What happens when your baby wakes every hour, you've seen doctors, sleep specialists and even lived in an infant sleep clinic, yet you're still being told, "This is just who your baby is"?
In this episode of Awake at 3am, Maddy shares her experience of raising a baby who woke every hour for the first nine months of life. Like so many exhausted parents, she desperately searched for answers. She sought support from healthcare professionals, explored concerns about tongue tie and feeding, attended an infant sleep clinic and tried everything she could think of to improve her baby's sleep.
Despite the hourly wakes, chronic sleep deprivation and relentless exhaustion, she kept hearing the same message:
"It's normal."
Over time, survival became the focus. More feeding, more settling, more broken nights and less hope that life would ever feel different.
In this honest conversation, Maddy shares the emotional impact that chronic sleep deprivation had on her mental health, her relationship and her confidence as a mum. We talk about what it's like to be repeatedly told your baby is "just a bad sleeper", why so many parents stop trusting their instincts, and how important it is to look at the whole child when persistent sleep problems continue.
Together, Sophia, Jess and Maddy discuss baby sleep, tongue tie, infant feeding, hourly wakes, sleep training and the difference between supporting parents and simply telling them to cope. Most importantly, Maddy shares what finally changed and how her family found hope after months of broken sleep.
• Baby waking every hour
• Chronic sleep deprivation and exhausted parents
• Baby sleep and infant sleep challenges
• Tongue tie and infant feeding concerns
• Sleep deprivation and maternal mental health
• Sleep training and independent sleep
• Frequent night waking and overnight feeding
• Infant sleep clinics and seeking support
• Why some babies aren't "just bad sleepers"
• Finding hope after months of broken sleep
Whether you're navigating hourly wakes, wondering why your baby won't sleep, feeling overwhelmed by chronic sleep deprivation or searching for answers after being told everything is "normal", this episode will remind you that you're not alone, and that sometimes there is a reason behind persistent sleep struggles.
Awake at 3am is the parenting podcast where real motherhood stories meet evidence-based conversations about baby sleep, chronic sleep deprivation, maternal mental health and the medical reasons babies don't sleep.
Follow @awakeat3am.podcast and @sophiassleepschool for more honest conversations about motherhood, baby sleep and supporting exhausted parents.