"Let me start by saying this...... I am finally enjoying my mat leave. I was always sleep deprived and my baby wasn't getting enough sleep either. My husband and I did not believe in the "CIO" method. We tried the Dr. Sears method but it didn't work for us, if not it got worst (It might work for some people but the baby is still dependent on you). So when we heard about Andrea's services we jumped on it. We started it when my little one was 6 1/2 months. Andrea came to our home for the first 2 nights, which was great, and gave us clear instructions on how to take it from there on. It took our little one only a couple of nights and she slept through the night (11 hrs) ; however we had some off nights that she would cry when I would put her down to go to sleep. We knew she was trying to test us and hope for us to go back to the old habits.
One thing I have to say is…don't give up. I had some tough nights but Andrea was always available to help me through it. I used to worry that my little girl is going to hate bed time... I couldn't be more wrong. She LOVES it now.
We wanted to wait on doing the nap training but it made sense for us to introduce it in the same month. It was a lot easier than I expected.
Thank you Andrea for your support, we couldn't have done it without you. We will keep recommending you to our friend and family. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you 🙂 "
R&E Aslan
Thank you so much for helping us out with the sleep training of our 7-month old daughter.
Bedtime was always a prolonged process of rocking her to sleep, with many false starts and wakeups. Often she would only sleep for 30 or 40 minutes before waking up crying and needing more attention to put her back down. At best she would sleep for two hours before waking us up to come and help her go back to sleep. By the time she was six months old, some nights she was waking up hourly, meaning that we were never sleeping for more than an hour at a time and often had to be up for extended periods to let her sleep in our arms. We were both strung out and exhausted.
After one night of your hands-on sleep training, we were able to put the
sleep plan into practice and by her fourth night, she was able to put
herself to sleep within 5 minutes. She now goes to bed every night between
7:00 and 7:30 and sleeps for a minimum of ten hours. Her new schedule has
given us back our evenings to spend together and our nights to sleep
uninterrupted. What a life-changing development!
We have recommended your services to a number of our friends.
All the best,
J & F"
Andrea has been a complete life saver for us; we could not have done it without her. We tried everything we knew to try to get our son to sleep without much success. One day, in a panic, we even went out and bought four different books on baby sleep patterns and training. We were still at a loss. After contacting Andrea, she analyzed our situation, made several recommendations and within a month, our lives were back on track. She was available whenever we needed her, she was extremely generous with her time and demonstrated a deep understanding of the issues that babies go through. Thanks Andrea for your help, wisdom, and advice. We cannot thank you enough.
Marshall and Stephanie
OUR EXPERIENCE
When our son was 4 months old, my husband and I were beside ourselves. We were up all night, every night, with our son…crying. All 3 of us were crying. We didn’t know what to do. He would sleep only 20 minutes at a time, and then he would cry for 1-2 hours straight; we would follow this cycle all night; sleep, cry, sleep, cry. We got very good at pacing the hallway, up and down, in an attempt to get him sleeping. He was colicky, spit up a ton, and was extremely dependent upon his pacifier. As a result of his sleeping patterns, and our exhaustion, we allowed him to sleep in our bed. He freaked out when we would try putting him into his crib; so we were stuck with him sleeping in our bed.
We tried lots of different things, in attempt to get him sleeping. This included trying to rock him to sleep, putting him into his crib awake and patting his back (he screamed), and putting him into his crib already asleep, but he always woke up in the transfer. Once sleeping, he used to spit out his pacifier and then wake up, but he hadn’t figured out how to get it back into his mouth, so this was yet another issue we had to fix. We tried putting him into his crib awake, drowsy, asleep; nothing worked. He did his best sleeping on the move, in the car and stroller.
After contacting Andrea, she immediately started giving us ideas and a plan. We started by adjusting our son’s food intake, as he was taking in more than 50% of his bottles over night. He was feeding a lot because we would do anything to try to get him to stop crying, it was so hard. We also used many techniques to get our son to stay in bed, even if upset, so that he would learn to stay in the bedroom over night. We eventually moved him into his room, onto a mattress on the floor, where he and I slept together. Once we had him staying in the bedroom all night long, it was Andrea’s turn to step in. Our son was still up most of the night.
Andrea came here at 6pm and went into our son’s bedroom with him in his crib, wide awake, without his pacifier. He cried for a while, but for the very first time, he fell asleep on his own. He woke many times during this first night, but Andrea was here for 12 hours and he actually slept for 3 hours straight at one point in the night! After this first night, he was like a new boy. His colic seemed to be either gone or much diminished. And he no longer needed the pacifier. We couldn’t believe it, we went in the car and he didn’t cry. We put him in the stroller, and he didn’t cry. He was a new boy and we were pacifier free.
