Helping Your 6-Month-Old Baby Sleep Better
Would your life be different…
…if your baby went down for naps without a fuss?
…if your baby woke up smiling and happy to see you after a 1.5-2.5 hour nap?
…if you actually had time to meet up with a friend, get your hair done, grab a coffee, or read a book? Time to simply fill your cup back up?
Let me tell you about Mariah, Josh, and sweet baby Henry.
Mariah scheduled a call with me one morning about a month ago, and I could tell she was juuuuuust a little stressed out by her 6-month-old's sleep, or rather, lack thereof.
She asked all the questions and valid concerns I normally hear on this type of call:
-Does this really work? What I'm currently doing isn't working…
-I'm scared this will damage my relationship with my child and his secure attachment.
-What about the crying?? Will he cry? I don't think I can handle that.
-Is this the right time? Is there a better time?
We spent quite a bit of time chatting, and she decided that yes, this was in fact the best option for her family at this time. With a husband who traveled quite a bit for work, she needed a break from solo parenting for days at a time, and her baby clearly needed sleep. It was a mess as it was.
When she returned her intake questionnaire to me, something she wrote about her goals for her son, Henry, really caught my eye:
"I want a plan, I want to know when to intervene, I don’t want to give up nursing but want to empower others to give Henry what he needs for sleep, I want to feel like I’m allowed to leave the house without returning to a meltdown, I want a sleek foundation that can ebb and flow with natural milestones/regressions/ transitions, and I want SAFE sleep cause I’m an anxious FTM and I’ve already explored all the unsafe sleep crutches."
First off - I love how honest and vulnerable she was with sharing this with me. One of our company goals at Lake Country Sleep is to help our clients feel confident and empowered when it comes to providing healthy sleep for their child.
Let me tell you - WE HAVE ACHIEVED ALL OF THAT! And our time together isn't even over yet! 😂
I also want to share a little more about baby Henry, Mariah, and Josh:
Before working together, Henry had been in the first percentile for weight his whole life. He was such a peanut! He had his 6-month child well-check 10 days into our sleep plan. I'm not kidding you, he had a growth spurt, put on two pounds, and is now in the 13th percentile since he started sleeping better!
Henry started crawling on his mama's birthday, 4 days into our sleep plan.
Henry said his first word, “dada,” on his dad's birthday, about a week into our plan.
Mariah and Josh had time together for the first time in a long time where they weren’t completely exhausted…and they may or may not have skinny dipped in their pool and started talking about having baby no. 2!
There is something to be said about healthy, consolidated sleep. It’s magical…for everyone!
I truly love that the work we do at Lake Country Sleep truly changes lives, for the better.
Here’s what Mariah and Josh have had to say about working together to help Henry become an AMAZING little sleeper:
“Let me start by saying, I was a nervous wreck when it came to even thinking about sleep training. I called Erin out of pure panic and desperation — nobody was sleeping — we were all waking multiple times a night, and daytime naps were just comical at that point. ALL our “crutches” had stopped working: the SNOO, nursing to sleep, naps in a swing, the swaddle, the car naps — our last resort ended up having me trapped contact napping in a dark nursery for hours of the day. I very much resented my husband, I couldn’t work, or leave the house, and I was losing my mind.
Our baby boy just turned 6 months old when I reached out to Erin, and in our first meeting, I knew she was the one for me. She had me at “sleep besties” and that’s exactly what we became! It took us a couple of weeks to really feel emotionally and logistically ready to begin sleep training, but even with our semi-cold feet Erin reached out and supported us in realizing the sooner we start, the sooner we sleep — we could have seriously postponed for months and came up with a gazillion excuses not to start but she patiently addressed each of our fears with so much warmth, data, case studies, and lived experience.
If you’re still reading, just buy the biggest package — because investing in two solid weeks of constant and in most cases, instant support from the LCS team on Voxer was life-changing. I knew I needed a gentle hand to hold, I was envisioning SO MANY TEARS and I wanted the best support to work through that — Newsflash: there weren’t that many tears. The first night In his crib he was happily asleep in less than 27 mins and slept 12 hours.
From night 1 to night 14, she was right there giving feedback and strategies for every single sleep experience. Constantly modifying, asking questions, taking our son's lead and our goals into consideration. She walks the walk when talking about this process being holistic!
OKAY, OKAY…. what you REALLY want to know: Two weeks later, we have a baby boy sleeping now in his own room, sleeping for 12 hours solid each night, napping twice a day for the appropriate length of time in his crib, our sleep routine is less than 10 mins, and by day 5 he wasn’t upset or fighting sleep at all — he was welcoming it, laying down quietly, and waking to a MUCH happier, healthier, well-rested family who is always joyfully waiting for him!
ERIN WE LOVE YOU AND YOU’RE SUCH A SLEEP MIRACLE WORKER!”
I don’t share stories like this to make you feel bad about your situation if things aren’t going well.
I share stories like this because I want you to know there’s life beyond the exhaustion of what currently isn’t working.
You CAN help your little one sleep better, and in turn, you can start feeling like yourself again. You CAN be responsive to your child and feel confident when navigating their sleep challenges.
And, like Mariah and Josh, you don’t have to do it alone! We can coach you through it! If you want professional guidance or a hand to hold through this process, a sleep bestie in your back pocket, I invite you to learn more about our services here, or set up a call with me. I’d love to chat with you about your goals for your child and how we can achieve them, together.