It’s really difficult to put into words just how valuable Helen’s influence has been not only in our son’s life but also in ours. I/we believe that Helen’s true strength lies in her ability to give the parents their power back, to help them to rediscover their confidence, a confidence that can so easily be chipped away as we stumble and lurch up the nose bleedingly steep learning curve that is parenting.
I’m a Dad with a young son, and I’ll be the first to admit that I found the pressure of juggling work with parenting to be insurmountable at times. I knew deep down that I was drifting away from my son and that our relationship was suffering as a result, I had become the ‘angry Dad’ which I hated but I couldn’t figure out a solution, to make things worse this shift
in our relationship was adding greater and greater parenting pressure onto my wife.
It was around this time that our son had just started to regress in his ability to sleep through the night, our ‘7 – 7’ son was now waking regularly in the night and insisting on getting into bed with Mummy and Daddy. Months passed and the exhaustion was taking its toll on all of us, we had started to sleep separately so that at least one of us could get some ‘proper
sleep’, but we weren’t able to address the main issue effectively anymore and knew that we needed help, and fast.
Having had Helen’s support early in our son’s life and having become close friends off the back of this we knew we could engage with her professionally again and that she would work with us to strategize practical solutions that we as parents can own and implement.
The timing coincided with a quieter period for me at work and as such Helen recommended that I take the lead in implementing the plan, I grabbed this opportunity with both hands knowing this would provide me with the opportunity to create a tighter bond with my son and as a byproduct take the pressure off my wife.
Helen was, once again, incredibly supportive, guiding me through the approach and practical steps required each night to help our son feel safe and comfortable sleeping alone again. Sure there were hiccups and some nights were easier than others, but Helen’s enduring support really helped me to stay strong, despite the lack of sleep, and importantly to
maintain clarity (hard to do on 3 hrs sleep a night!) in my responses to emerging situations and all the curve balls our son threw in for good measure.
I am delighted and relieved to report that our son now sleeps in his own ‘big boy bed’ for 7+ hours a night, thank you Helen.
