6 months old, rocked to sleep, bedsharing and feeding several times a night

Sienna was settled to sleep with a dummy and in a rocking chair for all naps, and was then transferred to mum’s bed. If this didn’t work mum had to resort to using the carrier or car for naps. Mum had tried to follow a routine but could just never get it to happen.

At bedtime, she often wouldn’t settle to sleep for hours, having lots of false starts. The whole process was exhausting. By 10pm she’d usually finally fall asleep and then mum would need to bedshare overnight as Sienna would wake at every sleep cycle needing the breast or dummy to resettle for all wakes.

We worked on getting Sienna on to an age-appropriate routine, reducing feeds overnight, and offering the right mix of solids during the day. We also made sure her sleep environment was set up well, and introduced pre-sleep rituals before every nap and bedtime to help ensure Sienna was primed for sleep. We also weaned the dummy and introduced a new settling method that started to give Sienna the opportunity to initiate sleep herself.

When we wrapped, Sienna was falling asleep independently for all sleep times and would take only a few minutes each time. She was sleeping in her cot for all naps and overnight, waking just for one feed and resettling herself for any wakes. And here’s what mum had to say after finishing up with me,

“We are very grateful for Mel’s help and guidance with our 6 months old’s sleep training. She is now sleeping independently in her room and settles herself in minutes.

This has been life changing for us and our baby is so much happier and energetic. I wish I had found you earlier. I would highly recommend Mel’s program for any struggling mothers out there”.

Shelley, Sydney, Australia