Last December our beautiful son arrived one month early – a wonderful surprise! Throughout my pregnancy, I knew I wanted to breastfeed, and I thought with the help of my midwife and nurses, it would be no problem. I had no idea the challenges that lay ahead with a premature baby.

Many nights my husband would wake to find both our son and myself crying tears of desperation. Nothing could have been worse for me at the time, than the feeling that I did not have the ability to feed my baby the way I wanted to and felt instinctively designed to. I felt like I was failing as a mother. It was at this point Carol came into my life.

Carol calmly and tenderly helped my family begin to understand the process of breastfeeding. Carol showed us a variety of positions to try, helped us to understand a baby’s perspective, and helped me to believe in myself. Every time Carol came over, my son nursed. It was amazing to me. Carol’s warm and nurturing personality and wealth of knowledge was exactly what I needed to persevere.

The story does not end there. Carol and I decided to save a session for the future. As my son got older, he continued to wake often in the night and still nursed frequently. Tired and frustrated, I called Carol for advice. To my amazement, Carol came over, assessed our routines, and helped me to develop sleep strategies for him. I am so thankful for her ongoing support.

Today, our baby boy is 11 months old and continues to nurse wonderfully. Nursing went from being something I dreaded, to the most natural and wonderful bonding experience for us. The more I get to know Carol, the more I realize that her knowledge and instincts about babies is vast, she is truly passionate about what she does, and her support comes from her heart.

Carolyn

I can’t say enough positive things about Babies Naturally and all the support they provide! Carol helped us out in the first week by showing us how to breastfeed. Her support, kindness, gentleness and positive energy got us through a bit of a difficult period, so when we were having “sleep issues” with our daughter at 9 months old, who did we turn to? Babies Naturally of course! I’ll admit, we thought we’d tried everything to get our daughter to sleep and didn’t have much faith that Carol could solve our problems. Our daughter Maya was still sleeping in a swing for her naps and in our bed at night. She used to sleep quite comfortably in bed with us and we’d enjoy a blissful 9-10 hours of sleep! But all of a sudden she started tossing and turning all-night so we knew that the sleeping with us was coming to an end and the napping in the swing definitely needed to stop as she was quickly outgrowing it! (Also, not great for her back etc.) To get Maya to sleep for naps we had to rock, and shush, swing and sway, and literally do full-on squats with her. Then we had to gently place her down without waking her… Ya, it’s as ridiculous as it seems. To think back at those times… I wish we’d called Carol in earlier!!

Within a few days of my initial email for help, Carol arrived in our house. She spent the time to go over everything with us. She checked out Maya’s nursery and made some small and simple changes. (At first I thought some of the changes were so minor that they couldn’t have much impact… But these changes would make all the difference!) Carol acted like she had all the time in the world, just for us. She played with Maya (and even got a few face sucks- or kisses). When she left we felt inspired and hopeful that we’d all finally get the sleep that we desperately needed and really just get our “time” back. (Rocking, and swaying a baby to sleep for hours, upon hours each day is very time consuming and exhausting!!) WELL, within the very first day of implementing Carol’s suggestions we could already see that Maya preferred her crib over the swing and the bed. In fact we couldn’t get her back in the swing if we wanted to! It took about 3 long consistent days of our new routine but she was sleeping in her CRIB!!! The fact that I had a baby that slept in her crib was just amazing to me. And no swinging, shushing, rocking, swaying or squatting! Just in her crib and there you go!!

It is now been about 2 months since we first met with Carol for sleep support…We are still amazed and shocked about how easy it is (usually) to get Maya to sleep. For both of her naps and bedtime she goes to sleep without a peep and even reaches for her crib when she’s tired!! Sometimes she’ll complain a bit when we put her in her crib but that usually lasts 2-5 minutes and then she’s out like a light! We are so thankful to have our “time” back and to not be committing to a full-on workout at naptime! We are SO thankful for Carol and all at Babies Naturally who do what they do!

Samirah Ahmed

Sleep was the most pressing issue for myself and our son. It all began when we brought him home from the hospital. We had a visit from a public health nurse who came out to weigh him and help with any concerns. His first weigh in was a little less then his birth weight. By his second and third weight, he still wasn’t gaining so she suggested we visit the family doctor and because I was breast feeding she also suggested I wake Colten every 2.5 hours to nurse. My family doctor said, supplement with formula. Sound confusing? It was! My life suddenly turned into this balancing act of giving formula at just the right time yet trying to make sure I was either nursing or pumping to keep my supply up. I was also feeding Colten every 2.5 hours around the clock! I was beyond sleep deprived. I continued this until Colten was three months and his weight was stable. I then decided to let him decide when he wanted to eat. Things went well for about three weeks. Colten was sleeping about nine hours at night which felt amazing to me! Then all of a sudden he started waking every three hours then every two hours. I naturally assumed he was hungry so I always fed him when he woke. It got to the point that he wouldn’t go to sleep at all. Every time I put him down he would instantly wake and cry. I would just bring him back to nurse because I didn’t know what else to do. My sleep deprivation got the best of me and I started co-sleeping. Whenever Colten would wake I would just nurse him back to sleep. I was half asleep most of the time anyway so I figured it was my only option. When Colten hit ten months the co-sleeping took a turn for the worst. It was difficult to get him to sleep at all when he was with me. That is when I contacted naturally babies. It was the best choice I had ever made. Karen Ruby came to visit us at home which was great. She gave me the tools and knowledge I didn’t have. It was so empowering as a mom to know I could fix this problem. It was all simple steps I needed to take to make our lives better. It took some hard work, consistency and patience but in the end it was all worth it. Today, Colten and I sleep we’ll! Colten takes regular naps at regular times and has a bedtime! These are things I would have never thought possible. Karen also helped me with some nursing issues which also helped us in so many ways. I urge any one who reads this and is in need of help to contact Babies Naturally. I truly appreciate all of the help and encouragement I received!

Karen