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Harry's sleep journey

Kaitlyn
Sleep Clinic Brisbane | Grow Medical | The Possums Clinic

Why won't my baby sleep?

I know how frequent night waking can almost break you as I endured it with my son Harry for over a year. By the time I went to Grow Medical I was exhausted. Actually, by the time I listened to the guidance of Grow Medical I was exhausted. You see I’d been there earlier and the Nurse Lactation consultant helped me understand infant sleep and the reasons as to why Harry wasn’t sleeping more soundly at night. I listened, and everything made sense, but when I started talking to people doubts about the program crept in. Many people said, “never wake a sleeping baby” and “babies need a certain amount of sleep each day” and “good long sleep promotes more sleep”, so I didn’t put into action any of the information I was told. I continued trying to promote long day time sleeps by sleeping beside my son and taking him for long walks and car rides in an effort to make him sleep longer under the belief that if he had a good sleep during the day he would sleep better at night!!

What can I do to help my baby sleep?

Fast-forward a couple of months and after another very broken night I called Grow Medical again. I saw a specialist GP who listened to our story with empathy and was so kind that I wanted to give her a hug! The doctor wrote out a management plan and I left feeling confident that in a couple of weeks we would be having much fewer wake ups.

The first week was hard. It was really hard. Because I had been prolonging Harry’s daytime sleep for so long it was like he had “jet lag” and by day 4 and 5 that “jet lag” feeling really hit him and it was really difficult to keep him awake. I found myself running to our local park to keep him awake! Honestly we spent 2 hours at our local park just trying to keep him awake!

Do I need to sleep train my baby?

We made it through the week and the first thing I noticed was how easy it was to get him to sleep. No more 20-30min nighttime feeding/rocking to sleep in a quiet room. Now it only took 5 minutes in the lounge room talking with my husband and BAM- Harry was asleep. AND this has continued ever since! At the end of week 2 we were experiencing about 4 night time wake ups, so we cut out time from his sleep. We woke him 15 minutes earlier in the morning and he went to bed 15mins later. By the middle of week 3, we got there. We had only two nighttime wake ups for the first time in over a year! We are now about 8 weeks into the program and Harry wakes anywhere between 1-3 times per night A HUGE difference from the 5-10 times that he was waking prior to going to Grow Medical.

One of the reasons why it took me so long to seek any medical help for Harry’s sleep was that I was so afraid of what they would instruct me to do. I have had many conversations with women who have used some sort of Cry It Out (CIO) method after advice from health professionals. However, this approach didn’t feel right for us.

I did have one doctor telling me to night wean Harry as they believed that this would reduce Harry’s frequent night waking, not a chance this would have helped, and I can only think of how traumatic and hard this would have been for both Harry and I! The program is gentle I could still boob to sleep and tend to every one of Harry’s cries, I did not have to ignore him even for a second.

How long should my baby sleep?

One of the key take-aways from Grow Medical is that not all babies need a huge amount of sleep and really trying to promote long daytime sleeps can have such a detrimental effect to night time sleep! I have a better understanding of my son Harry’s sleep and we have gone from a VERY frequent night waker to the normal 1-3 times per night. My only regret is not listening to them sooner and trusting their evidence based and, most importantly to me, gentle methods!

Thanks for reading,

Kaitlyn

Baby Sleep Clinic in Brisbane

At Grow Medical we have a wide range of General Practice, Nursing & Specialist services designed to help individuals, and to Grow the strength of families. They range from parents groups and drop in baby clinics with Kay Whitby, to consultations with Lactation Consultant GP Dr Sonja Morgan and Specialist GP Dr Kate Pink. Read more about our mothers and babies service here.

Call our Highgate Hill Team on 07 3036 4081 or email highgatehill@growmedical.com.au to see how we can help you.

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