7pm to 7am Sleeping Baby Routine: The no-cry plan to help your baby sleep through the night Paperback – 5 July 2018

We heard of Charmian from one of our close friends who had had great success using the book and in-house support. During our pregnancy we were keen to enlist the help of the book and Charmian; both my husband and I have busy jobs, often working unsocial hours and it was imperative to us to ensure that our son would have a routine that would keep happy and well fed in an easy to follow routine. Having heard of the success from various people and reviews and having had first-hand experience, I can honestly say the hype about Charmian and her methods are well warranted.I read her book in the months leading up to my delivery. It is easy to read and follow with clear and concise advice. It dispels a few of the myths around feeding, routine and digestion that even I as a medical professional believed in. The chapters on breast-feeding and how to optimise milk production was invaluable as I was keen to breast feed my child. However what was also clear throughout the book was Charmian’s message of prioritising a happy mum (parents) and a happy baby. Her key message was of the importance of balance in the approach to establishing the routine.Whilst the book on its own gave us sufficient guidance, including a chapter on troubleshooting, we were keen to employ her remote and in-house support. The booking process was simple and straightforward, a god-send when trying to balance a busy work-life with pregnancy and the hormones it brings with it. We booked in for a 5 day remote session a week after the baby was born but was given plenty of information on how to navigate the first few daunting days of parenthood. The remote sessions were excellent, Charmian’s ability to recall all the details of our plan and the nuances of our infant was remarkable. She was able to troubleshoot in real time and after each morning catch up call we were left with a clear plan of action for the day ahead and with the ability to contact her throughout the day with any issues we may encounter.We also opted to have in-house support and had Charmian stay with us for 5 days spanning over the period of 2 weeks. This provided us with invaluable support and guidance and I would not hesitate to recommend the in-house support to anyone who is considering it. Charmian was considerate and flexible when my son had a hospital stay, trying her best to be flexible through her busy schedule. Whilst she provided house support it felt like I had a (very knowledgeable) sister around; she made me feel at ease and allayed many of the fears and stresses I was feeling. She was considerate about my want to breast-feed and was pivotal in helping me achieve that whilst ensuring my baby (who was small for gestational age) was well fed and gaining weight appropriately. As I had had a c-section, my milk production was delayed and low, Charmian gave me clear concise advice on how to improve my milk supply but what really stood out was how caring she is. She is able to understand the emotions and feelings I as a new mother was going through and also able to work with my character traits to formulate a personalised plan that would be most beneficial to me. What is also striking is how personable and present she is, despite being busy and juggling clients, I always felt her attention was 100% on the task at hand and she had a keen eye for detail, never missing anything!When the in-house support ended, we were left with a clear, very detailed plan of action that provided information and guidance for most (if not all) eventualities. We were so happy with our experience that we booked on a for a further 4 week catch up call as we realised that the support we were getting was invaluable.Our experience of Charmian and the sleeping baby routine has been nothing but positive. It has helped ease us into parenthood and made the process of getting used to having an infant so much more positive. Motherhood is daunting and nothing quite prepares you for it. You may be a high-achieving individual but motherhood has a way of grounding you and humbling you. Charmian has definitely helped make my transition from medic to mum smooth, successful and enjoyable.

