Welcome to Mom-ME Blog!
Why I started my business as a Pediatric Sleep Consultant? Does sleep training REALLY help?
Hello everyone, I would like to welcome you to my Mom-ME Blog. I am Shannon Tolbert, CEO and founder of Dreamy Slumber LLC, a pediatric sleeping consulting company that supports families by providing tools and resources to help their babies and children sleep, not only through the night but also during nap time.
I am a wife and mother of two amazing kiddos, Royce (2 yrs) and Skylar (4 months). I know someone is doing some math in their heads, YES, we went through a brief phase, where we had 2 under 2...lol. I am not sure who said that was a good idea. I have a background in Engineering, so I can truly relate to the career driven moms and stay-at-home moms, HATS OFF TO YOU LADIES, I salute you!!!!! These blogs will include stories about my life as working mom, experiences that I have had with both my children when sleep training and other helpful hints and tips to help mom and dads out there struggling to get their little ones sleeping independently through the night.
Does Sleep Training Really Work?
October 2019, we found out we were expected our first child, March 2020 the world shut-down due the pandemic, June 2020 our son was born. I was in love all over again and with this handsome gorgeous little guy that I had birthed. When we got home, I found myself feeding this little guy for an hour at least. What I didn't know was that he did not need to be eating that long, 30 mins max. What I later found out was that he was falling asleep and was using me to soothe, in other words I was a human pacifier. I didn't know this, until I came across an add on social media about a DIY version of a sleep training program call Sleep Sense Program.
At this point, my son was 3 months old. I purchased the program and started sleep training him. Within 2 weeks, he went from waking up every 3 hours to sleeping 12 hours through the night. I KID YOU NOT!!! The first night he slept through the night was one of the scariest night my husband and I experienced. We definitely did not sleep good that night. We woke up more throughout the night checking on our son than we did before we started sleep training. When our son woke up the next morning we were relieved, but still tired as HELL! Naps was not a concern, he went down for those with no problem. After the next couple of nights we felt more confident about our son's sleeping and we were now able to peacefully sleep through the night. Every since that moment, our son has not had any issues with sleeping, other than the usually moments when he gets sick and he wants some good ol TLC from his mommy. We did face some slight regressions in sleep, but we were able to easily get back on plan by following back up on what I had implementing during his initial sleep training journey.
NOW DOES SLEEP TRAINING WORK...? The answer is YES, because this is something that I have done with my own child which allows peace of mind for me and my husband. My daughter is sleeping 9 hours through the night. She goes to bed around 9:00pm and will wake up around 5:30am for a diaper change. Once she is fresh and clean, she is back to sleep until 9:00am. The fact that it works leads into why I started Dreamy Slumber - Pediatric Sleep Consulting.
Why I started Dreamy Slumber LLC
I started Dreamy Slumber LLC in 2021, of course there were probably a lot of entrepreneurs out there that had an idea or thought that they wanted to turn into a business. To be honest I was not one of those people initially. I just wanted my family and I to survive through the pandemic and pray everything would be back to normal at some point. I wanted to focus my energy on being a new mom, because there is no book for this thing called "motherhood" or "parenting". My husband and I was just learning as we go. I was mentally prepared to be sleep deprived until my son started grade school. I had NEVER heard of sleep training. I was familiar with people back in the day saying "that baby will cry himself to sleep", "she will be alright, she will cry and doze off, EVENTUALLY". When I was 6, my younger brother was born, and I would hate to hear him cry, no matter what the reason was, so I knew as a mom I would hate to hear my baby cry twice as much as I did when I would hear my brother cry. So yep, I was already planning to be that parent that held, danced, rocked, swayed, sang (no I can't really sing, but my baby wouldn't know that... lol) my baby to sleep and/or do whatever I needed to do for them to stop crying. I was not aware that there was a solution to prevent sleep deprivation from being up all night or constantly throughout the night with your kiddos. When I did sleep training with my son, I knew this was something that A LOT of people were not aware existed and during a pandemic there was a lot of "baby-making" going on.
I have a group of friends, all of us mothers. Some of them were trying to figure out how to get their babies and toddlers out their beds, because they were accustomed to co-sleeping and they wanted their beds back (and their husbands too #girldad). They wanted their babies to be able to sleep through the night or at least be able to put themselves back to sleep when they did wake up in the middle of the night.
I received an email from a consultant from the Sleep Sense Program, inquiring on if I was interested in starting my own business being able to support other families in their children's sleep journey. Recapping on my own experience and remembering the concerns and issues my friends were going through, I said WHY NOT, let's do it. I completed the certification program to becomes a Certified Sleep Sense Consultant and Dreamy Slumber Pediatric Sleep Consulting was born.
In Closing
I would not be doing this if I didn't believe in it...I'm doing this because it WORKS - twice for me. I'm doing this because mom's out there, working and stay at home moms, all need their rest as well. You are not being selfish for wanting to get a little more sleep; you are not being selfish because you want to spend more quality time with your spouse/partner; you are not being selfish because you want your MOM-ME TIME. By not having the opportunity to do these things, you ARE BEING SELFISH TO YOURSELF!
If you are interested and want to learn more on how I can help you, help your child, BOOK your FREE 15-min Meet 'N' Greet call so we can chat and I can learn more about the sleep issues your little one(s) are facing.
Feel free to comment on this blog and let me know what you think. Feel free to let me know topics you would like to hear more about.
