About
Board Certified Pediatrician
Dr. Nilong Vyas is a board-certified pediatrician and mother of two beautiful boys. She was raised by educator parents in New Orleans and went on to earn a Master’s in Public Health degree from Tulane University as well as a Medical Doctorate from LSU Medical School. After completing her Pediatrics residency at LSU, she joined Lake Vista Pediatrics, a private practice in Lakeview where, on a daily basis, she experienced her patient’s desire for more sleep for themselves as well as more sleep for their children. The parents explained that with better-rested children, their kids were happier, ate better, and developed at a more rapid rate. However, when that was not the case, secondary to many different factors, they noticed quite a change in the demeanor of their children, thus themselves. Dr. Vyas learned quickly about both children and their parent’s sleep needs and thus established a strong value for sleep with her patients, in a nurturing fashion.
Specialties
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Sleep Scheduling
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Night Wakings
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Potty Training
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Behavior
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Discipline
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Sleep Hygiene
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Sleep Environment
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Initiation of sleep
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Early Wakings
Mom of Two Happy Sleepers
Initially, Dr. Vyas did not have happy, sleeping children of her own. She recognized the benefits that came with good eating and sleep hygiene was crucial not only for her patients but for her own children. After a significant amount of research, trial-and-error (with her own kids and those of family members), and seven years and numerous, successful sleep consults later, she decided to begin focusing on sleep consulting exclusively, thus ‘Sleepless in NOLA’ was born. She is a firm believer in the value of sleep (for the well-being of both children and their parents) and the need for healthy sleep habits. Her mantra ‘from good sleep comes good eaters, readers and behaviors’ is the foundation on that which her practice is based. She passionately believes that well-rested children develop better socially, emotionally, as well as intellectually with fewer behavior problems. And, if the child is sleeping well, their caretaker will sleep better as well, resulting in a more harmonious household for the entire family.
Dr. Vyas is following her passion for teaching families how to achieve optimal and sound sleep, in a loving and safe manner. Just as parents need to learn how their baby responds to eating, stimulation, and relating to others – parents also need to learn how their baby should be sleeping. The child is born knowing how to do this, however, parents can lose sight of and occasionally need to be taught how to listen to their child’s cues as well as juggle understanding how to follow those cues and use them to achieve the sleep needs of that particular child. Once they master the skill of responding to their child’s needs, this leads to the ability to master many other aspects of the child’s overall well-being.
Dr. Vyas has passionately worked with parents for over 15 years to teach their children how to sleep well. But sleep is not a solitary issue so she takes into consideration all aspects of the child's well-being and day-to-day schedule. She will thoroughly look at the child's diet, development, activities, and routine before making any adjustments to your child's sleep. She has a holistic approach that takes various factors into consideration before coming up with a specific plan for you and your family.
She has been referred to as “the sleep doctor” by many grateful clients. New parents often confront her with the question, “How do I get my baby to sleep?”
Getting your baby to sleep is one of the most controversial, contradictory, and confusing aspects of parenting and Dr. Vyas takes your personal parenting goals into consideration. Dr. Vyas is knowledgeable not only of the common sleep approaches such as the Ferber Method, Babywise, the Sleep Lady Shuffle, Pantley method, and Healthy Sleep Happy Child but more importantly, a Pediatric Medical knowledge base. She takes all the information gleaned from countless hours of research and helps to apply it to your specific situation, so you don't have to.
Dr. Vyas’ Feeding and Sleeping Philosophy
As a pediatrician, Dr. Vyas is a strong proponent of breastfeeding and teaching parents how to follow the feeding and sleeping cues of their baby based on the child’s developmental age. This is her primary focus and the crux of her sleep guidance. She prefers the term ‘parent training’ as opposed to ‘sleep training’ when teaching good sleep hygiene. This program is not a form of night weaning – rather than simply pushing the child into a feeding or sleeping schedule, Dr. Vyas focuses on teaching parents what to look for in terms of what the baby, toddler, or child is capable of doing per their developmental and physiological age, based on the needs of the child, resulting in parents becoming more in-tune with their child and thus allowing good sleeping and eating habits to develop holistically. With this in mind, she will not provide a one-off recommendation that a child sleeps through the night if s(he) is not at the stage to do so. It is this specific guidance that Dr. Vyas offers, tailored especially for your family with your parenting ideals and practices in mind. If you are having trouble figuring out your child’s hunger and sleep cues (during the day and night), need assistance using a gradual approach to eliminating associations that take into account (in a holistic fashion) the child’s needs and wants (in as safe a manner for the child), and makes sure those needs are met as well as the health and well-being of his/her caregivers, then this program is for you. Dr. Vyas takes into consideration not only the whole child but the entire family including siblings and other caregivers when developing the sleep plan.
Combining her personal experiences along with her medical knowledge, Dr. Vyas tailors a sleep program to fit your specific family’s needs. She prides herself on successfully giving the entire family a good night’s sleep.
-HAPPY SLEEP!