“I make wonderful babies but included in their many gifts is NOT an innate ability – or even easily learned capability – to sleep! My son, now three, did not respond to any of the many books or even take well to individualized sleep coaching until he was well over a year and we were all so exhausted we could hardly function. This was before I met Jen.

“When pregnant again, I looked forward to everything but the sleep struggles. I could not do that again. I spent months researching and interviewing and finally settling on Jen because I could tell she truly cared, had a gentle approach, and was really committed to modeling the method after the child. Thank goodness I chose well! My second was also an anomaly – who also had the misfortune of getting sick or us traveling just as she would start to get it. Jen never gave up on us and continued to reshape her method depending on my baby’s responses.

“At 12 months, she is sleeping almost through the night – 7pm to 4am or 5am generally – and then quick feed and back down until 7am! She also naps for a solid three to three and one-half hours a day, self-soothes peacefully down for sleep, and is so happy and rested. I will be forever grateful for Jen’s compassion and dedication. My only regret is that my oldest could not benefit from Jen’s coaching. While he did eventually find his way and is a good sleeper now, I really wish he had experienced Jen’s more gentle approach to teaching him to sleep rather than us resigning to one hour of screaming self-soothing for a week straight (at the advice of our last consultant when all else failed). It is because of Jen and her dedication to getting my baby and my family more sleep, that I can write this testimony without blurry eyes. Let me tell you that teaching my baby to sleep was no easy task but Jen never gave up on us!”

Gabrielle
Mother of six-month old daughter
Austin, Texas

“I can’t even try to explain my gratitude, appreciation and love for Jen! She saved my life. I had bought books, done research on baby sleeping but nothing worked for my family. My pediatrician’s nurse referred me to Jen. I called her and right away I knew I was going to be okay.

“My eleven month old learned to sleep in her own crib and eliminate night feedings. I learned so much from Jen. I knew that my method and the crutches I had created were not healthy or ideal for our family to function. It has been truly a blessing for us. It was challenging and at times I felt like giving up but with Jen by my side, I reminded myself it was going to be okay and it was. My entire family is now sleeping! Oh, and it has been great. Thanks, Jen, for EVERYTHING!! God blessed us.”

Evelyn
Mother of seven-month-old daughter
Oceanside, CA

“Thank you very much for all your help and guidance in sleep coaching our eight-month-old son Paul. The night before our first session with you, my husband and I had been up for two hours, trying to calm our son down and trying to put him back to sleep with no luck. Before we started working with you, we had many nights like that, where we were up with Paul anywhere from one to two hours every night, and then getting up the next morning to go to work and trying to carry on with our day. You can imagine the exhaustion and stress we were dealing with every day. It was really taking a toll on our lives.

“Before learning about Sugar Night Night, I had read several books about baby sleep and sleeping habits, and for a few months we were doing great. I don’t know where we went wrong exactly, but we were at a point where we were too exhausted to think clearly and apply what I knew to help our son.

“From the beginning, you gave us a personalized plan based on our family dynamics and our son, which you helped us adjust as we were working together. I am sure we would not have been able to obtain such a detailed and personalized plan from any book. You also gave me the confidence to be able to do all the hard work that sleep coaching involves, and the knowledge and reassurance that allowed me to handle the different situations that came up at bedtime while I was working with Paul. One of the best things about working with you is that I saw results and positive changes almost immediately. I remember being amazed about how quickly our son adapted to the plan you designed for him and how it worked.

“Two months after concluding our work with you, we have been through teething, a cold, and a very nasty ear infection. I expected that our son’s good sleeping habits would be completely disrupted, and that I would have to do a lot of re-training. To my surprise, by applying what I learned during our coaching together, I was able to attend to and respond to our son during the night in such a way that he was able to sleep through those rough nights, and as soon as he got better he went right back to being a good sleeper.

“I will always be very thankful for and appreciative of all your guidance, encouragement and for taking a genuine interest in helping the three of us! I think being a parent will always be exhausting, but there is a BIG difference between being a tired mom that sleeps at night and a tired mom that gets no sleep at night!

