Baby Sleep

Hey there! If you’re an exhausted mama looking for real sleep solutions, you’re in the right place, and I’m so glad you’re here.

I know what it’s like to be a way-too-tired mom day after day after day. Work is less productive, chores around the house build up, you say “no” to plans with friends because who’s got the energy for that, and you spend the days hopelessly hoping that this will be the night things change. I get it. I was there and for far too long.

Who am I, anyway?

Welcome, I’m Nicole. I’m the founder of Nicole Renee Health and Holistic Nutritionist. As a Holistic Nutritionist, I know all too well the importance that sleep plays in our overall health. While a lack of sleep in motherhood has been normalized, it’s not healthy, and babies need healthy mommies. The fatigue, tears, memory problems, irritability, sadness and hopelessness are your body’s way of crying out for help. Regardless of what others may tell you, this is not something you should just wait out. This is your health. It directly impacts you and your baby and should be made a priority.

Look, I’m not a baby sleep expert. I have no certifications or fancy programs to sell you. I’m just a mom who was sleep deprived for months and tried everything that the experts recommended until I finally found what really works. This combination of tools and practices guarantees my little one will sleep 11+ hours every single night. Full disclosure: this page contains some affiliate links and should you make a purchase using one of these links, we may make a commission. Each of the tools I’m going to share with you are used in our home on a daily (and nightly) basis. I fully stand by each of them and I can tell you from experience, we could not survive without them. What I’m about to share with you has not only guaranteed us 11+ hours of overnight sleep consistently, but has also helped us through two sleep regressions.

To get to the good stuff, you can skip on down to The Good Stuff. However, if you’re still unsure if this information is right for you and your little one, keep on reading and I’ll explain a bit about myself and my family’s situation before finding these solutions.

About us

When I had my daughter in February 2023, I was fully prepared for a few months straight of sleepless nights with a newborn. I was even prepared for a possible 4 month sleep regression. I was not prepared for what actually took place.

My daughter’s newborn phase was a breeze. By the time she was one month old she was only waking up once overnight to eat. By the time she was two months she was sleeping 10 hours straight! We thought we were in the clear… LOL. The 4 month sleep regression hit just before she turned 4 months and that’s where our struggle began. We tried getting her back to sleep with feedings, diaper changes, etc. None of it worked, or was even necessary. She wasn’t interested in food, she wasn’t uncomfortable, she just wanted to be held - all. night. long. The wakings were frequent, too. When we would finally get her back down in her crib, it wasn’t long before she’d wake up again. Many nights she had us up 10+ times per night. There were many nights where we were so tired she would end up in our bed, and that was certainly not a habit we wanted her to become used to.

Exhausted as we were, we really wanted to avoid CIO (cry it out) and other methods that use variations of CIO. Just our personal preference. We tried the whole “drowsy but awake” thing, but she seemed to be a baby who would never fall asleep on her own. If we put her down awake she’d either cry immediately or laugh at us if she was in a good mood (it was kinda cute). The only way we could get our baby to sleep was by rocking her to sleep and then holding her a few minutes longer to make sure she was truly sleeping, then we would put her down and hope it would last at least a couple of hours so we could get some sleep in.

As all this was going on we, of course, looked into things that could possibly be disrupting her sleep, such as health issues or food intolerances. She was (thankfully!) a perfectly healthy baby - just one who didn’t sleep, or so we thought. This went on every single night until she was 7 months old. I felt hopeless, depressed, like I was stuck in the sleepless newborn phase and couldn’t escape. Not to mention, I was being bombarded with online “sleep experts” pushing their advice and overpriced programs. Basically, I’d reached my wits end. It was then that I really dove deep into my own baby sleep research and found the items and training that completely changed our lives by talking to other moms.

After all of this research, my husband and I carefully and thoughtfully selected a few items to invest in and selected a very gentle, no CIO sleep training method. We combined this with a very specific bedtime routine. Within 3 days our little girl was falling asleep happily and independently in her crib and sleeping straight through the night! We expected this all to take weeks, in all honesty. Now, full disclosure, things got really good and we got a little lax with using all of the items and sticking to the training after time went by. Low and behold, the 9 month sleep regression hit us like a ton of bricks. After a few brutal nights, we pulled out all the same stops and got her back on track. I can confidently say this routine has helped my daughter through TWO sleep regressions.

