Jessica's Story

A free online sleep consultation with Plunket supported one whānau stuggling with sleep deprivation to get back on track. 

Māmā Jessica says the four-month sleep regression lasted for months, and as a family they felt at rock bottom.  

“Because our daughter would only feed back to sleep at night, she wasn’t getting enough restorative sleep. This made our days together really difficult. I was getting basically zero sleep, so I was miserable and in turn made my partner miserable. 

“I had a lot of anxiety around sleep and the lack of it. I used to dread bedtime! There was so much advice online that it was overwhelming trying to sift through it to find something that might work for us.” 

After visiting the Whānau Āwhina Plunket website for advice around infant sleep, Jessica saw online sleep consultations were available. She called PlunketLine and spoke with a Plunket nurse who organised a referral. 

Jessica says the session they had over a video call helped to break down some of the information they had read online and create some steps to take as a family to improve everyone’s sleep.  

“The sleep consultant really listened to us and validated how I was feeling. She helped us to move away from feeding pēpi to sleep at bedtime and for all naps, which is something I did not see as possible before engaging with Plunket. 

“We were still assisting our daughter to fall asleep, but it meant my partner was able to take some of the load off me, which was the most helpful thing for us. Implementing the tips we were given meant our daughter started having longer stretches of sleep overnight and became a much happier baby during the day.” 

Like most new mums who are in the trenches of sleep deprivation, Jessica says it’s difficult to know what to do and where to turn.  

“When down to one income on parental leave, most sleep consultant services seem so out of reach and it’s hard to justify the cost. We are so lucky to have a free service available through Plunket and I have recommended it to people I know who are struggling with infant sleep.”  

If you would like to book a free, face-to-face online sleep support session, call PlunketLine on 0800 933 922. You don’t have to be enrolled with Plunket – this service is available to everyone.