to check my Instagram account for entry details. In case you missed it, here were the questions submitted and answered:
- How do I get my 3.5 year old to sleep past 6:00 am?
- How do you know when it is the appropriate age to drop nap time?
- How do I shorten bedtime, especially when it often takes around 2 hours to get baby down to sleep?
- How do I get my 6 month old to sleep through the night and/or go longer than 2 hour stretches?
- How can I get baby to stay fuller for longer?
- I pulled the pacifier and now bedtime is a complete battle. Help!
- How do I combat the 4 month sleep developmental interruption without crying it out?
- How do I establish a routine for newborns?
- What are best practices for putting baby down for a naptime as opposed to for bedtime?
- How to survive the first few weeks after baby is born?
You can access the podcast and answers to all of these questions here.
You can read all about the services Sleep Shop OC provides here. As always, thank you so much for following along! xo
