Contact Alexis
I love hearing from you! Praise, criticism, cute baby photos, general weird thoughts, questions…go for it!
I promise I read each and every email I get. You may or may not hear back from be depending on a lot of things. I’m currently heads down in book-writing and have very little time for things not book-related. Between that and the volume of emails I get (and I do love your stories!) I only have the bandwidth to respond to maybe ~5% of emails received.
If you have a quick sleep question, your best bet is to share it with the kind parents in the Precious Little Sleep Facebook Group. If you’re feeling super stuck drop me a line and let’s talk about doing a 1:1 consult.
Or if you prefer, we can connect online.
Feel free to email me alexis@preciouslittlesleep.com or the form below!
I'm Alexis and figuring out how to get your kids to sleep better is my secret superpower (I was hoping for the ability to shoot laser beams out of my eyes but c'est la vie). I swoon for pop culture references. I'm not nearly as funny as I think I am. And I believe you can never have too much wine, cheese, or Game of Thrones. 
Hello,
THANKS so much for the time and effort you spend on your website. I agree with many other readers; it is the best resource I have found on sleep training. I wish you would publish some guidelines for Naps. 🙂
I had no intention is of letting my daughter sleep with me but was too exhausted to keep unswaddling her in the middle of the night and pulling from/putting back her Co-sleeper. An unexpected cross country move when she was a month old (husband was recruited to another company) which has resulted in a 4 month hotel stay and now we are co-sleeping family.
(cluster feeding in the morning 4:30-8amish)…
Sooooo we have been in our new house for a month now and baby girl will be 7 months on 9/12….time to get naps and bed time worked out! She never Naps on her own and wont sleep without, my boob I thought I was okay with her sleeping with us at night but am now realizing I am playing with fire so I have started CIO at bedtime and was going to give up when iI found your site. (Again, thank you) she will cry for an hour at night but last night I added white noise machine and she slept from 8 to 1:30 after 30 minutes of hard crying. At 1:30 I brought her to bed with us. Is this bad? Should I just move her to her bed only-cold turkey? I read you dont think we should wean night feedings and closes at same time. I also am starting a stronger routine. I used it for her nap today. Only cried for 10 mins. Sooo you dont suggest CIO for Naps but what should I do when naps or are lack of them are the bain of my existence? I cut get anything done and have no alone time when she isn’t hanging off of me. My husband tries to help but I’m at home alone during nap time during the day. Where did I start to right this mess? How long will this be drawn out? What’s the harm in CIO for naps and bedtime at the same time? Do I move her out for my co-sleeping bed to get this accomplished? How do I handle it when she wakes up to eat in the middle of the night?
Any answers would be appreciated.. Please post another article on Naps.. And maybe one on how to night wean.. And another on how to get out of Co-sleeping. 🙂
Thanks
Cheryl
Oh my goodness, I have the exact same issues with nap time – only my daughter is four months old. I try to implement a schedule based on her wake up times, but the only way she falls asleep at nap time is on the boob or riding in the car. If it’s on the boob, sometimes I can put her down, but often it results in her waking up crying and we play the game all over again. I’ve tried putting her down without the boob and letting her fuss for 10 minutes, but it always results in escalated screaming.
I’m trying to wean her from boob to sleep at bedtime, but not really sure how to do it. Right now I nurse to sleep, put her in her crib which usually bumps her just slightly awake and put my hand on her until she is asleep. She often wakes after her sleep cycle passes, and my husband will go in and rock her and can usually get her back to sleep. (We use white noise and swaddle for bedtimes and naps). If that doesnt work, I go back in and nurse again. Which can mean up to two hours of trying to get her to go to sleep and stay asleep. Oy!
I’m very scared I’m creating a monster, and frustrated that I can’t do anything during the day while she sleeps – like housework or a nap. And I miss hanging out with my hubby in the evening.
I am having similar issues except my daughter is 7 months old! I feel like I have really made a mess of her sleep!
I do the same thing and put my hand on my daughter until she fully falls asleep again. Sometimes however she will fully wake back up and start smiling at me and kicking her legs etc thinking she wants to get up again. so then I get her and rock her back to sleep or feed her or if im at work still my fiancée will try to do something to get her back in her bed to sleep.
Same here. He’s only 4.5m, and we’ve just this week gotten to sttn, so maybe I should just be grateful and shut up- but he won’t nap. He used to at least nap for 40min, but now it’s like 10. Then 10 min crying, then 5min sleeping, etc. He doesn’t wake rested, and just gets fussier and fussier throughout the day, despite my best efforts to get him to nap 1.5-2h after waking up. The kicker his- I can put him in his crib awake at night, and he fusses for 3 min then sleeps 12h. So why not naps?! The only way I can get a decent nap now is nursing him to sleep then letting him sleep the whole time in my arms (transfer to crib never succeeds), or in the car. Oh yeah, the swing died last week.
