My good friend has an 8 week old baby girl and a 3 year old toddler. She is a great mom, but for a few weeks she has been letting me know that she has been struggling b/c her DD2 is a sensitive baby, is dealing with reflux, and won't nap for more than 30-45 minutes at a time...and that's only after my friend spends a few 20 minute sessions doing bouncing/swaying to get her to sleep.

I gave her all my best resources and all my sleep books and talked to her about what I did to help my LO go down for naps. She recently sent me a text asking me if I'd be willing to come over and talk to her b/c she is struggling so much that it's hard to get much out of the books and what she was doing just wasn't sustainable.

So on Monday my LO and I went over there and arrived around 10:30. Her DD2 was in the swing and I asked how long she had been up and what sleep cues she gave. My friend said she had been up for a little less than an hour and that her DD2 didn't give many sleep cues...but right then her baby gave a little yawn. I told my friend if she was willing to try we should go put the baby down for a nap now. My friend was skeptical of course, but said she was willing to try it. So we took her baby to her room and swaddled her with white noise.

Her baby was quiet for a minute and then started crying super loud and hard. I told my friend we were setting the timer for 5 minutes and would go in when the 5 minutes was over. The baby cried for the entire 5 minutes. I told my friend to go in and comfort her and once she stopped crying to tell her baby it was time to sleep and put her down again. Her baby stopped crying the minute she picked her up...which I took as a great sign that her baby wasn't hungry or in pain. She put her baby back down and the crying started again. We waited 5 minutes. My friend went back in and again the baby stopped crying right away. My friend came out...but this time the baby cried maybe 1 minute and fell asleep...AND SLEPT FOR 2 HOURS AND 30 MINUTES!!! My friend was floored b/c her baby had only napping for 30-45 minutes at a time before this.

We enjoyed a nice lunch together while the baby napped and our girls played together. I left shortly after the baby woke up from her nap so that I could get my LO down for her nap. My friend sent me a text later saying her baby went down for her next nap after only 2 checks...and then had a great night of sleep.

Day 2 was another success and Day 3 was yet another successful day of great napping...and my friend said while her baby fought her first nap, she went down without a peep for her second nap.

I was so reluctant to help in person b/c I knew her baby had reflux and was on meds for that...and every baby is different...and I would have felt horrible if her baby cried the entire time. I was SOOOOO relieved when her baby caught on so quickly with minimal crying.

I just wanted to share this experience b/c I know there are a few ladies here who are going through a similar experience as my friend...and a few have reached out to me here and there about my experience sleep training my LO...so I just wanted to put it down in one place and share it in case it is helpful to anyone.