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Our Sound Sleeper, Rosemary Greisman


How much sleep do you get?

The early years in your child’s life are supposed to be amongst the most exciting. I know how difficult it can be to enjoy this time if you are feeling exhausted and sleep deprived. As a mom of four growing children, I know how important it is to have a good night’s sleep. Because my children were born in the span of five and a half years, it was crucial that they all slept well. I thoroughly researched and tried various methods related to children’s healthy sleep habits and became an expert in scheduling, routines, baby development and more.  I am sure that my background in Early Childhood Education and my knowledge as a certified post-partum doula, have contributed to my passion for caring of babies and my desire to help their parents. I believe that parents need to feel empowered and confident when dealing with all aspects of their children’s lives, especially when it comes to sleep.

My goal is to give parents the tools necessary for teaching their children healthy sleep habits. I know that implementing change can be difficult and sometimes even scary. My objective is to help parents through this process in a non – judgmental, friendly way, so that they ultimately feel confident that they can manage on their own. There will always be challenges to overcome when it comes to raising our children. I want to share my knowledge with parents so that they can embrace those challenges.

Are you having sleep troubles? Send your questions to oursoundsleeper@ohbabymagazine.com or leave them in the comment section and I’ll do my best to help you get some much needed sleep!



  • Grahamcts

    my son just turned 2 and started to climb out of his crib. I have the kind that converts to a toddler bed and figured that was my cue to convert it before he fell and was injured. Since it’s the same bed, same bedding, he seems to have adjusted fine. What are your thoughts on pillows? My son is a tummy sleeper (I didn’t let him when he was young, but now there’s nothing I can do about it). Should I wait to introduce a pillow? I don’t know if he should be using one if he sleeps on his tummy.
    Thanks,
    Chris
    grahamcts@hotmail.com

  • Jessicamk13

    Im falling apart. My 10month old had staretd sleeping. She wakes up at 6-7am everyday. She then naps for about 20min at 10 and then a about an hour or so at 2. Then she is up till about 8pm. She then wakes up at 12am for feeding. Then wakes up at 3am for a feeding and also wants to play. She does not go back to bed till at least 4-5am. Then we sart the whole thing again at 7am. I will say I think she is teething and has a slight stuffy nose. She only sleeps on her front by the way, hates hates sleeping on her back. PLEASE HELP. She is exhausted I see it but she has falllen out of routine so badley. She used to sleep 8-3am then up at 7am with no issues. I work full time as well and my daycare has not chanegd anythign or sleep routines at all either. Please help.

  • Rhonda

    My 6 month old is up 8 times a night and only sleeps 45 minutes at the most for naps.  He needs to be rocked and patted for at least 20 mintues to fall asleep.  Every time he wakes up, I have to repeat this.  I’m assuming the Ferber method is the best method I should try in order to get some sleep back!

  • Jessica

    I have a 6 week old that I would like to put on a schedule/sleep routine, but am finding this hard to do as he gets up every 2-3 hours or sometimes even 4 hours. Am I being to optimistic about getting him to sleep through the night?

  • Ingrid

    I’m a mom of 2 kids and swore up and down after the first was a horrible sleeper I would do things differently the second time to prevent that from happening again.  Well, enter number 2, who was colicky for the first 3 months and my well-laid plans went up in flames.  At 6 months she was still waking frequently (on average 5 times per night) and wouldn’t go to be without an elaborate wind-down ritual that included shushing, patting, singing and jiggling her in my arms until she was out cold.  Multiply this 45 minute go to sleep ritual by 3 naps + 1 bedtime per day, and I was spending upwards of 3 hours just trying to get my kid to fall asleep!!  I was desperate and tried the cry-it-out method as described in the book by Weissbluth.  It had worked for my son as a baby but failed miserably for my daughter.  She would cry (probably because the colic phase had taught her how) for 2 hours if I let her.  I couldn’t stand it and gave in after 4 days.  There was no progress, and she actually regressed to napping in only 45 min stints.
    By 8 months there was no improvement and I decided to do the pick up/put down method as described by the baby whisperer and saw rapid improvement.  In 4 days she went from requiring the elaborate wind down ritual and frequent night wakings to putting herself to sleep at nap and bedtime and sleeping through until 5.  
    Now at a year I’m here:  every time she gets sick (and it’s ALOT with an older brother) she completely regresses and wakes every 2 hours all night.  I also CANNOT get her off this 4-5 am wake-up.  I’ve tried pick up/put down and cry-it-out but neither work.  She’ll cry until morning.  If I feed her (I’m still breastfeeding) she’ll usually go right back to sleep and sleep until 7ish.
    So my question is this: are there any tricks you would recommend for an older stubborn child that just won’t sleep through the night?  Are there any tips you’d have for mom’s of younger babies of ‘what not to do’ so they could avoid going down this road I’ve been down twice now?  
    At this point I’m an absolute zombie and haven’t slept through the night myself for 1.5 years (including the last half of the pregnancy where I was too uncomfortable to sleep).  I’m going back to work in 2 weeks and I have no idea how I will be able to function on such broken sleep.
    Thanks so much Rosemary!




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