Hi there, just wondering how you got past this problem as my 4.5 month old is doing the exact same with naps
Ditto! Anybody have answers on this one? At 17 weeks and in the exact same spot.
I love your blog! I came across it when I was listening to @ParentCast’s blog – now I feel luckier! My 2 month old daughter is an angel (before reading other parent’s comments I thought she was hard!)
I never really had a hard time putting her to sleep. I would just craddle her in my arms and sway a little and she would sleep..and can easily put her down as long as there’s a pillow beside her!
BEST resource on sleep training. BEST sense of humor. You make being up all night googling “how to make my baby sleep!” worth it.
I’m exhausted and so upset because I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. Ever since my daughter has turned 4 months old, she fights her naps and wakes up several times during the night. After about a couple months of doing that, we bought a couple books on “sleep training”. (Once she turned six months) We did the CIO method. Putting her in her crib drowsy, let her cry starting out for 3 minutes, then checking then, then extending the time each time. We followed it to a tee. It seemed to be working and even her naps were starting to improve. (she will be 7 months this friday) About a week ago, she started getting three teeth in (she has had two bottom teeth since she was 4.5 months old) the third bottom tooth is just about all the way through, and the top two are still working their way through–I can feel and see them a little. We do everything we can think of to help her feel comfortable, especially at night. However, I started comforting her by nursing a lot and rocking her, cuddling her when she cries, especially at night because I felt maybe she was in pain and doing that again due to teething. Last night was awful. She woke up just about every 30-45 minutes and fought her naps this morning. I’m exhausted and feel like we are at the starting line again. I can’t possibly keep getting up everything 30 minutes, and being able to function the next day. My question is, can we sleep train and do the CIO even when shes cutting teeth? I don’t want to be cruel, but I need her to learn to sleep on her own. ANY and ALL advice on what to do would be so much appreciated. Thanks.
Best sleep site around!!! I love the tips and humor!! Thanks so much for al you do!
Wow!!! You are a baby whisperer. My little guy is almost 5 months old and has never been a good sleeper. Before 4 months, he woke up 2 to 4 times a night. Around 3 months, he got sick. This is the time I created sleep associations for him that are not ideal for our family i.e. bed sharing and on the demand nursing throughout the night. So, when he started feeling better, I returned him to the crib. He rebelled. Now I was only getting 3 to 4 non-consecutive hours a sleep a night. I lost count how many times I would get up. After a week of no sleep, I put him on a schedule. He followed the napping and feeding schedule to the T. He was up for 2 hours and sleeps for 45 minutes to an hour. I repeat 3 more times until bed at 8. He still nurses every 3 hours but I stopped nursing around sleep time. Every night I would look for night waking consistencies. There were none except he consistently needed ME to fall back asleep. This is what led me to your extremely helpful website. We have mastered the art of putting him down drowsy but not awake. We do not have problems putting him down. The problem is he wakes up multiple times throughout the night. Last night, we tried cry it out after reading your very informative site about sleep training. On a side note, I did try many things before I reached this method. Back to last night, I followed his usual daily schedule, bedtime routine, a dream feed at 10:30 pm using formula given by my husband. He woke up at 1:00 am. We let him cry for 5 minutes, then I patted his back for 1 minute. He went back to sleep at 1:12 am, so I didn’t even have to go back in a second time. He awoke again at 4:30 am. I nursed this time and put him back in the crib. I read your very helpful information about CIO and night weaning. Since, he still seems to need to eat at night, I nursed him at 4:30 am. He slept till 7:30 am. I know it has only been one night of sleep training, but I am beyond hopeful there is sleep in my future. Last night was the best night sleep I have had since August. But most importantly, he woke up smiling and stretching not rubbing his eyes and yawning. Thank you!!!
Emily, your comment is the first I’ve seen that is similar to my own situation. My sweet three month old still wakes every 2-3 hours to feed. We’ve tried so many things – a bigger bottle before bed (she’s breastfed), cluster feeding, more absorbant diapers – nothing seems to work. She wakes at least 3 times between 9pm and 5am. I know your comment relates to your older baby, but what seemed to finally work for you? Was CIO the final means to the end? Or was the daytime schedule the trick? My sweet girl sleeps about 45 minutes every 90 minutes during the day…so close to 5 naps a day. Any insight you have would help tremendously.
Hello Alexis and friends! I have a question for you and/or the community
Baby is a week away from 5 months old and takes 25-30 minute naps all day. He usually spits out the pacifier and falls asleep on his own in the crib but wakes 30 minutes or less later. I’ve played with wake times and that doesn’t seem to help so I’m wondering if it’s the pacifier or he just can’t connect sleep cycles yet? We have a nap and night routine. He sleeps fine at night, wakes 1-2 times to nurse but goes back to sleep. Wakings that aren’t feedings he can put himself back to sleep.
Do you think I can use the swing method with a pacifier at first then try and take it away after a few days, then follow your swing weaning steps? Should I even bother with the swing if he can fall asleep in the crib?
Thanks ahead of time!