What does it look and feel like when you book a sleep package with Nurturing Touch?
Clients reach out to me from all different backgrounds, parenting styles, varied aged babies & children, different work & lifestyle commitments & all types of family dynamics. Although all of them have one thing in common, they all want better quality & restorative sleep for their baby & for themselves as a family unit.
What makes working with Nurturing Touch different to say a mainstream “Sleep Consultant” is I don’t support families by only viewing their situation through a “Sleep Lens”. What I mean by this is only focusing on making adjustments that directly relate to the “doing of sleep” i.e. how baby is going to sleep, resettling, nap timings, awake windows, location of sleep & +/- parental involvement in the sleep process. Sleep can be complex and there are many factors in the life of a baby, that can impact on sleep. The temperament and the stage of development of a baby can impact on the ability to take the sleep the baby needs in a 24hr period and therefore this then impacts of the family’s experience of sleep as a whole.
So when a client books a sleep package with me, we have already had a lovely long chat in my FREE call option, about the current biggest issues for that family, any concerns regarding feeding/sleep/behaviour, strategies the parents have tried and what works and what doesn’t, goals in regards to sleep etc and expectations of their baby’s sleep. I offer “quick wins “to try now early in meeting with my clients, I normalise behaviours around sleep that might be occurring, build on the parental confidence, validate their experience and we start planning together our way forward, step by step. I often hear a change in my client’s voice from when I start the phone call to when it ends. Parents go from the beginning of our call being overwhelmed, confused, exhausted, irrelevant & uncertain to hopeful, reassured, validated & a little excited for what’s to come. Listening, validating & empathising with parents about their experience with their baby, is big part of the way I support families. Isn’t that what we all want as human beings? To feel connected to others, supported in a respectful way, seen as an individual & feel empowered to create your own parenting path?
“How would it feel for you to have a professional really hear you, understand your experience, respect your parenting needs and then walk beside you to empower you to reach your goals with sleep?”
To achieve sustainable outcomes for families, I take a holistic view of the health & wellbeing for the family as a whole, the birth & feeding experience, parenting values, parental lifestyle demands, parenting expectations of their baby’s sleep, what strategies & techniques have been tried for sleep/settling & a full 3 day food/feeding & sleep diary. It is after this has been completed that the 2hour home visit is organised at an agreed time. Building a repour during the home visit with parents and their baby/child is vital in building and establishing trust, understanding & connection. Together we reflect on the diary, discuss issues, clarify concerns & set about creating goals to work towards as a team.
This is when I the magic begins!
Setting realistic goals for both the parents and their baby is paramount to success.I offer my professional knowledge and experience to each issue/situation that the parents would like to address and then the parents decide what approach or strategy they feel comfortable with, what they believe their baby will be able to accept & we together decide on timeframes. Without this integrated approach, families are left feeling battered & what’s happening is out of control.
Staying in contact either via messenger and/or email is paramount to daily & weekly outcomes for my families. Allowing parents to send quick wins & updates, exciting outcomes, issues &/or questions as we progress through the plan, is necessary for me to support my families in making “on the fly” adjustments to our approach. Every baby is an individual and will therefore respond differently to a parental chosen approach or maybe due to the baby’s temperament &/or development/age may need a little more time adjusting to a chosen technique, so we slow down to always be gentle, responsive and attachment focused.
For example: If parents decide that they would like to try some “Habit Stacking” and be able to offer a different way for their baby to go to sleep instead of always & only feeding to sleep by mum, we might decide to bring in some patting or shushing while feeding to sleep. This builds up a new habit overlapping the original technique to hopefully allow Dad to support bedtimes in the future. Whilst using this method, the parents may have thought their baby was ready to move onto the next step in this process by reducing the time at the breast and start using the patting more to achieve sleep. But their baby is getting very worked up about this and it is taking much longer now to settle than before. So, I would encourage the parents to pull back a step and follow their baby’s lead on this in that they may need another week of building confidence with this new step in going to sleep. This is respecting and supporting this baby to adjust to something new and not ignore this baby’s emotional need.
As we travel along the weeks together, it’s important to celebrate even the small wins i.e. being able to roll away from your napping baby for 10minutes whereas before they had to nap on you, the tough times i.e. your baby still is not fussed on solids and progression is slow & the times that your baby took you by surprise! I make it very clear in the beginning, that due to your baby being an individual person, much of what we map out together is all based on trial and error. What works for one 8mth old baby will not work so well for the next. That’s the beauty of having a professional work so closely with you in making ongoing adjustments that are bespoke to your baby’s responses and your parenting values. No cookie cutter approaches here!
At the end of our packaged time together, we will always stay in touch and parents can ask questions along the next part of their journey. Many families have feed back to me that after our initial time together within a sleep package, they are reassured that they now have someone they trust and that truly knows them as a family unit. Someone that they can turn to for support, time and time and time again in solving anything from quick questions & advice on issues that pop up, to rebooking me again to move onto the next stage in their plan with their baby. It is truly comforting to know that they have someone they can trust and turn to instead of relying on well-meaning family members, “expert baby whisperer” books, social media and Dr Google.
So, if you were considering contacting me for a chat about booking a sleep package with me, I hope this gives you a little inside view of what happens behind the scenes once you book a holistic support package with Nurturing Touch.
Message me today and let’s get you supported.
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