Katelyn at 18 weeks old was only 5.6kg, and exclusively breastfed and suffering from severe reflux.

Mum had been to Plunket and at their suggestion Katelyn took all naps in her buggy in the lounge, swaddled with her dummy and was rocked to sleep, and throughout her naps.

Mum explained due to Katelyn needing her dummy for her reflux she was awake at 10pm for a feed and then at 2am she wakes and Mum and Dad were up replacing a dummy and trying to settle her 20 times until 5am at which point she usually co-slept with Mum until 6.30/7am.

During her bad days Katelyn developed a sucking blister from her Dummy and needed bonjella to soothe it.

Mum and dad were unsure now if her reflux was waking her or, if she was just addicted to her dummy and had poor sleep habits.

At 18 weeks most babies are capable of sleeping at night more than Katelyn was, but at only 5.6kg she was smaller than most 18 week old babies, so we couldn’t expect her to sleep as much as other 18 weeks old babies.

Mum implemented my changes – slowly – we began a 2-3 week journey to more sleep for everyone!

Day 3

Katelyn is no longer using her dummy during the day and is only needing it to settle for 1-5 minutes at night.

Katelyn is still napping in her buggy.

Day 6

Mum emailed “we have been had! Katelyn totally doesn’t need her dummy”
Thanks so much! We are so amazed at the improvement so far, but know
we still have a long way to go.

Day 10

Katelyn is down to 2 night feeds between 6pm-6am, she is still waking 3-4 times but is settling to sleep for the other 2 wake ups with mums help

Day 14

Katelyn moves from her buggy to her bed for naps, and Mum has lowered the amount of assistance Katelyn is getting to settle to sleep at night and during the night. Katelyn still needs 2 feeds over night which is very normal and very “size appropriate”.

Day 21

Katelyn is self soothing and only waking twice for quick feeds over night.
She is napping well with no dummy and no rocking to sleep.

Mum is getting a lot more sleep, and big congratulations for sticking out such a mammoth journey to a better nights sleep!

Katelyn was a special case – but her results were worth it.