Lily & Michael
Parents of seven-month-old son
San Diego, CA

“Thank goodness we found Jen! Before we started working with her, our eight-month-old needed to be nursed back to sleep at least four to fives times a night, and she would often wake as many as eight times each night… and cry until she was picked up. Plus, my husband was out of town for work most weekdays, and I was alone, going on one- to two-hour sleep increments. It was absolute torture and it seemed like nothing we tried was working.

“Jen was an amazing support system – so understanding – and really kept us headed in the right direction. Jen just continued to promise that hard work would pay off, and although there were many hard nights and several occasions where we wanted to give up, in the end it paid off and we have our lives back! Now bedtimes are a dream come true. We never thought we would be here!”

Erin & Kashaka
Parents of eight-month old daughter
San Diego, CA

“Our eight-month-old daughter had trouble sleeping since she was born and was waking up numerous times at night and also not napping well. She was, and is, very active and fights sleep like crazy! We tried the Ferber method on our own, and although it worked at first, it didn’t stick and we were back at square one. With us both being working parents, we were exhausted.

“We sought to find a sleep consultant and after a few interviews, we found Jen to be on perfect ground. She employs gentle techniques with an understanding that sometimes patience with some crying is necessary to get results, and that was just what we were looking for. It was a long journey with many ups and downs, but our daughter is finally sleeping better and through the night. Jen was very patient and accommodating with us and we were very impressed with her skills. She also armed us with the knowledge and skills to deal with any sleeping issues that our daughter may have in the future and we are most thankful for that.

“If your baby is having trouble sleeping, if your baby needs to learn to sleep on his or her own without any crutches, or if you just want to arm yourself with methods and information to help you address issues that may arise in the future, we highly recommend Jen.”

Kandus
Mother of eight-month-old daughter
Point Loma, CA

“Jen is so sweet at celebrating and recognizing the small bits of progress. Lo and behold, we have made some progress. Last night we had zero awakenings and only dream feeds. Now if we can repeat that tonight, I might do a victory dance. I really think he was sleep deprived and had nothing left to learn his self-soothing skills. My rested baby is not so needy and desperate for me to hold and comfort him.

So, here are reasons why I needed this coaching Q & A and why I recommend it to others:

• The group setting has been great. It’s almost like a support group. You know there are other moms out there with similar troubles, but to meet them and talk to them is so helpful. This is funny for me because I’m normally not a support group person.
• The engineer in me liked the technical piece of the sleep log and the technical feedback Jen would provide. Her answers and feedback were factual from research and experience; they weren’t just pulled out of a hat
• I love the individual solutions we get, as our situations are individual. There is no one-size-fits- all approach.
• I was so sleep deprived I felt I couldn’t do the research and the reading to help myself. I needed someone to “spoon feed” me. This is new for me, since normally I’m a reader and researcher.
• Jen always has solutions, even when I thought there were no solutions.
• It was/is hard for me to know where to put my baby’s sleep on the priority list. I’m still struggling with this and finding balance between siblings and responsibilities to the house and my job. Despite my personal struggle with this, Jen continued to find a way to help me and push us forward.
• Jen offers such kind words, sympathy, support and ultimately help for us sleep deprived mommies!”

Tricia
Mother of eight-month-old son
Carlsbad, CA

“We just wanted to say a huge thank you to Jen Varela of Sugar Night Night! I sit here writing this as my 11-month-old sleeps peacefully…in his crib, with zero tears! It wasn’t long ago that we spent our nights co-sleeping, feeding on demand, and unsuccessfully trying different versions of Ferber method and cry-it-out.

“We are so happy we found Jen. We didn’t know what else to do and the lack of sleep wasn’t good for anyone! My husband was ready to do full-on extinction method and I couldn’t bear to hear him cry for hours. Jen was a miracle worker and found a middle ground that worked wonders! We followed the routine she created for us and worked super hard and the hard work definitely paid off!