Andrea taught us exactly what to do, and we worked on it very strictly for the next week. On the second night, he slept 4 hours straight. On the third night he slept 7 hours straight. On the fourth night he did 9 hours. On the fifth night he did 10 hours. And on the sixth night he did 12 hours! And that was it, he was sleeping in his own crib, falling asleep on his own, and sleeping the entire night. Next we had to work on his napping. Until now, he did all naps either in bed with me, or on the move, either in the car with us driving around, or while in the stroller for a walk. Once we had him sleeping over night, we were thrilled, and not yet ready to mess with his naps. He did three naps every day until he was 7 months, and when he was 7 months, he moved to 2 naps, and that is when we started nap training.
It took about three weeks to complete nap training. But again, it was a new world once we were done.
Training our son to sleep was a long process, but he was apparently a very tough case. If Andrea could get him sleeping “like a baby”…then she can get any baby sleeping. He went from sleeping only 20 minutes at a time to 12 hours every night. He was a very fussy baby prior to his sleep training, and once he was sleeping, he became a new baby. He is always happy, easy going, and totally relaxed. We were finally able to enjoy being parents and enjoy the baby.
Sleep training with Andrea was the best money we ever spent, and we would not change a thing. Her recommendation to get rid of the pacifier was incredible and she had lots of ideas and information to help us. She was at the other end of the phone or email any time we needed her for support, and this allowed us to have the perseverance to sleep train our son. He is now 13 months old and is the happiest baby we know. He sleeps and naps very very consistently and looks forward going to his crib for naps and bed time.
Dear Fellow Sleepless Parent,
There are not enough words to express just how thankful we are to have been introduced to Andrea. Before meeting her, our five and a half month old daughter would nap up to six times a day for 30 minutes at a time and “sleep" anywhere from 9pm-7am with two to five awakenings each night. Completely sleep-deprived and convinced that I must have postpartum depression I went to my doctor only to have him prescribe a "sleep doula" to me. I hesitated calling Andrea at first out of fear of being a "bad parent" for not being able to put my own child to bed, but as the sleepless nights got worse and worse, my husband and I decided that the best thing for my health and our family's was to contact Andrea.
Upon out first consultation Andrea took the time to really get to know our daughter as well as me and my husband. She sought to understand our parenting style, how we had cared for our daughter in the first few months as well as what goals we wanted to achieve with her services. Andrea offered us a wealth of information that helped build up our confidence in what we were doing and working towards. Andrea then developed a plan that worked wonders for us. She was honest and let us know that it would not be easy but that if we were consistent and believed in the plan, we would see change. And we did. The first night was long but not as difficult as we thought it would be. Andrea was available for us the whole night and we corresponded via text whenever we needed her input or advice. The plan worked wonderfully and whenever we hit a bump in the road (ex. napping, eating, and teething all within two weeks), Andrea was there to help steer us back in the right direction with great patience and encouragement.
Our daughter is not the perfect little sleeper yet, but then again, what baby is? What we can say is that she has grown and changed by leaps and bounds and now has a solid foundation for a good night's rest and day's naps. She sleeps for 11-12 hours a night and now has the skills to soothe herself back to sleep when she wakes up in the night. In addition, she has started to sleep for more sleep cycles in the day.
In sum, we are so grateful for Andrea's services and expertise. We plan on using her services when we have more children in the future.
Thank you Andrea!
I want to thank you for the invite to your truck or treat. Unfortunately, I will not be attending since Samantha, my daughter, is in bed by 7:00pm
THANKS TO YOU!!!
I had the baby that was waking up at 3:30am and she was ALSO sleeping with me in the bed. Well, I took your advice and did the dream feed at 11:00 and I couldn't
believe it but she slept until 7:00am! But that's not all, I even moved her into her crib the next night. It was great! 2 nights and she was fine, no crying nothing!!!
Now, I ended the dream feed (after about 7 nights) and she is still sleeping
through the night.
Thanks so much. I am definitely going to be calling for your services,
when and if, I have another child.
Diane Frederick
aka the happy mommy.
Our son was eight months old and was still not sleeping thru the night. In fact, he would wake 4-5 times a night. Everybody was very tired! I was so delighted to hear about this service! It was exactly what we needed.
Fran met with myself, my husband & our baby. We discussed our current night time routine & Fran made some suggestions to make our baby's bedtime a lot smoother & happier for everyone!
