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Daily Record
Zahna Eklund & Fionnuala Boyle

Woman dubbed 'super-mum' for sleep trick that helps kids get 12 hours kip a night

A family sleep coach has been dubbed 'super-mum' for helping parents get their tots to sleep without any issues - after managing to get her own children to sleep a whopping 12 hours a night from an early age.

Getting young babies to sleep through the night can feel like a huge and almost unachievable task, as can ensuring parents get the same amount of rest, too.

But Sophie Middleton, who is professionally known as The Night Night Nanny, said her two daughters were sleeping full nights from 7pm until 7am from the ages of 10 weeks and 14 weeks respectively, reports the Mirror.

And apart from night feeds and the occasional early morning which she can "count on one hand", her system hasn't let her down yet.

The woman, from Darlington, County Durham, had a job as a nanny for many years before having a family of her own, and originally thought that the babies she had looked after had just been good sleepers.

So when she gave birth to her first daughter Isabelle, now five, she decided to put everything she knew about helping babies sleep to the test, and was successful in getting her youngster to sleep 12 hours a night from the age of 10 weeks.

The sleep guru gets her children to sleep for a full 12 hours a night (Getty)

And to show it wasn't a coincidence or an accident, Sophie also tested out 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."

Parents will be desperate to get their little ones down for a good night's sleep (Getty)

So, what is the key to Sophie's success? The sleep coach said the two most important pillars are routine and independence - which means teaching your baby to be comfortable lying by themselves in a cot without being held.

Sophie doesn't actively promote "sleep training", but does feel there are healthy ways to get your little ones into the right routine. For instance, putting them down by themselves whenever they aren't needing 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 their parents will become routine, which is why they may not be able to settle after being put down to sleep.

And when it comes to establishing a good bedtime routine for children, the sleep coach said that it's crucial 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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