“He no longer co-sleeps with us, he is in his crib for nighttime with no tears. And just this week, we tackled first nap of the day and he has been sleeping for 1.5+ hours daily in his crib with minimal crying (as in less than one minute) to zero crying! We could not be happier. The whole family is thankful for the extra rest!”

Stephanie
Mother of 10-month-old son
San Diego, CA

“You are incredibly understanding and calm and truly wonderful at what you do… Thanks for being so patient with me. Life is soooooooooo much easier dealt with when one is rested.”

Kirsten
Mother of 16-month-old Son
San Diego, CA

“We knew we were in the need of a sleep coach when we discovered that we were going to have baby number two, and our son who was 18 months was still co-sleeping with us. We had no idea of how to accomplish this, but knew we did not want to do the old fashion way of locking him in the room until he cried himself to sleep every night. We wanted to transition him into his own bedroom and bed with as little trauma for us all. Jen Varela helped us accomplish this. She did an in-home assessment and listened to our concerns and helped us establish a sleep plan as well as guided us through the corrective steps in accomplishing our goals.

“In the course of three months, we were able to transition our son to not only sleeping in his own bed, but being able to fall asleep without us in the room. Jen Varela’s knowledge and ability to help us through some of the harder times was priceless. As a full-time working parent, with both my husband and I having busy schedules, her infinite knowledge on the subject saved us so much time and grief for the whole family. I highly recommend her services!”

Janis
Mother of 18-month-old son
San Diego, CA

“As a Dad, I have to admit I was a disbeliever in the idea of hiring a sleep coach as I felt it is something we should be able to handle ourselves. Our biggest challenge was having our daughter wake up in the middle of the night and ultimately wind up in our bed every night. As much as I wanted to work through this on our own, I reluctantly agreed with my wife to go ahead and move forward with the program and I was amazed to see the immediate results.

“In our initial conversations, we were able to set up a clearly defined process with milestone markers along the way. This was excellent for me to have a clear expectation of where we should be along the way. I was so surprised at how my daughter caught onto the process and was able to settle very quickly into the routine. As a dad, I really appreciated Jen’s patience and willingness to involve me in the entire process and keep me just as informed as mom! Before we even completed the program, our daughter was already getting herself into bed and handling much of the work for us. What a pleasant surprise! I have found this training to be a sustained and successful process with minimal maintenance along the way. Essentially, if you continue the process even after completion of the course, it is a win-win for parents and child.

“I would highly recommend Jen and her program as it made our lives so much easier and got us sleeping normally again, much sooner than had we tried it on our own. I also think it taught mom and dad a thing or two about handling other child rearing situations and has given us more tools to work with as we continue on or parenting journey. Thank you, Jen, for everything!”

Kit
Father of 22-month-old daughter
San Diego, CA

“Before meeting Jen, we were at a loss as to how to get our toddler to sleep better with fewer night awakenings and how to learn the ability to self soothe. Jen’s gentle approach mirrored what we had in mind as our ideal but we did not have the proper tools to carry out that goal. After working with Jen and utilizing her techniques, we can joyfully say that our son is now able to self soothe which allows him to put himself to sleep at nap time and bedtime.

“A true professional and understanding coach, it is evident that Jen genuinely cares about the people she works with and she was ready and eager to see our family through the entire process. She tailored her program according to our family’s needs and goals. We really could not have done this without her support, reassurance and encouragement. We give her our highest recommendation.”

Erin & Danny
Parents of two-year-old son
Cardiff, CA

“Before we spoke with Jen, my wife and I (mostly me) were in a state of insanity and desperation. Our two-year-old was waking up three times a night. Fast-forward one month later and putting him to bed is such a breeze and stress-free. No more night awakenings! Thanks to Jen, I can definitely say that my sanity is back and I can go back to functioning as a normal human being.”

Mike and Rupa
Parents of two-year-old son
La Mesa, CA

“It is hard to believe that we are where we are today. I can finish reading to my 2 ½-year-old daughter, get up, turn out the light, and walk out of the room. My daughter does the rest! And we couldn’t have done it without Jen’s help. Not only is Jen extremely knowledgeable, but also she was more than happy to work with our parental eccentricities.

