Tizzie Hall - Save Our Sleep: Toddler

Born and raised in Ireland, Tizzie Hall has worked with children and parents for many years, helping with customised sleep solutions for their babies. Tizzie started her Save Our Sleep (SOS) business in the United Kingdom in 1996 after tertiary psychology studies and a career in private child care. She moved to Melbourne in 2002 and in 2006 wrote the bestseller Save Our Sleep: A parents guide towards happy, sleeping babies from birth to two years.

In fourteen years of operation, SOS has assisted thousands of children of all ages mainly babies and toddlers to learn how to sleep through the night, every night. By sharing an insight into a baby and toddlers sleep patterns, Tizzie has developed a method of putting parents at ease about their childs actions. She provides them with the skills they need to take control of their baby or toddlers present and future development.

As part of Save Our Sleep there is also a self-help website and store, www.saveoursleep.com, visited by thousands of parents a week.

Also by Tizzie Hall

Save Our Sleep: A parents guide towards
happy, sleeping babies from birth to two years

Save Our Sleep: My Very First Diary

First published 2010 in Macmillan by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Limited
1 Market Street, Sydney

Copyright Tizzie Hall 2010

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

National Library of Australia cataloguing-in-publication data:

Hall, Tizzie

Save our sleep toddler / Tizzie Hall.

9781405039789 (pbk.)

Infants Sleep.
Infants Care.

649.122

Text design by Deborah Parry Graphics Ltd
Set in 12/14.5 Adobe Garamond by Midland Typesetters, Australia
Printed in Australia by McPhersons Printing Group

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The publishers and their respective employees or agents, will not accept responsibility for injury or damage occasioned to any person as a result of participation in the activities described by this book.

These electronic editions published in 2011 by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd
1 Market Street, Sydney 2000

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

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Save our Sleep Toddler

Tizzie Hall

Macmillan Digital Australia
www.macmillandigital.com.au

Visit www.panmacmillan.com.au to read more about all our books and to buy both print and ebooks online. You will also find features, author interviews and news of any author events.

This book is dedicated to my children Darragh and Cillian
and to all the children I have had the pleasure of working
with and learning from during my career.

From early childhood, all I ever wanted was a baby so that I could practise being a mummy. I was elated when at seven my baby brother Richard was born but, after just nine weeks, Richard died suddenly of cot death (SIDS). From this point I became the big sister to every baby I could find. When parents came to school to pick up their children I would dash to those with a baby and ask if I could have a cuddle. On Sundays I was not beside my family in their church pew but, rather, sitting in one with a baby I could hold. In retrospect, I think those parents allowed me to interact with their babies because they realised how deeply the loss of Richard had impacted upon me.

I was nine when it struck me that I could help parents understand the message in their babys cry. I had regularly taken a neighbours baby, Peter, out for a walk by myself, but one day his mother decided she would accompany us. After strolling for about five minutes, Peter started to cry and his mother immediately stopped to pick him up. When I counselled, Dont pick him up, that is his going-to-sleep cry, she looked at me strangely. I explained that he always cried at this point during our walk but I never disturbed him because my mother had instructed me not to pick a baby up until I was on the green (a soft, grassy field where we played as children). By the time I reached the green, Peter would be fast asleep. That day his mother agreed to leave him until wed reached the green, possibly to prove me wrong, however, baby Peter had fallen asleep just as Id predicted.

It wasnt long before all the mums in our neighbourhood called me when they couldnt calm or comfort their crying babies. But it wasnt just babies I was asked to help. By the time many parents contacted me their baby was over a year old and they were struggling with behavioural problems as well as lack of sleep. Very quickly I learnt to read babies and toddlers body language and cries and I soon became known as the local baby interpreter. Over the years I have been labelled with all sorts of names, including the baby coach, baby whisperer, miracle worker and even the baby witch! Despite this last tag, I insist there is no magic wand or witchcraft involved.

After completing school in Ireland I moved to England to continue studying. While there I worked as a part-time nanny, which enabled me to keep practising and refining my skills. My reputation as a baby whisperer spread, and it wasnt long before I was again receiving calls at all hours of the day and night from desperate parents seeking help with their babies and toddlers. Always, and often within hours, I resolved problems such as babies and toddlers not sleeping through the night, not taking their bottles, or refusing to give up their dummies. Over the years I have also learnt different techniques for setting boundaries and how to win the challenge when toddlers test these boundaries.

In 2002 I moved to Australia and soon discovered that the need for help was just as great on this side of the globe. After hundreds of parents repeatedly asked me to clone myself so I could help many more people or write a book, I decided the latter was the easiest option. Save Our Sleep: A parents guide towards happy, sleeping babies from birth to two years was published in 2006 and very quickly became a bestseller. Parents who have read this book have since contacted me asking for advice on how to set boundaries, deal with temper tantrums and potty-train their toddlers. Save Our Sleep Toddler answers these questions and many more.

If you have read my baby book and your toddler is sleeping through the night you may be asking, what can I get from this new book? Once babies reach one year of age they start to test the boundaries every six weeks or so. Unless you know how to establish and maintain boundaries there is a good chance your happily sleeping toddler will one day be resisting sleep and giving you sleepless nights. By reading this book you will know how to deal with these tests and can continue to enjoy a good nights sleep.