Sleep coaches help parents with infant sleep struggles
TAMPA, Fla. - When Meredeth Rutherford found out she was having her twin girls, one of her biggest concerns was sleep.
"I have a 10-year-old son as well, and I remember struggling to put him to sleep and put him on a schedule," said Rutherford. "With the work that I do, with the work my husband does, we need a good night's sleep. So we just knew straight out of the gate that for family survival we're going to need some help."
They decided to hire Sarah Hodgkins, a certified infant and toddler sleep coach. She's the owner and founder of The Family Cradle.
"A sleep coach really goes in and works with parents to help them come up with a plan that works for their family unit to get your baby from waking up perhaps five or six times a night to not waking up at all," said Hodgkins.
One thing Hodgkins discourages is having the baby cry themselves to sleep.
"It's really saying ‘nobody is responding to me,' kind of going into panic mode. 'I'm going to just put myself to sleep,'" said Hodgkins.
But a method that she does find to be effective is using what she calls "wake windows."
"When your baby wakes they’ve got about a 40-minute wake window," explained Hodgkins. "They usually eat during that time. And then, you can lay them down naturally in their basinet, their crib, wherever the safe space is where you're laying them down on their backs awake, and often they will start to self soothe and fall asleep."
For Rutherford, that has been a game changer.
"We do everything in 40 to 45 minutes, and then its sleepy time for two hours and then when you wake them up at two hours, they might be a little sleepy when you wake them up, but you know we're starting this next cycle, so now we're going to change diapers, we're going to feed, we're going to play," said Rutherford.
And Hodgkins said it's fine to wake your baby up from a nap.
"Because you want to make sure that they're consuming the calories that they need during the day, so they're learning to switch that circadian rhythm," Hodgkins said. "Sleep less during the day and sleep more through the night."
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Rutherford said getting the twins in a sleep routine has been a huge help.
"Somewhere between 10-12 weeks is when they were both sleeping through the night," said Rutherford. "I was able to go back to work on a full night's sleep, which was absolutely incredible."
She's glad she brought in a sleep coach to help
"I always thought sleep training was about the babies, I didn't realize how much of it was about the parents," said Rutherford. "There's a lot to learn so that way they can get the sleep they need, and if they sleep, you sleep."
For more information, visit familycradle.com.