Shai was, much to our wonder and delight, a fantastic sleeper the first 6 months of his life, so we thought we were in the clear and just magically got lucky. But as he got older and more aware, he began getting up more during the night, and by the time he was 1 year old, we just started bringing him into bed with us once he cried out in the middle of the night. In theory (and sometimes in practice), it seemed like a win-win, as we loved snuggling with him, and he loved it as well, usually falling back asleep quickly once in our bed. As idyllic as this plan seemed, I often woke up tired and grumpy, realizing that the quality of all of our sleep was greatly diminished because while he was generally a good sleeper in our bed, it certainly wasn’t the same as if he was not there at all! Also, I got pregnant again right when he turned 1, so while this arrangement was fine during the beginning of the pregnancy, my growing fatigue and growing belly soon mandated that we had to do something – and quick – to ensure that we all got good nights sleep! We also wanted to ensure that we wouldn’t have a toddler crawling into bed with us while trying to breastfeed and calm a newborn! Lastly, our very patient nanny had to also snuggle with him for almost his entire naptime, as he was getting so accustomed to snuggling to sleep, that she didn’t have time to eat lunch or do other things she needed to do around the house while he slept!
So enter Jillian, who understood that while we loved to have our family snuggle time, we needed a concrete plan of action to change the sleeping arrangement well before the new baby came. There is no way my husband and I would have put our foot down and stopped bringing Shai into bed every single night if we didn’t have both a) a well thought out custom plan and b) someone holding us accountable. Jillian was kind, thoughtful, understanding, and so knowledgeable. She met with us at our home and tailored a plan that fit our exact needs, recognizing that we are not heavy-handed in our parenting style and needed to have a plan that was gentle, loving, but firm. She also gave us very helpful advice on how to make his room more sleep-friendly, which we implemented with great success. We needed our hands held, in the same way Shai needed his in order to get him to sleep through the night (and his naps) in his crib! Jillian was the perfect person for this task. So after email exchanges, a meeting, and a detailed plan, we put the plan into action and it worked beautifully – and quickly!! So while we laugh at how seemingly easy and quick it was to get him to sleep through the night and for naps in his crib, there is absolutely no way we could have done it without Jillian. Reading a sleep training book just would not have met our needs and our family’s specific dynamic in the same way, nor would we have stuck with a plan more than a night or two. But having Jillian tailor the plan to our needs and hold us accountable made all the difference – for me, my husband, and our nanny, as all three of us just always gave in to Shai the moment he cried, creating this cycle. We are all so grateful to Jillian – she was an absolute delight and we are all better off for it! Highly recommend!!
