At six-months-old Mila was waking up every two to three hours – I couldn’t settle her without feeding. As a result, I was exhausted in the mornings and didn’t have energy for my very active three-year-old son. I wanted to give him attention but was always irritable and tired due to interrupted sleep with the baby at night.
Essentially Mila went down at 7 pm, was up again at 9 pm and had a feed. Then she slept till 11 pm or midnight. Then she was up again at 3 am and then again at 5 am. She was wide-awake at 5 am so I had to get up with her. I did attempt to re-settle before feeding but didn’t want to let her cry because I was afraid she would wake my son.
Elizabeth taught Mila how to self-settle. We are definitely happy that we went through a sleep program as Mila now sleeps from 7 pm until 5 am/ 5.30 am. Although Mila still wakes earlier than we would like, we are still ecstatic that she can sleep through the night without waking.
It is extremely important to stick to the ‘3 C’s’ – to be calm, consistent and committed to the program. This will ensure that your baby really knows and can easily self-settle.”
Lindsay, Dean and Mila
Essentially Mila went down at 7 pm, was up again at 9 pm and had a feed. Then she slept till 11 pm or midnight. Then she was up again at 3 am and then again at 5 am. She was wide-awake at 5 am so I had to get up with her. I did attempt to re-settle before feeding but didn’t want to let her cry because I was afraid she would wake my son.
Elizabeth taught Mila how to self-settle. We are definitely happy that we went through a sleep program as Mila now sleeps from 7 pm until 5 am/ 5.30 am. Although Mila still wakes earlier than we would like, we are still ecstatic that she can sleep through the night without waking.
It is extremely important to stick to the ‘3 C’s’ – to be calm, consistent and committed to the program. This will ensure that your baby really knows and can easily self-settle.”
Lindsay, Dean and Mila
Elizabeth came to my husband and I through a referral within our network. She had conducted sleep programs for a number of our friends and everyone was ‘raving’ about this woman with the magic wand.
We had just been blessed with twins (our first newborns) and my husband and I were struggling to find a balance between their needs and our needs as a couple ... the reason ... a lack of sleep!
We met Elizabeth and from the moment of introduction, my husband, the twins and myself felt a genuine connection ... upon reflection, quite extraordinary really.
Elizabeth so empathetically understood the desired outcomes we wanted to achieve, pacified our concerns of ‘doing something wrong’, mapped out a definitive plan (sleep program) then delivered on it.
The results were immediate and the behavioural changes across both twins from a sleep perspective were profound ... as in the next 24 hours! And most importantly for us, it has remained sustainable.
As first time parents we also took advantage of her email support and follow up sessions. It has been wonderful to know Elizabeth is available to support us in the very specific issues relating to our family. If you are challenged with a similar issue (lack of sleep due to your baby’s immediate needs), STOP NOW, search NO further. Elizabeth is the one.”
Gaye, Pete and twins Gwen and Max
Our daughter Willow was the most planned, welcomed and loved addition to our family. In fact when I had her I remember telling my closest friends and family that I experienced the most overwhelming sensation of love when she came into our lives and I meant it with every fiber of my being and I know Chris (my partner) felt the same.
Initially we experienced some issues when we brought Willow home; I couldn’t feed her and she was losing weight. She wasn’t sleeping but we thought nothing of it.
Once we had her on a bottle she slipped into a good routine, sleeping through from about 10 weeks. I even remember being fairly smug about it, making such cavalier statements as, ‘I could have another baby tomorrow!’ But then we encountered the house of cards that was Willow’s allergy, reflux and subsequent sleeping issues.
At four-and-a-half-months things started going pear shaped. She was waking constantly and was always very upset. We took advice from everyone: doctors, friends, family, Google ... but we were greeted with, ‘That’s what babies do. Get used to it.’
We continued on, every night getting worse than the one before. The more we researched, the more we were led to believe that babies with reflux were not going to be able to be sleep trained. We believed this to an extent as we had tried some controlled crying (out of sheer desperation) and it ended in severe vomiting after only three minutes.
The nights were getting worse. At first Willow was waking three times a night then every two hours. Then every hour. Then multiple times an hour. As for day sleeps, well, they were non-existent. In the end we had tried projectors, dummies, and an hour-long night-time routine (which we stuck to feverishly), co-sleeping, pram sleeping, couch sleeping. We worked out that we were averaging four hours or less of broken sleep a night. It was affecting our work performances, our social lives and our relationship but most importantly it wasn’t allowing us to enjoy Willow as completely because we were all so damn tired.
I finally managed to get Willow’s allergy under some control and as soon as this happened (at 10 months) I called Elizabeth. I had read about her on the Internet and seen an interview with Mia Freedman and I knew she was the one to ask for help.
