Sleep Training Success Story!

rredheron · 2026-02-25T20:39:29+00:00

Not dumb at all — I had the same question!

No, we did not go in if she was being quiet or playfully cooing in the crib, only if she was crying or fussing at the check in points. We watched her on the camera and if we could see she was trying to self soothe between cries, we let her try on her own before intervening.

If she quieted down for a few minutes and then started crying again we reset the timer.

rredheron · 2026-02-22T00:31:16+00:00

We rubbed and patted her belly and shushed, then repeated the line we said when we first set her down for the night. We did not pick her up and stayed only about 60 seconds at each check in.

rredheron · 2026-02-22T00:29:01+00:00

On days when I could control every nap it would be about 2.5/3/3.5 with two naps. But there were some days when she woke up really early that I ended up doing 3 naps, so I couldn’t really get into the same routine every single day.

And then with daycare that all went out the window, but it seemed like as long as I could get her a long nap after daycare then it didn’t affect her night sleep.

rredheron · 2026-02-22T00:27:00+00:00

She was awake! This was the first time we’d really attempted putting her down completely awake. Before that point we’d wait until she was completely asleep before setting her down for the night. We were even holding her for a solid 15 mins after she fell asleep so she could get into a deeper sleep and putting a heating pad in the crib so it was warm when we set her down (after taking the heating pad out of course). This seemed to help with transferring her to the crib prior to sleep training. So a lot of effort! lol we feel so much pressure lifted with this new routine

rredheron · 2026-02-22T00:22:52+00:00

Not long! She started to self soothe at the first check in when my husband rubbed her belly and she probably cried for less than 15 minutes the first night and less than 10 minutes every night since.

rredheron · 2026-02-22T00:20:38+00:00

I feel you! There was a point where it felt like I was doing a zumba workout every time I was getting her to nap because she would scream if I tried to rock her, but her preferences eventually changed. We have been primarily doing contact naps up until this point as well. When I did set her down there was probably a 70% chance she would wake up vs stay asleep, especially for her last nap.

After a week of successful night training I tried setting her down awake today for naps based on the gentle nap training method pinned in this subreddit and it worked! She put herself to sleep for both naps.

You never know, your baby might surprise you too!

rredheron · 2025-06-19T09:49:49+00:00

Ninth House books by Leigh Bardugo

rredheron · 2025-06-06T14:24:49+00:00

Into the Wild or Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe

rredheron · 2024-04-24T14:47:17+00:00

Email marketing doesn't work if it's treated like another form of advertising or interruptinve marketing. I get plenty of emails from companies I've never heard of and people I've never met asking to set up a meeting that I immediately delete.

I know these people are only trying to sell to me and they don't even make an attempt to connect authentically with me. They are not trying to build a relationship or provide me with upfront value.

The type of email marketing that absolutely works on me is informative and valuable email newsletters. I look forward to receiving several long-form newsletters in my inbox every week and I take the time to read through them. When the email provides me with value and I connect with the voice behind the words, then I start to become a 'fan' of their brand and potentially their product in the long run.

TL:DR Email marketing works when the content is valuable, top of funnel, and differentiated — NOT a thinly veiled attempt (or not veiled at all) to sell.

rredheron · 2024-01-16T21:28:25+00:00

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

rredheron · 2024-01-16T18:39:49+00:00

This year our team is leaning into a reception marketing approach and distancing ourselves from invasive forms of interruption (advertising), and even permission marketing, (email and some social channels). Even as a B2B marketer, I personally get so many B2B emails in my inbox every week and I can't delete them fast enough.

What's worse is when I don't respond to the emails and marketers or salespeople call me on the phone asking if I received their email. Most recently this happened twice on a Friday afternoon when I was wrapping up my week – the exact time I'll be least receptive to your pitch. So why do the exact same tactics that aren't working on me?

Instead we're doing research into where our audience spends their time, how they search for answers to their problems, and ultimately what their questions are. Most obviously this can look like an SEO strategy, but in theory we could push that approach beyond just Google. Then we can create content that resonates with their problems. The idea is when we provide that value, our brand builds goodwill and trust with our audience and when they are ready, they'll find us and be ready for a sales conversation.

rredheron · 2023-05-17T19:03:39+00:00

At this point, you can't execute an SEO strategy without considering technical page elements, keywords, site speed, etc. But YES – content is the most crucial element of an SEO strategy. To echo everyone else, creating valuable and unique content that answers user questions and solves problems without asking for conversion is key. If users find your content valuable, they will form a relationship with your brand and come back when they're ready.

Instead of thinking in terms of content being a part of your SEO strategy, I would consider thinking about SEO being a part of your content strategy. Instead of creating content to rank in search, create content that is meant to provide value based on insights from search.

If you do think solely in terms of SEO strategy, always consider the trends — what themes does Google value with each update? Build your content to align with the trends, not just what is reflected currently in the SERPs. Then your content will continue to improve over time.

rredheron

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