When we first met Tracy our little guy had been waking up every 1.5-3hrs for about two months. We were barely surviving and didn’t even know it.
Our baby was dependent on his moms milk and that was the only way to get him to sleep. He had no clue how to self sooth and therefore with every roll, or flail, he would be up and crying. He was 6.5 months old, still partially swaddled, went to be at 9pm or later, and must have been so horribly overtired.
At that point I was so exhausted from trying to get him to nap unsuccessfully (rocking, bouncing, feeding, swinging) that when I knew he needed the nap I would just take him for a drive. While this helped him nap, it took a big toll on my body from constantly dragging the bucket in and out of the car 2-3 times more a day than usual.
I was very particular about what I was and wasn’t willing to do, and Tracy was really great at presenting me options, talking them to death until I felt i fully understood, and could feel comfortable with the route we would take to deal with it. I was against any form of letting him cry and thought I was properly educated on the subject, but after gaining more information on it, as well as talking through all of the other options, my son’s age, character etc. I realized that if my goall was to do right by him, it may require me to open my mind up more on the subject. The difference between Tracy’s approach and every other thing i had heard, read, about letting babies cry was that it wasn’t JUST about that. It was about a complete structural overhaul of our lives that would set our son up for success. Putting him down at the right times, how not to let him get overtired, how to read the getting tired signs propoerly, how his room setup should be, how to create habits that will be triggers to letting him know bedtime is coming next, making sure his bed is his cozy spot and he is happy there. It is this full spectrum approach that I believe led to our success and made the process a thousand times less painful than I imagined!
Honestly, Tracy changed our lives within 24 hours.
Within 24 hours my son learned how to be put down in his crib awake, and fall asleep on his own, unswaddled, to wake up and fall back asleep without crying, and right away slept 6 hours straight.
Within a week and a half he slept his first 13 hour straight night, that was 2 months ago and we haven’t looked back since! He now goes to bed between 5:30-6:30pm depending on how the day went, and wakes up betwen 6:30-7am. Takes his naps in his crib, is always put down awake, and usually wakes up giggling and happy.
Most importantly, he is finally getting the sleep that he needs, and I have never seen him learn and retain things faster.
The bonus is that we have some me time, some we time, and lots of sleep time!
We took Tracy’s package that included 3 days of “texting support”, which was such an amazing option to have. I felt like i was her only client, and probably asked her a record breaking number of questions in that time period. Even when the 3 days were up Tracy made a point to check in once and awhile to see how we were doing. I felt extrememly comfortable with her and feel so fortunate to have found her.
This picture is the kind I used to have hundreds of and has now become a rarity. Our baby boy asleep. It used to be so easy to take photos like this, but not anymore since we wouldn’t want to go into his room and disturb him to take them!
THANK YOU TRACY!