“Coming from the attachment-parenting end of the perspective, we very much wanted to find a method that did not involve crying it out. Knowing our concerns, Jen devised a plan and walked us through step-by-step and was there every bit of the way and more! We cannot thank her enough.”

Andrew
Father of 2 ½-year-old daughter
Chicago, IL

“We brought a most challenging case and a most determined not-to-go-to-sleep toddler to Jen, and we were incredibly grateful for her help. Her expertise and creativity taught us so much about how to bring some peace and rest to our household at a time when we very much needed it! Among her many gifts, perhaps her greatest is her genuine care, concern and compassion. Through our journey with Jen, I felt we had a true partner. She embodies someone living her calling, and any family who opens themselves up to her will undoubtedly walk away better for it. Thank you, Jen!!”

Lissa
Mother of three-year-old daughter
San Marcos, CA

“Jen started working with us when we realized we were in a little predicament a few short weeks before I was to go back to work after maternity leave for our second daughter. We were still having difficulty getting our first daughter to bed each night, and between the two girls, it was a full on effort for both my husband and me. When I returned to work, my husband was going to be going to school in the evenings after I returned home from work. I didn’t know how I was going to be able to handle everything on my own for bedtime given that we weren’t really successful doing it together.

“My oldest was 3 ½ when we started working with Jen. Our way of working bedtime was that I would nurse her to sleep, and this could take up to 1.5 hours. I knew that I wouldn’t have 1.5 hours to do this after returning to work and we needed a solution. Jen met with us almost immediately and we set forward with a plan. Crying makes me feel like a part of me is dying inside, so we wanted to move us all in a direction that would avoid that.

“Jen started us with small steps, which at first were challenging for all of us because it was different, but became more reasonable after just a few short days. I wasn’t used to setting boundaries and my oldest wasn’t used to having any so this was a shift. The boundaries set weren’t ones that were extreme and were gradually introduced so it wasn’t super difficult. Nursing was moved to the couch before bed, and became a regular part of the bedtime routine. We developed a set routine to use each evening and slowly started on the path to our daughter being able to go to sleep on her own.

“Jen’s compassionate and understanding guidance helped move us from spending hours each night on bedtime to our oldest going to bed by herself in a short two weeks. It was important that we were consistent and that we were 100% dedicated to the process during this time, and it paid off. We were diligent about following Jen’s advice even when it wasn’t super convenient and I’m so glad that we did. I only wish that we would have found Jen sooner. Her validation during the whole process and her constant feedback and flexibility when things needed to change were an incredibly important part of the success for all of us. I can’t recommend her enough for families to help move sleeping into something manageable for everyone in the family.”

Cinda
Mother of 3 ½-year-old daughter
Santee, CA

“My husband and I have an energetic and very alert little 3 ½-year-old. He has never found his natural sleep rhythm. Since birth, he has woken up several times a night (three to seven times on a bad night). We tried every book and theory including a strict routine, natural oil therapy, singing, a bed on the floor in our room, locking the door, etc. My husband and I both work and we just had another baby. The sleep deprivation, emotional outbursts due to exhaustion (from all of us), and the anxiety around our nighttime routine severely took its toll on the whole family. Our oldest son started to have behavioral issues at school and with his relationships due to an overall lack of sleep. As a family, it was imperative we started getting more sleep and establish long-term healthy sleep habits.

“My husband and I wanted to get help to change our behavior as much as we needed it for our 3 ½-year-old. Books and other theories were hard for us to implement and hence why we opted to take a more hands on approach. We reached out to Jen and started her program. Being on the calls with Jen, she was able to assess our issues in real time and offer guidance throughout the program. In instances where we might have given up previously, she pushed us to stay the course. Within the first two calls, there was a noted change in our son’s behavior and within a week he was sleeping through the night. There have been a few hiccups but my husband and I now have the tools to reinforce his regular sleep routine.

“Two months after starting the program, our toddler is confidently sleeping through the night and we are enjoying more time as a family and couple!”

John and Jessica
Parents of 3 ½-year-old son
Carlsbad, CA