This was our first experience of using Amanda Marks and her programme and we were so delighted and impressed.
Apart from reviews, what set Amanda apart for us was her approach of looking at food and sleep holistically, and not sleep training under 6 months, which is both supported by the evidence and makes sense intuitively – of course hungrier babies need to wake more often. H was a great eater from the off, but we all needed some support to help him into good sleep habits, and so we were excited to get started.
Amanda has so much wisdom accumulated from her many years experience, and what we found so invaluable was her ability to harness that knowledge to personalise and tweak her programme to our individual child. As an example, H was extremely attached to his dummy. She very sensibly talked us through the disadvantages of having one at this age, and the problems it might cause, but when we explained what an emotional comfort it was for him, and the fact that (prior to the programme) during the night he would just find it and put it back in, or leave it out, without crying, she agreed that we could try to leave him with the dummy, and revisit if it caused issues. We followed every other element of the programme, and see how each step is beneficial, but this flexibility of approach and willingness to accept that, whilst she is absolutely an expert in this field, we are also the experts on our own child was so, so appreciated.
The results (despite us keeping the dummy!) were little short of miraculous, and H has been a fantastic sleeper ever since.
We really credit Amanda with making that transition so quick, and for setting H up with really positive sleep time associations. We were always sure that if we had another child we would use her again. And sure enough…
K aged 8 months
In July 2023, we bought Amanda’s platinum package again for our youngest child. I think this highlights what value we think Amanda personally adds to all she does – we could have just followed what we did with H but every baby and child is different and Amanda has seen it all, and knows exactly how to help guide you through all the different scenarios and different challenges.
Once again, with Amanda’s guidance we navigated through the many, many night wakes and reached a much more sustainable position for everyone!
At 19m she still loves her cot, and is a dream at nap time and bedtime.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I should say that K is much more prone to temporary sleep disruption when she is unwell, or teething, than H was, in a way, I actually find this reassuring – it shows that the programme isn’t churning out sleeping robots, and of course each child responds differently to different challenges. But I always have the confidence that things will get back on track, because we have all the basic good habits in place. And actually, just that confidence makes all the difference on the dodgy nights. (Plus knowing that, if things were to get out of hand, we know who to call!)
Amanda has also helped me be more aware of the impact that our own behaviours can have – as an example, K loves an early morning wake, and whenever I rush downstairs to her, I can hear Amanda’s voice telling me that I need to leave her longer, rather than go running in at 5.30am.
I still do often go to her, because that’s what works best for our family (if she gets loud, she wakes her brothers, which is then much, much harder to manage, than a quiet, calm snuggly feed!!).
Ultimately, Amanda has empowered us to make the decisions that fit our family best, and to know that we are not “stuck”.
As an aside, I also want to say what a great resource Amanda is for making sure that babies are eating a really balanced, iron enriched healthy diet, with good, consistent level of exposure to allergens. This wasn’t our main reason for seeking her assistance, but we definitely benefited from it.
