About Pick Nick’s Brain

Hi! My name is Nicole Johnson and I am a married 34-year old mommy of two who is obsessed with sleep.

Why a Web Site about baby and toddler sleep?! Why Pick Nick’s Brain?

When my eldest was a baby, he had a lot of sleep problems! “Sleep like a baby?” Yeah right! You better hope you never sleep like my baby did! He would wake up every 1-2 hours all night long. We had to do soooo much to get him to sleep! So, I dove into numerous books and message boards about sleep. I devoured everything and once I helped my baby sleep, I made it my mission to help other parents solve their child’s sleep problems, too. I became the leader of a message board and now have helped countless parents get better sleep from their babies and better sleep for themselves. Well-rested babies make happy babies and well rested parents make happy parents and happy parents make better parents. After numerous parents told me I should write my own book, I started to wonder if they were right! So, this website was born so I could reach many more parents.

Unfortunately, some people think babies grow out of it only to find they have a 6 year old who still wakes up at night and studies have found adults with sleep problems that trace back to their childhood. Heck, I’m not the best sleeper either and I vowed not to pass that onto my children, if I can help it. My son is now a great sleeper!

Let me assure you. Those of you with “easy” babies or those children that just grab a pillow off the couch when they’re sleepy and lay down will find this site VERY boring. You won’t ever understand all the hullabaloo. This is for those parents who are “at their wits end” who can’t get their child to sleep without standing on one foot in a field of daisies with the wind blowing west or for those parents with decent sleepers, but know they could be better. I hope you will find my information helpful and to know you are not alone and know that you, too, can have a baby who sleeps!

Am I a doctor? No. Am I a sleep “expert”? No. I am a mother with an analytical mind who is an avid reader and has been told I give firm, yet supportive, advice that works. So, I thought I’d branch out and try to help even more people than I already have. My analytical mind helps me develop the advice, my thoughtfulness and thoroughness help me really “get” your problem, my firmness helps get you started, and my support helps you stick with it. Call me your cliffs notes.

Other information

I went to UC Berkeley and received a Bachelors of Arts in Computer Science in 1996. I received my MBA from Ohio State University in 2006 after becoming a mother in 2005 (talk about multi-tasking!). I have been a software engineer going on 12 years now and what makes me a unique “techie” is my social skills. I’m not a typical “nerd”. I’m an avid reader, love the outdoors, and love being a mom!