Happy cot settling in just 3 days. Meet baby William.

Luella is 36 years old, a lawyer, and single mum to William, 8 months old. She shared her experiences with us because she wants other parents to know how quickly sleep can improve.

“I got the call from my boss at around 10 o’clock in the morning and immediately panicked. Something big was happening at work and they wanted me back in the office the next week. I had been planning on staying at home with William for another 3 or 4 months, so it was a shock.”

“I just sort of fell in to a pattern of feeding William to sleep when he was around 3 months old. He would wake up 7 or 8 times overnight to latch briefly, then fall back asleep. We were cosleeping because it felt easier than getting up and down all night. I was tired but didn’t have to worry about going to the office the next day so I wasn’t too worried. I figured we would work on cot settling at some point before I returned to work, but when I got that call I realised we had to hurry up.”

Luella knew she would need to be better rested for her days in the office and the long commute, but what worried her most was that William couldn’t be settled by anyone else – he could only fall asleep while breast feeding.

“I was really stressed about how William would cope if he refused to nap for his nanny. He’s a very determined bub! I knew he would cry for hours and be exhausted without day naps. I worried it would be a really hard adjustment for him. I was also worried about how I would manage to get up early in the morning and commute to the city on broken sleep. My job can be brutal – long days and super stressful. I knew that both William and I would cope better with all these changes if we were sleeping better.”

We asked Luella how she felt about seeking help for William’s sleep difficulties.

“I’d heard horror stories from my friends, who had tried a million different approaches, some of which I felt really uncomfortable about. I was very apprehensive. I didn’t want to be pushed in to following a harsh approach where William would be alone and screaming for me. I knew I needed quick results, but I also wanted to be responsive, gentle and respectful of William’s needs. I didn’t really know if that was even possible!”

Luella went searching for support and came across Sombelle.

“I actually wanted to book an appointment with Dr Fallon or Dr Laura in the clinic, but the wait time for an appointment was 3 or 4 weeks which didn’t work in with my scheduled return to work. Then I saw they had Sombelle and I could get started immediately so it suited me really well.”

 Luella didn’t waste any time – within 5 minutes she had signed up and started working her way through the Sombelle online sleep clinic for babies 4-12 months of age.

“It helped, reading about the psychology behind William’s sleep difficulties, and learning about his unique sleep needs. I’d felt confused about his sleep for so long but it started to make more sense to me. When I started to look through the settling approaches offered in Sombelle, I knew the Supported Accelerated approach was going to be the best fit for us. It struck the balance – quicker improvements but also offering loads of support along the way. It meant I could keep William in my room with his cot right beside the bed and give him constant support while he adjusted to falling asleep in his cot.” 

Luella noticed improvements really quickly.

“The first 2 settles in the cot were tricky. Despite all the support I was giving William, it was still a big change for him. But what amazed me was how fast he improved. The first settle took about 30 minutes, the second settle about 10 minutes, and then every settle after that was only a few minutes. By the second night he was sleeping 3 hours before waking, and by the third night he only woke once the entire night! So he really quickly got used to falling asleep without having to be latched to me. It is such an improvement from waking 7-8 times per night, and it only took a few days.”

Luella kept a meticulous sleep diary that tracked the changes to Williams sleep. We added notes below so our readers can see what was happening during each phase of William's sleep plan. Take a look at how the nights start to turn solid blue as William's sleep improves.

“It was easier than I expected and I loved that I could support William through this big change without leaving him alone to cry. He either sleeps right through the night, or wakes once to feed. He’s started to eat more solid foods. I’m not the only one this has helped – William is a much happier baby now that he doesn’t wake up all night and I feel like being a mum is much easier and more fun than it used to be. It’s a relief to know he is safe in his own cot. I don’t think I was sleeping very well with him in the bed because I was so worried I’d roll on him in my sleep”

We asked Luella how she found her return to work.

“It felt good, exciting actually. I thought it would be awful but I’m enjoying having a bit more time outside the home. It helps that William loves spending time with his nanny and he’s slept really well without me there. I was very anxious about how we would go but we’ve both adjusted well to this big change.”

Luella’s experiences are not unique to her – lots of families we work with report similar progress. What surprises parents the most, is that improving sleep often isn’t as hard as they expected it to be. Most parents believe that sleep can only be improved using harsh, ‘cry it out’ type approaches and this simply isn’t true. You can nurture and support your baby's mental health and also improve their sleep.

Sleep is really important for health and wellbeing. If lack of sleep is impacting you or your baby, it’s important to get help so you can be the vibrant, happy humans you ought to be!