Essential Advice and Support - PRO FEEDING - Breast and/or Bottle ...!!**I know this is a long review but I hope you'll read through it all to see why !**Other negative reviews are clearly a set up. So I wouldn't bother scouring them as to why they don't like it. Quite frankly I don't think they have read the book.This book is in NO WAY anti-breast feeding but supports all types of feeding. There are two+ whole chapter on breast feeding, bottle feeding and combination feeding..........Having worked with Babies and Families, I cannot reccomend this enough - I have used all the written suggestions and routine guides over the last 6 years myself with babies and older children but haven't published anything- yet !I bought this book out of personal interest and think its brilliant.Unlike SO many books new parents 'inhale and fail' this book says 'it's fine if sleeping 7-7 isn't the goal for your family but feeding, winding, awake time etc are important so perhaps this bit of the book might support you to be able to have a happy baby and less anxious parents." So if you want you can pick and choose what suits you or go the full hog - expect wonderful results either way.Discussed is the lack of support new parents, but of course mainly new mothers get in the first months of a babies life and highlights the fact that if you have multiple babies a routine is thoroughly reccomened from birth up but when you have one it is often suggested it's cruel/frowned upon. (???)Breast feeding rates are lower in the UK often due to lack of availiable support and general pressures. Also sometimes women are unable to for a whole VARIETY of reasons- medically, emotionally, due to work/other children or simply they don't want to (all and more are OK!).This book stresses that however you choose to feed your baby it must work for both of you, or no one is happy. An anxious mother = anxious baby. No bueno.Charmain highlights the fact that a routine (note- not schedule, routine) is really no different to a 'baby-led' approach to days, nights and feeds; babies crave routine and need to know whats coming next. The difference is that once you start to consistently teach sleeping and feeding to a baby that is what they are used to and so feel safe & secure.If you leave it up to your new baby to create their own routine and structure - they might be nightclubbing from 12am 7am and then groggy during awake time in the day and then back to feeding/awake all night long. Every parents dream.The routine element of sleeping, feeding awake time and allowing for a 'pause' when your baby cries is accurate and affirming to those unsure of how to proceed in those tough moments. This routine also helps to avoid entirely the issue of one parent in the spare room whilst mum and baby are up all night. So you can watch some Netflix and have a glass of wine with eachother !Colic, reflux, posset vs vomit etc - medical things are covered thorougly.While I understand others concerns and worries over the NHS 'guidelines' not being encouraged mainly for sleep and weaning, I must stress how accurate Charmain's advice is in real life. If a baby has the cot matress propped up they are less likely to be sick. Babies overall sleep better on their sides in the first few months especially. Sleep positioners are safe IF used properly, which the book outlines. Some babies need to be weaned sooner than 6 months, many many babies start at 4 months. Formula is just fine if thats what you choose / your baby needs.If you want the full 'Sleeping Baby Routine' 7am-7pm by 6 weeks - Yes, it requires inital effort, support and some time investment but that's new babies anyway- right ?! You will not regret it when your baby starts teething/weaning, gets a cold, has their jabs, starts becoming mobile or you want to go away on holiday. You will have a happy, contented and flexible child who can nap in the pram sometimes but also goes to bed just fine! This routine is also PERFECT for those with older children already.Enjoy those first few weeks and months rather than stressing over the never ending streams of 'you should do this, don't do that'.Pick and choose or go all in. A flexible approach that works for baby AND parents !

I found this a really clear and helpful book, especially for the newborn stage (to 3/4months). I wish I’d bought it while pregnant so I could have implemented the tips from day 1 as I believe getting good sleep (both mum and baby) really is the key to recovering from birth and enjoying time with the little one. There is support whether you’re breast or bottle feeding which is helpful too.

We had just had our LO four weeks before we got this book. We were struggling so much with the nights as she was constantly feeding so we were pretty desperate for some sleep.All the NHS advice is feed on demand and then you're left to figure the rest out yourself so when we read this book, it was a huge relief.The advice on digestion, breastfeeding and routine really helped us get on track and we started getting much longer stretches of sleep at night.One thing to bear in mind is that everyone who writes these books is selling their method as the best way and often I felt a pressure to follow the method or else everything would be a disaster. This happens as a first time parent I think when everything is new and you want to sleep and you don't know what will happen if you try different things. It often felt like there was a lot to lose if we didn't follow the method and I got quite anxious and miserable. Once I decided to treat this book as helpful advice and not be as strict, things got a lot easier.My advice would be to follow the routine as best as possible early on because it does help you learn how your baby works, how your milk works and how eat, play, sleep can be successful. Then adapt it to suit you as you go along and learn more about your baby as a unique person.