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Testimonials

In four days Sheyne changed our life.

Alexander is our first baby, the baby we weren’t confident we’d ever get to have, the baby we’d do anything (and did do anything!) for. The day he was born we gazed at this tiny piece of perfection and knew that there was nothing we wouldn’t do for him. We were available to our baby every second of the day and night- totally devoted to him. We fed him on demand, rocked him to sleep for hours, co-slept and carried him in a sling most of his waking hours and loved him madly. Of course we wanted to be the perfect attachment parents – it sounds so good, doesn’t it, meet your child’s every need and have them close, cuddled and happy?

Well, fast forward nine months and we had created a monster. He was a clingy, angry, defiant little dynamo who felt the need to be in charge of everything 24/7. He rarely slept more than 2 hours at a stretch and was getting increasingly difficult during the day- having huge emotional meltdowns about everything, screaming, head butting, biting and pinching in frustration- fighting me over every tiny task. Feeding, dressing, bathing – everything had become a battle. Alexander had come to view every single interaction with me as a battle and rarely wanted to play or cuddle with me. My heart was breaking- I had bent over backwards to attachment-parent this child to be secure, calm, loving and happy, and the result was a furious, sad, stressed little babe who just wasn’t coping. It is such an irony that we parented him the way we had because we couldn’t bear to hear him cry and what was the result? Endless tears. We had wanted him so desperately and suddenly I was wishing we’d never had him. I felt a failure as a mother- my little baby was unhappy and furious and did not want a bar of me.

I emailed Sheyne, desperate but expecting nothing. We tried other services- had a totally disastrous experience with a Brisbane midwife who gave us dreadful , even cruel, advice, dead ends with doctors and child health nurses-and with each attempt to help Alexander it all got worse. After each all-or-nothing sleep fight, we felt cruel and hopeless, so desperate for a kind way to give our baby sleep and restore our sanity. Our marriage was strained, our relationship with our baby was strained, and our confidence as parents was absolutely shot. And then Sheyne rang and her lovely, kind compassionate voice poured down the phone to me and we discussed my Alexander, except it was as if she already knew him- she knew all of his tricks and behaviours and asked questions that made me wonder if maybe there were hidden cameras...? Before I knew it, we were making arrangements to have Sheyne come to stay! Nervous? You bet we were.

In walked Sheyne and it was like having family come to stay. She brought such love with her and was so positive and confident she set us all at ease. We had been so worried about trusting anyone else with our precious baby, but all the worry evaporated when she walked in the door. She promised us that she would treat him with the same love and care as if he were her own, and she kept that promise. She treated us all as if we were part of her family, with affection, direction and humour in equal parts. I thought it would be such a difficult week, having a total stranger to stay, but it wasn’t difficult at all. It was busy, and fun, and tiring- at the end of it all I felt as if I had been to Baby University- but it wasn’t hard to have Sheyne around. It was a gift.

Truthfully, the sleep was easy. She told me it would be, and I didn’t believe her, but she was exactly right. The very first night, Alexander made not a peep as Sheyney got him ready for bed and tucked him in. Without one single squeak of protest, he slept right through from 7:00pm to 6:30am and had to be woken in the morning! Now, months on, our darling boy loves his bed and we have never, ever had a struggle over getting him to sleep. He understands what we are asking him to do now, and he is happy to do it. He has slept through every single night since Sheyne came.

With sleep, love and clear communication, Sheyne set about revealing my ‘real son’ to me and this, to me, was the absolute best bit. She has the most phenomenal gift for observation, and in her few days opened up a whole new world to me: the world of my son. I learnt a lot about how he views the world, how bright he is, and how very much he understands - and suddenly I was falling in love with him all over again. The child I really have is so much better than the one I thought I had, and I will always be grateful to Sheyne for introducing me to him. Once I understood better where he was coming from, and once he began sleeping, his hissy fits and aggression just melted away- he didn’t need them any more.

Sheyne gave us back our sleep and our sanity and our confidence, but best of all, she gave us back our baby. We love and enjoy him now the way we always dreamed we would, and he loves and enjoys us right back! There are no words to describe how wonderful it feels to have a happy, thriving baby, every day. Having Sheyne to stay was the best decision we have ever made for our family.

We are so happy now Sheyne. Thank you.