When my daughter was 2 weeks old, I filled out the standard postpartum depression questionnaire provided by my provider. Every single one of my answers was a red flag except for wanting to harm myself or my baby. I told my provider I didn’t feel like myself. Their answer was that someone would call me in a couple weeks to “see if [I] felt better.”

No one called. I didn’t feel better. I assumed I was being dramatic.

My PPD/PPA went undiagnosed for 10 months. During that time I frantically dove into research about baby sleep to try to find a sense of control. We did our best during that time, and our daughter began sleeping better, but I was incredibly obsessive about her sleep. It was unhealthy and unsustainable for our family.

As the fog lifted, I realized how severe my depression and anxiety had been and finally sought help. Around 1 year, we decided to support our daughter further in sleeping independently in a way that felt healthy and right for our family. She’s been a great sleeper ever since then.

When our son was born in 2020, I felt very confident in approaching his sleep.

Famous last words, right?

He was a pretty great sleeper the first few months and I was patting myself on the back (lol). The 4 month regression hit, teething hit, and everything went off the rails. The strategies that worked for my daughter, did not work for him. Where she was flexible, he was sensitive. Where she needed space, he wanted closeness. His sensitivities are different, his preferences are different and it was a whole new learning curve. We really tuned into him (and still practice this when regressions hit!), and found methods that worked for him, and for us, and became a great sleeper too!

What I’ve learned in his sleep journey is that our children are just little humans. Of course they are, right? What I mean specifically is that they each have their own temperament, their own preferences, their own sensory needs, their own special wake time needs and preferences.

My privilege as your sleep consultant is to educate you, to empower you to tune into your child, to listen to what they’re trying to tell us, to help you find the individual approach that is best suited for your family, and to support you while you support your child through these changes.