Does any of this sound familiar to you? Here’s the deal, if you are…

  • a tired, sleep-deprived mom who’s well past the newborn stage and wondering when you’ll ever get your baby to sleep through the night

  • looking for a truly gentle, loving, non-CIO sleep solution

  • wanting to avoid wasting money on sleep products and trainings that don’t work and want real advice from other moms instead of overpaid influencers

…then these next steps are for you.

The Good Stuff

So, how did I go from up to 10+ night wake ups and rocking my baby to sleep to having her fall asleep independently and sleep 11 hours (in just 3 days!!)? This is how:

  • Brown noise & red light: We started off using white noise for our daughter, but after some research I learned that brown noise is actually better for babies. We use the Hatch sound machine, which offers brown noise as one of their options. The Hatch also has nightlight options where you can adjust the brightness and the color. When we were putting her down in the evenings (in her very dark room), we always had the white nightlight on. Well, I’d also learned in my research that any light other than red light can disrupt a person’s circadian rhythm, especially a baby’s! We switched the nightlight color to red and only use it when we’re in there putting her down. Any sound machine with brown noise will do, and so will any red light, but if you’re interested, you can learn more about the Hatch here.

  • Weighted sleep sack: I know some people are iffy about these - I certainly was. It took me months of going back and forth to finally make the purchase. The weighted sleep sack is designed to apply a light pressure to babies that almost feels like a hug. If you have a baby who likes being held to sleep (like mine), a weighted sleep sack can be helpful. I chose Dreamland Baby and this is the ONLY brand I’ll use. They’ve tested the safety of their weighted sleep sacks and medical staff such as pediatricians and pulmonologists were involved in the creation of the product. The weighted sleep sack made such a difference in our daughter’s sleep and gave us the rest, energy, and patience we needed to begin sleep training. So many parents have seen drastic improvements using this sleep sack. Again, the ONLY weighted sleep sack I would ever recommend is a Dreamland Baby one and you can learn more about them here.

  • Gentle sleep training: Finally, sleep training. If there is only one area you want to invest your time and money into, this is it. Like I’ve said, we were not willing to do anything that involved our baby crying alone in her room for any length of time and, thankfully, we learned about this sleep training method! While we expected it to take weeks we started off practicing with naps and within 3 days our baby was happily and independently falling asleep and staying asleep through the night! Now, of course there will be some tears because your baby is learning to adjust to a new way of falling asleep, but you are there to give them physical and verbal love and support every step of the way, so while it could get tough at times, they are never left alone. Unlike other sleep training programs, The Sleep Lady is truly gentle. Her sleep training program is her version of the Chair Method and the reviews alone will blow your mind. I cannot recommend this gentle sleep training method enough. It truly changed our lives - we go to sleep without anxiety about how many times our baby will wake and we wake up refreshed and ready to take on the day. We’re able to be better parents, partners, and people because of it. Learn more about The Sleep Lady here.

So, there you have it. Our three non-negotiables for better baby sleep are brown noise and red light, a weighted sleep sack, and this amazing gentle sleep training. These are the basics that I believe every parent with a baby who needs to be rocked to sleep and wakes frequently overnight needs.

Now, I do have one more completely FREE offer for you, because I’ve been in your shoes and I know how valuable solid, tried and true advice is at this stage. So I am going to give you our entire bedtime routine, completely free, no up-sells, no strings attached, simply because you deserve a restful night.

Enter your email below and you’ll get our full bedtime routine - complete with what we do for ambiance, PJs, feedings, temperature, bath time, oils - delivered straight to your inbox! You never know what tiny change will have a massive impact (and we’ve tweaked this a lot to get it just right) so sign up below and get your free bedtime cheat sheet delivered to your inbox.

Thanks for spending your time here today! I’m so excited to be able to help! :)

Until next time…

-Nicole