Our first baby slept through the night on her own around 2 months, the time when, I had read, babies are generally cable of doing so. I knew then that we were very lucky, but probably did not fully appreciate it until our twin boys were born and proceeded to be fitful night sleepers through the 2 month mark, and then through the adjusted 2 month mark (they were 3 weeks early.) They were sleepy newborns, but their daytime sleep was not well organized; and from what I had read before, I did not expect to be able to sleep train them until 4 months or so. As they approached and passed their adjusted 2 month mark, their daytime naps became more erratic (completely left the sleepy newborn phase), and their nighttime sleep as well, so that during the day, they were waking after 20 – 30 minutes, and at night every hour or two. It felt like we were descending into chaos, and we began to get desperate, not sure we would make it to the 4 month mark, but afraid to really sleep train.
A friend told us her friends had used Kris as a newborn and sleep consultant and had great success with their twins sleeping at an early age. Lucky for us, she was available, and she assured us that even very young babies can be encouraged to sleep better. We arranged for a consultation with three nights of night-nannying. Kris gave us great information on scheduling and safe sleeping practices, helped us establish a sweet and simple bedtime and nap time routine, transitioned us from sponge baths to tub baths, introduced us to a more effective way to sleep train and advised us on how to apply it to really young babies, and gave us useful information on products that would help us (Miracle Blanket, noise machine, bath cushion, etc.) all while calming us and supporting us with any related troubles. Every morning, she gave me a full update of the night’s goings-on and every evening she reviewed how our day went and helped troubleshoot the daytime routine, especially the naps. She had seen so many babies go through this process, and I trusted her wisdom and followed her advice. By the third night the babies were down to one night waking to feed. When we took over nights, Kris continued to answer my questions by e-mail and helped us through the transition to no night wakenings, which happened a little before the twins were 4 months old, not adjusted. Daytime naps took longer, but with Kris’ support, I kept following the schedule and eventually the babies settled into a good napping pattern. Now they are great nappers and night sleepers; a kiss and some pleasant and loving words and then I set them down and they settle themselves or play a bit and then go to sleep.
There was a lot of crying in the transition to better sleeping (mostly daytime crying–I feel like my kids have all been nap-resistant), but the boys go to bed so happily and sleep so nicely (most of the time, every baby has his/her bad sleep days) that I am glad we all suffered through it. My oldest did not nap on her own well until she was 3 years old; there were logistical issues, failed attempts to sleep train, slightly-off scheduling . . . a lot of things that might have been solved more quickly if I had had the ongoing support of someone like Kris. She has continued to help us through a variety of transitions for my now almost 22 month old boys, and I feel I can count on her if I have more questions in the future.
I highly recommend Kris Bineau to anyone looking to add some stability and rest to that typically chaotic and sleepless, very-young-baby phase of parenthood. In fact, if I had known what a newborn consultant was and how effective Kris’ advice would be, I would have booked her before the twins were born and started from day 1 encouraging their good sleep patterns and learning when and how to get out of their way so they could sleep more restfully.
Sincerely, Lesley (July 2015)
