First-time-mother, Adriana, 35, began visiting Dr Brian Symon aka ‘The Babysleep Doctor’, with her daughter Isabella, now 1.5 years old, when she was 3.5 months of age.
For the first 3.5 months of Isabella’s life, both mum and bub had not slept for more than 40 consecutive minutes.
Adriana spent days in her bedroom, constantly holding Isabella in her arms, trying to get her to settle and to sleep.
“I was questioning why I wanted to become a mother. Isabella and I were both so miserable,” Adriana said.
Adriana sought professional help, attending half day clinics for both breastfeeding and infant sleep. But when these programs failed to work, she was told she had a high-needs child.
“I went home and researched what it meant to have a high-needs child, and was so upset. I didn’t want to accept it,” said Adriana.
“I read five books on how to get your baby to sleep and researched different methods and systems.
“My husband, an electrical engineer, even created an electronic device in an attempt to try and rock Isabella to sleep,” Adriana said.
In addition, Adriana investigated potential medical reasons that could be causing Isabella such distress, to no avail. Finally she spoke to a friend who visited Dr Symon.
“My husband and I were very nervous about visiting Dr Symon, so you can imagine the pleasant surprised we had once we realised how lovely and chatty he was,” said Adriana.
“To our relief, he explained there was nothing wrong with Isabella at all, apart from the fact that she was extremely hungry and extremely tired.”
After the first consultation, Adriana stuck to the plan they had agreed upon with Dr Symon, and implemented it straight away.
Isabella slept for six hours that night – the longest sleep she had ever had.
“I was so scared. I kept going into her room to ensure she was still breathing,” Adriana said.
But after that initial night, six hours became the ongoing routine.
“Isabella became a different child. She was smiling all the time and was very pleasant,” said Adriana.
Adriana sought Dr Symon’s professional advice again when she was pregnant with her second child, Matias.
“I wanted to get it right from the beginning this time,” Adriana said.
“Today, Isabella is 1.5 years old and Matias will be two months in two days, and we’re all very happy.”
Adriana continues to visit Dr Symon whenever she feels the need; not only for sleep and feeding advice, but also when her children have an occasional rash or are unwell.
“Dr Symon was always clear that his job is to support us as a family, and to ensure our babies are going well,” said Adriana.
