UPDATE: 12/08/11 7:07 PM MST | Congratulations to Ain't No Mom Jeans reader Rhonda Bangston, tonight's winner of the Baby Sleep Site giveaway! Winner was chosen at random by a number generated from random.org.
Oh, hey Mamas! Don't forget the Baby Sleep Site promo codes! They have generously offered ANMJ readers 10% off personalized sleep consultation services (you need to open a Help Desk account and be logged in to use code ANMJ2011) and/or $10 off their eBook Mastering Naps & Schedules.
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You never know what a precious commodity sleep is until you're subjected to sleep deprivation torture. Or you have kids. As a first time mom of a young babe who never really took to sleeping, I kept reminding myself that it would pass. That I would only be able to snuggle my sweet boy in the wee hours of the morning for such a very, very short time before he would be hopping off my lap, refusing to snuggle at all, going away to college and getting married and having babies himself. And these things are true. Time hit the gas pedal as soon as I met one of the three most charming people I have ever met in my entire life. But people (even my beloved bub) are a heck of a lot more charming after a good nights' sleep. And a very, very short time turns into a very long time as hours of lost sleep turn into days--even weeks--and days blend into nights. . .
Nearly four years, one younger sibling (who's a naturally excellent sleeper), and two trimesters of a third pregnancy later, I'd had it with the wait-it-out approach. I could never have imagined that a very short, sweet time could drag on for soooooo long. H. had become habituated to waking for twice-nightly snuggles (at least), felt entitled to sleep in our bed, and even liked sleeping on a mat right next to me on the floor when I “put my foot down.”
I looked into local sleep consultants and even considered paying the $400-$600 consultation fee on the sly (Hubs would never roll with that price tag no matter how tired he was). We tried the Goodnight Grab Bag, shunned the Goodnight Grab Bag, incentivized H. with other treats and tricks, changed the position of his bed, put him back into his crib with the front taken off, let him pick his own sheets, moved him into a room with his brother, silently escorted him back to bed 5 to 10 times per night (when we were coherent enough to do so), but never in one coordinated effort. We were just too tired, cranky and entrenched in infighting to get ahead of the situation. We desperately needed someone to think for us.
Enter Nicole Johnson, the mom/wife/sleep expert behind The Baby Sleep Site. She’s made it her business to think for sleep-deprived parents in a reasonably priced, accessible format and she saved us. Seriously saved us from ourselves. I purchased an email consultation package with a personalized sleep plan towards the end of September this year. Through the Baby Sleep Site’s Help Desk, I completed an in-depth form, which helps sleepless parents summarize the problem and collects detailed information about your kids’ personalities, sleep habits, etc. Within three business days, I had a personalized sleep plan to implement.
The plan gave very specific, systematic suggestions for how to deal with our sleeplessness, none of which involved letting our boys “cry it out,” locking or baby-gating them in their room, or otherwise unpalatable (to me, anyway) tactics. Some ideas were familiar, such as incentivizing and repeatedly walking the kiddos back to bed, but she gave us other ideas, and a very specific timeframe (nights 1-5 do this, days 5-10 phase that out. . . ), and in a very regimented format that helped Hubs and I stick to the plan and ultimately make it work.
Since I’ve often been blamed for Huck’s sleep issues—I frequently nursed him to sleep and loved lazy 3 AM co-sleeping until I realized I may have three children in my bed by the end of 2011 (whatever, I didn’t see anyone hopping up too fast to help out!)—the plan was invaluable in getting Dave on-board to find a solution to our sleep problem. There’s just something about an official-looking PDF document with an unambiguous attack strategy that a guy can really buy in to.
Within two weeks of implementing the Baby Sleep Site plan, H. was sleeping like a rock star, and has continued to do so for the last 10 weeks. He sacks out at 8 PM, no more than squawks on occasion and sleeps until 7 or 7:30 AM. He’s so proud, he even brags about it now to most anyone who will listen. His energy level is up. His (and our!) crankiness is down. He’s eating better, and we’re feeling capable of handling a newborn now that we know we have two older kids who can sleep. Hallelujah & thank you Baby Sleep Site!
The Baby Sleep Site has made such a huge difference for my family that I asked them take part in our Season of Giveaways (we’ve lined up reader giveaways through the end of the year!) and they’ve gone above & beyond.
The Baby Sleep site ponied up a Basic Email Consultation Package for this giveaway! If you are confused about how to get started or where to go next, the Basic Email Consultaion Package is a great option to receive a Personalized Family Sleep Plan complete with a day-by-day action plan. The sleep plan is customized for your family given the family history you provide, your parenting philosophy, your baby’s temperament and personality, and your goals. The Sleep Plan is like a little book written just for you and your family. This package also comes with one follow-up e-mail to help fine tune the plan after you put strategies to work or a new issue comes up.
Enter now to win a Baby Sleep Site Basic E-Mail Consultation Package
To enter to win a Basic E-Mail Consultation Package, a $115 value, courtesy of The Baby Sleep Site, “like” this post on the Ain’t No Mom Jeans FaceBook page and let us know in the comments below. Entrants must be 18 or older and located in the US or Canada. Winner will be chosen at random on Thursday night, December 8th.
Promo Codes for Ain’t No Mom Jeans Readers
Nicole would like to offer ANMJ readers $10 off her Mastering Naps and Schedules ebook. Here's the link: http://www.babynapswell.com/aintnomomjeans
To receive 10% off Baby Sleep Site personalized sleep consultation services, Ain’t No Mom Jeans readers just need to sign up for (and be logged into) a Baby Sleep Site Help Desk account to use coupon code ANMJ2011. Click here to sign up for a Baby Sleep Site Help Desk Account.
A HUGE thanks to Nicole Johnson, baby sleep expert at the The Baby Sleep Site for such a generous giveaway and for saving my husband and my sanity!
Good luck and happy holidays, Mamas xo!
- M.