When I first contacted Elizabeth, I must have sounded fairly frantic! To be honest I was so tired I barely made any sense! But from our first conversation she reassured me. I felt I could breathe again. Elizabeth, like us, didn’t like controlled crying, was sympathetic to our situation and was ready to help.
The first night both Chris and I were nervous, feeling like we were relinquishing our parental duties but exhausted enough to leap forward none-the-less.
Elizabeth began by getting to know Willow, slowly, gently. Then the circus tent came down. By that I mean the palaver we had established to try and aid Willow’s sleep was stopped. Next were Elizabeth’s techniques. Willow resisted with a full-scale vomit at first but gradually over the next three nights calmed and by the third night had started on the road to ‘normal’ sleeping.
Now I must be honest, sleeping through didn’t happen straight away (it took a month), although the improvements were immediate. There was some work for us but with Elizabeth’s support and advice we were able to persevere. We would never have been able to start or continue the process without her
One month later Willow was sleeping through the night (although still a shockingly early riser!) and was even having two naps a day. Is Elizabeth a miracle worker... ABSOLTUELY!”
Sophie, Christopher and Baby Willow
When Elizabeth came to us I was feeling completely fed up! As Evie was our second child I probably had less energy or even dare I say it, sympathy for being woken up at night. I was cranky, sleep deprived and not enjoying life at all. I didn’t feel like me at all - I felt like I couldn’t be a good mother to my first child or even Evie as I was just ‘existing’ through the day rather than getting up and embracing the day and enjoying my children and my life. And there were a couple of times I was cranky with the children and of course felt pretty terrible about that.
At nine-months-old Evie wasn’t too bad – waking up just twice a night. But as she was getting older she was taking longer and longer to get back to sleep (through breastfeeding), so often I would be up for an hour at a time at least. Her first wake up was around 10 pm/11 pm so there wasn’t much sleeping time left in the night for me. Ugh. Bad memories!
I felt like a new woman after Elizabeth came. And Evie was a much happier baby too! Of course I was nervous and unsure as to how it would work and whether it would work, but it completely changed our lives. The fact that we were all sleeping well at night completely changed our family dynamic (no more cranky mum!) but I felt like I could return to my normal self and normal life. I felt like me again. The biggest testament to Elizabeth’s techniques was when Evie got sick two days after the program (Elizabeth saying that the worst thing that could happen would be that Evie would get sick during the program.....and lo and behold!!!). But even then, Evie still slept well at night with no wake ups. I was pretty amazed and surprised to be honest and it made me realise how powerful the sleep program is. I’m so glad we did it.
The best thing for me is the confidence I have that whatever has happened in the day I know that when I put Evie down to sleep at night that she will stay asleep until the morning (unless she is sick) and wake up a happy and refreshed baby. You have no idea how relaxing that thought is for me. And even though we’ve had illnesses and overseas travels since the program,
Evie gets back on track quickly and easily which again I see as testament to how effective the program is and continues to be.”
John, Rebecca and Evie
We were up every two to three hours to Oliver. I was still feeding at 3.30 am. Six months had passed and we were all very tired. Including bubba. Tears were flowing! No one was really functioning at their very best during the day.
Oliver was a good sleeper in the day but all of sudden it came to a head and he became restless night and day. He became addicted to the dummy! I was up every few hours popping it back in. He was going down at about 7 pm and would ALWAYS wake about an hour afterwards. We’d have to throw down our dinner before he woke so one of us could hold him until he went to sleep again. We had eeeeeverything to try and make him sleep ... a singing lamb, patting, warm milk, tip toeing around the house etc. Crazy!
Before Elizabeth came, I was also still doing a 3.30 am feed. My husband works an early shift and it meant we were ALL exhausted by the afternoon.
Implementing Elizabeth’s Gift of Sleep program was the best thing we ever did. I was recommended to go through with it by a dear friend who is a great mum. She told me it was going to be a tough three days and it was. In fact, it was also tough a few weeks afterwards. Every so often, I’d have to do some controlled crying on my own. But a few months on and we didn’t hear from Oliver at all. He’s now almost two-years-old and never, ever wakes in the night. Sometimes I hear him stir and he goes back to sleep in a flash! My husband calls it the ‘best investment’ we ever made. Our nights are full of sleep. Our days are full of action. And best of all, our baby flourished and we have no doubt that’s because he was well slept. Elizabeth saved us!”
Charlotte, Matt and Oliver
We were exhausted and I felt like I wasn’t functioning properly in daily life. Everything seemed to require so much effort. My head was
permanently foggy. Steve was spending a lot of nights sleeping in the spare bedroom as he had to get up and go to work and William (who was six-months-old) was in a bassinet in our room.
William was waking three to four times during the night. I would breastfeed him to get him back to sleep every time. During the day I would also have to feed him to sleep. He had no self-settling ability whatsoever and zero routine in terms of bedtime. I was also still wrapping him.