In less than a week we had a full night sleep!! We are still working on daytime naps, but we are confident that should improve!
Fran, Thank you!!! You were fantastic to work with. You made this bedtime transition very comfortable & smooth. We now have a proper bed time, are not sleep deprived & most importantly, our baby is getting his proper rest.
Thanks,
Paulette, Bill, & Matthew
Orangeville, ON
POSTPARTUM TESTIMONIALS
As a first time mother, I didn’t have much experience with babies and I didn’t have any family help to guide me. I started to look at what my options where for getting help with a newborn, and the best care I could find was a postpartum Doula or Sleep Doula. That is when I met Andrea Strang.
From the beginning, Andrea was very supportive and gave me many options. Everything from the best way to bath my new born to supporting my choice to breastfeed. All my questions where answered and I always felt comfortable asking Andrea. She not only helped care for the baby, she even took care of me and my needs.
Andrea also assisted in the birth of my second child and provided night Doula support for us then as well. When complications arose after his birth, she was right there at the hospital whenever I needed her.
I am now pregnant with our third child and lucky for us, Andrea has agreed to be apart of the birth and do postpartum support work for us once again. Having her by my side during and after the birth gives me peace of mind and helps me relax and focus on what needs to be done.
Andrea’s shared knowledge of birth, babies and childcare has helped me feel confident and secure in my own ability to take care of my children. I am very fortunate to have met such a wonderful caring person.
Nancy Lawrynowicz
Executive Director
Lawrynowicz and Associates
Andrea Strang could have her own TV show or be a doula for celebrities. We hired her to help me in the hospital when I had a cesarean with my second child and we liked her so much we had her come to our house and help us at night for a few weeks after that. I have extremely high standards for who helps out in our house and she blew me away. My husband and I were both impressed by how helpful and thoughtful she was. She was observant enough to find ways to be helpful that we didn’t even think of ourselves. Even though this was our second child, Andrea taught us new skills. She was conscientious and careful, especially with cleanliness and germs, which is so important with a newborn. She was also very attentive to the baby—I am one of those mothers that watches the baby’s every breath just to make sure. Well Andrea is the only person other than my husband who I felt comfortable leaving the baby with. She went above and beyond, for example, in the hospital in the middle of the night; I needed some over the counter medicine for my comfort (not an emergency). The hospital couldn’t provide it. Andrea found an open pharmacy and walked to it at 2am. She was back in a blink too. After watching the baby all night while the rest of our family slept, we awoke to a plate of fresh fruit prepared for us. These are just little examples of how she made those first few weeks easier so that we could enjoy our new addition. Andrea is a smart, adaptive, warm, conscientious and careful person who would probably do well in whatever career she chose. Luckily for us, she chose to be a doula!
Mary Jo Ducharme, PhD
Assistant Professor
York University
"Andrea was my post-partum doula for my third child, a baby girl. When Ava was born, my boys were just over 4 and 2 years of age. Andrea truly saved my sanity by helping out with all three children so I could have some much needed rest or enjoy running a few errands without three children in tow. Along with looking after the attention needs of my preschooler, toddler, and crying baby whom she was able to settle, Andrea also looked after laundry and meal preparation. And is if life wasn't busy enough that month, we unexpectedly found a beautiful new house in a nearby city and put our house on the market. I'm not sure our move would have been possible without Andrea's help clearing kitchen clutter, packing of unnecessary items, childcare, and general support. I would totally recommend Andrea to anyone having a baby." Stacy Cattran
“When you are a new parent, sleep is a treasured gift. But when you are new parents who run their own businesses and must also work full time while trying to raise a newborn, sleep is a necessity! For this reason, we were grateful to find Andrea. At first we wondered if we would be able to truly sleep at night knowing that a “stranger” was taking care of our son. But Andrea put our minds at ease from the moment we first met her. She was kind, compassionate, extremely skilled with infants, and she also brought us helpful articles and websites on everything from breastfeeding, children’s sleep habits, and starting solid foods to where to buy cheap children’s clothes. In short, Andrea did much more than give us the “gift of sleep”, she and the her team also helped us to become more confident, knowledgeable parents, and at 5 and a half months, she actually helped us teach our son how to sleep through the night (at our request). We will always be grateful for our time with Andrea and her colleagues, and we would highly recommend them to any family, whether you are a working parent or not. The wealth of information and emotional support parents can gain from a night doula is unbelievably helpful”.
Drs. Miyo Yamashita and Michael Guerriere
