My Blog

I am often asked if there was anything I felt could have been done to prevent my spiral into severe postnatal illness and then puerperal psychosis.  My immediate reply is ‘Sleep’.

Kathleen Kendall Tackett believes that sleep disturbance is one of the key risk factors of postnatal illness. I would agree.

I now can see that I was in a viscious circle – I was always anxious and therefore my baby was. That affected our sleep as I only cat-napped, expecting him to wake – and he did! The more tired I was, the worse everything else was and I crashed – big time.

He didn’t always sleep as well as in the above photo!

During those early months, at every interaction I had with health professionals, I mentioned how little we were sleeping. It appeared to be fobbed off time after time until it was too late.

So I am always keen to discover ways to break the cycle I was in so that I can help others. Recently my path crossed with a lady who I wish I had been introduced to all those years ago (thank you Angela Sutherland for introducing us).  Although it is too late for me – Evelyn’s DVD and advice may be just what someone needs right now – read on!

‘I have been asked many times where my interest in sleep came from and how I became a baby whisperer.

Everyone knows quality sleep is vital for our health and well-being but when you have children many parents lose years of good sleep!  I, for one, suffered from lack of sleep when I had my own children. My experience sparked an interest in me to find out more about the complexities of sleep. Sleep is complicated and affected by the five senses of smell, sound, sight, touch and taste. Each of the senses are located in the same part of the brain that controls memory and emotion. Smell in particular is a very evocative and triggers hundreds of memories and emotions.

As a former nurse, midwife and health visitor for over 30 years, I’ve met several thousand women with young children and I am passionate about helping babies, toddlers and parents in any way I can.

Mums with postnatal depression are particularly vulnerable to lack of sleep. One of the symptoms of depression is unable to sleep well at night but if their baby is waking them frequently the true extent of the depression may be masked.  Therefore, as part of the therapeutic relationship between the mum and myself I would always help the mums address their  baby’s sleep problem first before embarking on other therapies.  In many cases the positive effect of solving their baby’s sleep problem boosted their confidence in being a mother and consequently transformed  their lives and the lives of their family.  This is where my passion and interest in sleep stems from.

I am now in private practice as the Cheshire Baby Whisperer and using my knowledge and skills in child development I have devised a baby sensory approach to sleep that is baby friendly and parent empowering.

I have researched all the different types of sleep attachments babies make and observed how they learn to settle themselves to sleep.

One of my techniques is to create positive sleep attachments to smell, sound, sight, touch and taste. I teach parents how to do this in their own home and have recently made a training DVD demonstrating all the techniques and sleep routines for babies 0-3 months, 3 months – 24 months and 2 years – 5 years.

Mums can contact me on Facebook: Cheshire Baby Whisperer

Email me at  Evelynburdon@hotmail.co.uk

Or visit my website to view my video www.cheshirebabywhisperer.com‘

Please feel free to share this information.

Elaine