The second time round with Xavier I had learned from some of my past mistakes so things weren’t as bad, however by five and a half months he was still waking once or twice a night and I was getting up to feed him.
Elizabeth completely turned our lives around. From the first night she came into our home there were no more night feeds. My boys could both suddenly go 12 hours straight without a feed! William learned how to self- settle. I could now place him in the cot awake and unwrapped and walk out of the room without him letting out a single cry! It was like a miracle. He became a poster child for sleeping- both in the days and the nights. Within days he developed a huge appetite for solids which until then he hadn’t been overly interested in.
I felt as though I gained hours of time back to myself during the day that I had previously spent trying to get him to fall asleep, obviously not to mention the whole family finally getting a good nights sleep for the first time in over six months. Having Elizabeth come and do a sleep program was one of the best things we have ever done and worth every cent. The sleepless nights were so much easier to get through with our second son, as we knew Elizabeth was the light at the end of the tunnel.
We still follow all the sleep guidelines that Elizabeth taught us. Our toddler is an excellent sleeper and is happy to go to bed every night. As a first time mother I learned so many things from Elizabeth, and not just in regards to sleep. She also provided me with a framework for how to structure the baby’s day.”
Steve, Gabriella, William & Xavier
Before Elizabeth arrived I was feeling very anxious about my baby Eva (six- months-old) not being in a good sleeping / settled pattern. The whole house felt chaotic and stressed. It all felt overwhelming and scary. I couldn’t function with the lack of sleep. I also felt guilty to my two other kids and husband for being so cranky and moody and emotional.
We had a witching hour from about six to nine pm where Eva would not settle and thus affected her next sleep cycle. And, of course, she was very restless. I couldn’t relax and spend time with my husband when he returned from work or be with my other kids.
Essentially, Eva would wake every three hours and I found it very hard to stretch her further.
Elizabeth would walk in the door at 9 pm, take Eva and work her magic. Eva responded immediately to the sound of her voice and her touch as if she was saying ‘thank you’ to Elizabeth for coming and giving her the gift of sleep. She was able to immediately settle her and put her down to sleep for a good four-hour stretch. This became longer and longer until she was almost going through the night.
When Elizabeth was in the home I felt an instant calmness. She was another mother to my daughter - someone who we could both trust with our precious baby. One hundred percent.
The program has been a real success with all three of my children. We were able to resume an almost normal life (with sleep!) within no time.
There are no words to say thank you!”
Michael, Tania and baby Eva
Sonny had never been a great sleeper from birth. We’d spend hours walking him in the pram whilst he screamed the neighbourhood down. He used to sleep for as little as 20 minutes sometimes. If he hit the magic 40- minute mark we were over the moon. At night he was awake for what seemed like the whole night sometimes. Night blended into day without us getting a wink of sleep. It was pretty horrific.
We read every book going on the subject and tried every technique but nothing seemed to work. It appeared we were blessed with a beautiful baby boy that was full of energy and bags of personality but that was unfortunately allergic to sleep! It didn’t help that all the other mums and dads we knew had perfect little snooze machines. This only added to the frustration.
It was all a bit of a fog at the time. We struggled and it caused big moments of tension and stress between mum and dad. We were angry, sad and bloody tired! We were at our wits end as we tried to battle through it all. Life was happening all around us, as we got more and more tired. It was pretty heart-wrenching to hear your first-born scream so much at night, for him to be so tired and for us to be so helpless. When both of us were back at work that became even harder. Sleep deprivation is so debilitating and it felt like it would never end.
We used to run Sonny ragged all day in the hope of tiring him out for a good night’s sleep. We had a routine in place before bedtime. Bath time, milk, into his sleeping bag, dropping him into his cot, then wafting a blanket over him before we used to leave. He screamed straight away. We put an extractor fan on as white noise. Sometimes he would then go off to sleep for a while but he was pretty much up and down. We tried control-crying, tag teaming the responsibility throughout the night, holding his hand for hours ... he would wake up the moment we let go. We used to whisper downstairs for fear of waking him up and watch the television with our noses six inches from the screen. More often than not one of us would end up in the spare bed with him, eventually falling asleep through exhaustion. When he did wake up in the morning he was always overtired and miserable. This went on for two years!
We were expecting another baby and had reached breaking point so Elizabeth was our last resort. To be honest we were skeptical at first about how effective Elizabeth could possibly be, but she came into our lives like an angel from heaven. She sorted Sonny out in three tough days. He started sleeping 11 to
12 hours straight! We were blown away and we haven’t looked back. Sonny sometimes wakes in the night but will self-settle and go back to sleep. We don’t have to tiptoe around the place. We all sleep and Sonny wakes up in great form in the morning. We’re all happy. Life is normal.
We can’t thank Elizabeth enough. She has a very special gift. She gave us confidence, some proper ground rules but most importantly happiness.”
Jonny, Louise and Sonny