Case Study
Ingrid was recommended to us by our pediatric psychologist, in hopes of addressing our child’s sleep concerns. Our daughter was never the best sleeper, but as she grew older bedtime had become challenging. When she turned 5 years old, she experienced the loss of a grandparent, and as a result, our sleep routine became increasingly difficult.
Her fear and anxiety of sleep would begin around dinner time and would last hours after bedtime. Some nights we would be up five to six times comforting our daughter, walking her back to her room, and even sleeping in the same bed as her. Many times her disruptive sleep patterns would wake up her siblings. As a result, the lack of sleep from our daughter caused her both irritability and unhappiness. After about eight weeks, we decided it was time to see our pediatrician. Our doctor recommended we try Melatonin or Benadryl for a short time to kickstart a consistent sleep pattern, and help her catch up on much needed rest. Although the fear of bedtime was still present, the Melatonin worked for about a week before we began experiencing the same night time sleep dilemmas.
We revisited with our pediatrician who recommended play therapy. She also suggested starting bedtime in our daughters’ room, while allowing her the safety net of coming to our room when she needed to. We set-up a small bed on our bedroom floor and a light-up clock in her bedroom. The clock indicated when she was allowed to leave her room and come to ours. As each night passed, our daughter would stare at the clock and would slowly start coming into our room earlier and earlier. After several weeks with no relief, we, along with our pediatrician, decided it was time to see a child psychologist.
After several sessions and suggestions, our pediatric psychologist was not certain if our daughters’ sleep difficulties were behavioral, or the sign of something else going on. We had talked about the possibility of medication, but before going down that path, our doctor recommended we meet with Ingrid. We had no expectations when consulting with Ingrid, and to be honest, we were not sure she would be able to help. However, we wanted to at least say we tried it all before starting medication.
We met with Ingrid and we discussed my daughter and all the details of what we had been experiencing over the last year. She asked several questions and informed us that if what our daughter was experiencing was behavioral, she was confident she could help us. Ingrid was able to come up with a sleep plan and shared invaluable tools to help our daughter manage her night time anxiety. We appreciated Ingrid’s honesty when she told us her plan was not a quick fix, and because my daughter was a bit older, sleep training would take time and patience.
After following Ingrid’s plan, and making small adjustments along the way, we slowly started to experience longer stretches of sleep, with less disruption to the other children in our household. About 6 weeks into her plan, we were overwhelmed with gratitude when we experienced our first full nights sleep in almost a year. Seven months after working with Ingrid, our now 6 years old daughter is still remaining in her bed and sleeping through the night.
Ingrid is professional, empathetic, patient and knowledgeable. She listens with the intent to understand while providing thoughtful feedback and suggestions. We are incredibly impressed with Ingrid and she has our highest recommendation. We are forever grateful to have worked with Ingrid!
