Friday Feature: The Dukart Family and the SHINE Snoozy Baby Bundle

I saw a post on the Shine Lactation & Postpartum Support page about newborn nap length and how it directly affects nighttime sleep. I reached out to Stephanie to see if she could expand on the topic, as my husband and I were really struggling with nighttime sleep with our newborn (I was getting next to 0 sleep at night). Her and I chatted, she gathered lots of information about our day-to-day routines, and she got right to work on a sleeping plan for our girl! Stephanie answered so many questions I had and really helped me realize the importance of length of wake windows and naps during the daytime to help optimize nighttime sleep. Since working with Stephanie, we have had a much happier baby during the day, and all of us are getting SO much more sleep at night! THANK YOU from all three of us!——————————-Cassidy

When dreaming of Shine and what I would be offering the families I serve, Newborn Sleep Support never crossed my mind. In fact, I am not sure I even knew that was a thing? But I very quickly became aware of a desperate need and sometimes plea of families for help with their sleep (or lack thereof.)

As a lactation consultant, I was hesitant to even have the conversation about sleep. In fact, sometimes in the “lactation world” there can be a conflict with establishing an abundant milk supply and what I only knew to be named “sleep training”—especially in the beginning while getting off to a great start with breastfeeding.

Well, “sleep training” is definitely a thing. I know many, many people who have amazing testimonies of sleep training their children. Was this something I am really passionate about? Hmm, not really? Did I really even know what it was? No. I didn’t.

After doing extensive research of what sleep training is actually about, I determined that I was going to stay in my lane, while learning how I could best support families during this newborn stage of parenting. The newborn stage is considered birth through 3 months of age. There is A LOT happening when bringing a new baby home. And, there is A LOT happening in the first couple of weeks. Then, we settle in and A LOT more starts happening. Parenting the newborn is not for the weak—right?!

What I know to be true is this—I LOVE the newborn stage. And I love supporting families in the newborn stage—and because of that, I decided that finding a certification that specialized in newborn sleep was the right fit for me and the families I serve.

This curriculum aligned fully with my beliefs and focus as a lactation consultant. The program even had strong evidence supporting the benefits of infant massage as it relates to newborn sleep.

When families begin to understand and we work together to lay the foundation for sleep with their babies, beautiful things happen!

Sweet Sloane and her parents were just A+ students!

Now obviously, I am just getting started. When Cassidy connected with me about her 6 week old baby girl, I was so excited to take what I had learned as a Newborn Sleep Specialist, combined with lactation (Cassidy and Sloane have a beautiful breastfeeding relationship) and try it out. Cassidy did an amazing job of keeping a journal of what Miss Sloane does hour by hour throughout the day. We talked about her sleep environment, her baby’s weight gain, feeding patterns, and expectations. I then created a plan that we held loosely. In this newborn period—the breastfeeding relationship is priority. We never force a baby to sleep. We make sure baby is comforted whether that be breastfeeding, rocking with mama, daddy holding, etc. Babies MUST know that we are there to comfort, make sure they feel secure, and feed them—even if it seems like we just fed them.

With Newborn Sleep Support, unlimited emails and text support will be a huge part of what is available to families from me. We will tweak and evaluate what is working and not working. For the Dukart’s, they started getting some longer stretches in their nighttime sleep. And that makes for a happy Sloane!

The Shine Snoozy Baby Bundle is now available to families of newborns. All details will be listed on the website soon, however, contact me for more information if interested. Now booking FREE Exploration Calls to determine if this may be a good fit for you and your newborn. Contact here.

*****special discount pricing for lactation clients******