A woman has been hailed 'super-mum' for a nifty hack to get babies to sleep through the night.
In what could prove a welcome game-changer for weary new parents up and down the country, the mum says she managed to get both of her kids off to sleep for a full 12 hours a night from an early age.
Professionally known as The Night Night Nanny, Sophie Middleton, says her two daughters were sleeping full nights from 7pm until 7am from the ages of 10 weeks and 14 weeks, respectively. Sophie is so confident in her method, she says aside from night feeds and the occasional early morning which she can "count on one hand", her system has yet to fail.
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Having worked as a nanny for several years before starting her own family, Sophie initially thought the babies she had looked after had just been good sleepers, Teesside Live reports.
So when the Darlington mum gave birth to her first daughter Isabelle, now five, she decided to put everything she knew about helping babies sleep into practice, and managed to get her little one to sleep 12 hours a night from the age of 10 weeks.
And to prove it wasn't a fluke, Sophie also tried her methods with her second daughter Ruby, now three, and had the same results - despite people telling her she wouldn't get "two the same" when it comes to sleep.
She said: "Everyone can have one baby and that one baby sleeps well, but when Isabelle was eight months, then I fell pregnant with Ruby. When Ruby was born everyone said you won't get two the same, the second one will be up all night, she won't sleep.
"And even though she had horrendous reflux, she slept 12 hours a night from 14 weeks and she's four in July and she still sleeps like that."
So, what is the key to Sophie's success? The sleep coach insisted the most important things are routine and independence - which means teaching your baby to be comfortable lying by themselves in a cot without being held.
Sophie said she isn't an advocate for "sleep training", but does feel there are healthy ways to get your little ones into the right routine, such as setting them down by themselves whenever they aren't fussing or needing to be fed or changed.
When a baby is held all the time, Sophie says it becomes used to that type of comfort and sleeping in the arms of mum or dad will become a routine for the baby, which is why they may not be able to settle after being put down to sleep.
And when it comes to setting a good bedtime routine for children, the sleep coach said that it's vital for kids to feel "comfortable and safe" before bed.
She added that screen times need to be regulated and "ideally" children shouldn't be in front of screens for two hours before bedtime. Sophie says that for her children, their bedtime routine means they eat dinner and then go straight up to the bath before getting ready and reading a bed time story.
She explained: "The routine that works for us, it's what we've always done, is as soon as the kids have their tea, they go straight upstairs and then they have a bath and then it's normally 45 minutes between them going in the bath and them going to bed.
"That's absolute quality time, so there are no phones allowed in the bedroom."
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