Working with Amanda Marks for Iris’s food & sleep programme has been nothing short of miraculous!
I wish we had known about Amanda when I had my son 8 years ago. Amanda confidently told us at the start “I shall have Iris sleeping through within two weeks”…
I’ll admit, I was dubious.
At this point Iris was waking every 30 minutes. As a family we were completely exhausted, it affected our lives hugely. I felt like a walking zombie quite frankly.
The first few days were difficult. Amanda warned us they would be. Small changes to her feeding and nap routine took Iris some getting used to. It would have been all too easy to give up at this point. But Amanda’s constant support and reassurance got us through.
After working with Amanda for her breastfeeding programme – I trusted her implicitly. Tired at this point- yes! But determined- more than ever!
By day 5/6 things started to take a turn.
Iris didn’t put up a fight when it came to naps anymore, she began to recognise that it was time to go to sleep. By day 8- 10 she was like a different baby.
She was so much happier – and because we were getting sleep, so were we & she was eating substantial meals too three times a day having now reduced her huge quantities of milk!
As predicted by Amanda by day 14 all creases were ironed out and we had an incredibly happy little baby that slept for 12 hours a night.
We felt like we had won the lottery! Our lives changed for the better massively.
The power of sleep can NOT be underestimated. The impact on our mental health when Iris wasn’t sleeping was huge.
I can’t recommend Amanda enough – we had a hugely successful breast feeding routine – something I wish Is also had with Alfie. I really struggled breastfeeding Alfie. Everyday felt like a battle.
Feeding my daughter under Amanda’s care was so easy – I’ll never forget how special it felt to feed Iris without feeling remotely stressed & knowing that Amanda was there whenever I needed her was huge for me. Being a new mum can be lonely and stressful-
I remain forever grateful to Amanda for making our journey a truly beautiful one.
Worth every single penny xx
Iris’s case study before starting the programme
Iris was initially breast fed. For around three months. She fed very well . She started sleeping through at three weeks. From around 9pm-6am. We were living the dream!
We then switched her to Aptamil. She displayed signs of lactose intolerance (I am severely lactose intolerant and Alfie was lactose intolerant as a baby). We switched her to SMA Lactose free. She was much better on this formula.
She would only wake a couple of times a night, seemingly happy and settled.
At this point she was in her next to me cot.
At 5 months old Iris boarded a cruise ship with her dad and brother (I was filming on the ship) They stayed two weeks.
After the first few days Iris developed what looked like thrush in her mouth. She wouldn’t eat and her tummy was giving her great discomfort. The doctor on board prescribed antibiotics and an anti fungal medicine.
This is when troubles really begin.
Sleep was completely disturbed.
Waking every hour.
In the months that followed she was agitated with chronic wind through the night.
We panicked and started her on hypoallergenic milk, believing it could be a milk protein allergy. This made her worse and her stools became mucus with blood in them. So we stripped things right back. Tom had started weaning at 5 months. She loved her porridge and seemed happy on SMA so we decided to go back to this .
She was also happy on Ella’s kitchen pouches but too much fibre seemed to upset her gut (I.e the fruit pouches)
She seems much better on SMA again but her sleep is terrible.
During her illness on the ship and the forth coming weeks of chronic wind she started to co-sleep with us. We’ve not been able to stop that.
So the current situation is that she sleeps in our bed and most nights wakes every 1-2 hours.
She has a dummy to settle her.
Sometimes she will require some milk to help her settle her.
Eating is a little hit and miss she doesn’t have a huge appetite!
