~ It’s 2am. I have to pee. I’m not pregnant. I haven’t had a sip of anything since 6pm. I wonder if I can wait till morning. I can’t. I get up. I go pee. I come back to bed and I’M WIDE AWAKE! ~ My 2 year old cries for me during the night. I bring him into our bed. My husband goes to the couch. We play musical beds all night. None of us are sleeping well. ~ I had a baby 6 weeks ago. I sleep for 30 minutes at a time. I’m exhausted. My baby sleeps all day. She saves all her a wake time for the middle of the NIGHT! ~ My son is 10 years old. He is stressed out about taking tests at school. He is losing sleep over it. It’s breaking my heart… ~ My 3 year old is terrified at night. Nothing has happened to warrant this fear. She starts to cry as soon as she gets her pajamas on. From the monsters under her bed to the “bad man” in the closet to the nightmares…. We are exhausted and at our wits end. ~ My little one (8 months old) was sleeping 11 hours a night and then his teething got real bad. He seems to be in constant pain and is miserable all night. He will only sleep if I sit in the rocking chair and rock him all night… HELP! WE ARE EXHAUSTED AND LOSING OUR MINDS!!!! These are just a few of the stories about lack of sleep that we hear regularly at Northeast Doulas. I spend a great deal of time searching for great resources for our clients. So many topics, so many choices! There are so many ways to search out information and so many opinions. There is evidenced based research to support EVERY side of EVERYTHING! Between books, websites, chat rooms etc. couples are overwhelmed confused and they can spend more time researching than acting once they begin! Sleep train, beware of sleep trainers, potty train, elimination communication, cry it out, co-sleep, separate sleep, breast feed, supplement with formula… the list goes on and on. So how do I choose a professional that I trust? I’ll tell you. I had the opportunity this past May at The New York Baby Show to sit in when Rosie Pope and her MomPrep Experts did a presentation. I was incredibly impressed by Dr. Whitney Roban, the creator of SLEEP-EEZ KIDS. She said things that made sense to me. (That’s the key for me! Does it make sense to me? It’s that simple!) It really resonated with me when she was asked a question about bedtime for 3+ year olds. She responded with, “children should have a sense of control about their bedtime. Not total control.” She gave examples of this to help the audience understand and I felt that her approach was very sympathetic AND empowering! That’s important to me. A sympathetic and empowering approach. That is what matters to me in choosing a professional or a philosophy that I support. I knew I wanted to meet her and approached her later that day. Since then, Debbie, Lauren and I have had the opportunity to get to know her and have invited her to teach a workshop for you on SLEEP! Topics she will cover will include, but will not be limited to: ·      How much sleep children need as they grow ·      Age appropriate sleep schedules and routines ·      The key aspects to raising a good sleeper ·      Summary of sleep training technique ·      How to successfully sleep train your child ·      Will my new baby wake my toddler ·      Why sleep is so important ·      And more…