Sleep solutions for your family

Before I describe my approach to sleep and it’s importance for your child’s health (at any age) I want to acknowledge you for taking your child’s sleep seriously and for looking for support.

It’s likely you’ve found yourself here because you feel something needs to change about your child’s sleep; or the changes you’ve made to support your child’s sleep aren’t working anymore; or something has changed about your child’s sleep and you can’t seem to get it back on track. I hope I can help. 

Let’s take away any shame or guilt from this - society would have us believe that it’s normal for all children (&adults) to always sleep through the night. So when they don’t, we might worry, we might feel bad, and add that to the lack of sleep we experience, it makes for a pretty exhausting scenario. 

They’d also have us believe that children must get x number of hours sleep, must always settle themselves to sleep, and bizarrely, must know how to sleep in a certain way, in a certain place, at a certain time - simply because they’re human. It doesn’t work like that though.

It takes learning and support to help any child sleep to anything like “society’s expectations”. And often, what you do to help your child, works! And then it doesn’t. And then it might again. But so many things - development, their daytime experiences, and even your own health and well-being, can affect how a child sleeps. 

I’m here to support you if you’ve found yourself in a tricky spot with your child’s sleep, and you’re lost for what to do about it.

I do caution parents that children’s sleep is complex, and their changing needs require a level of commitment to adapt and be flexible. Often a ‘sleep problem’ is actually a ‘daytime problem' that presents itself overnight’. I’m pretty realistic and honest when I talk about this - you won’t find me claiming a 100% success rate, or quick fixes for everyone. Sometimes there are simple solutions, sometimes things can take a while.

If you are ready to try anything, there will be lots we can do to improve your child’s sleep. If you’d prefer to just get started with improving things in a simple way, we can take things slowly. There’s something for everyone.

I hope I can help you improve the amount and the quality of sleep your child gets, with a gentle and responsive mentoring approach, which I believe is best for their brain development, building secure attachments, and best for everyone’s mental wellbeing.

More about my approach

Sleep mentoring that is holistic, gentle, nurturing, and responsive.

I work with families that have children aged 6months to 16years. Each package I refer to will look slightly different according to the age of your child. I tend to speak about toddlers | children | teenagers, but there is an overlap in needs and practices.

I think parents find it more helpful to have someone walk through sleep changes with them, so I take a mentoring approach rather than a programming approach. You can receive a written programme, but we also hold video mentoring sessions to really make sure you feel supported.

With toddlers (approx 6 months - 4yrs), my work will focus heavily on the parent roles, daytime rhythms, what and how they’re eating, their daytime wellbeing and their temperament. I work closely with you as parents in the mentoring capacity.

With children (approx 4yrs to 11yrs), my mentoring work takes a combination of working with parents and the child themselves if it’s age appropriate. Mentoring sessions can be with both child and parents or either.

With teenagers (approx 11yrs - 16yrs), the mentoring is focussed on the child themselves. Seldom will the practices work if the child isn’t interested/committed to working towards better sleep, so it’s better if they lead on any changes that need to be made.

If you would prefer the sleep mentoring to focus on you as parents only, that’s ok - please make it known when you fill in your sleep questionnaire.

Sleep mentoring

Sleep mentoring for your family might focus on a combination of:

Reassurance

Reassurance for you, and guidance of your own understanding of sleep - what it’s for, what “normal” sleep might look like and common issues around sleep

New practices

New things to try - daytime wellbeing practices that will encourage a natural, restful sleep - maybe with nutrition, movement, nature,  mindfulness and emotional literacy and support for your child’s natural circadian rhythm

Afjustments

Adjustment of timings, rhythms, bedtime routines etc to work with your child’s natural patterns whilst trying to ease towards a regular rhythm that improves overnight sleep

Environment

Looking at the sleep environment for your child with recommendations to enable natural sleep

Education

Mentoring sessions that educate you about sleep and foster a desire to improve their sleep. During the mentoring, we may simply discuss how things are going, or we may use some yoga nidra, somatic movement, cognitive behavioural approaches and mindfulness practices that support better sleep.

Settling techniques

Settling techniques and positive sleep associations for bedtime and when your child wakes in the night - ones that gently nurture independence but maintain positive attachments

New resources

Suggested resources and activities that will help your child with their understanding and feelings/anxieties about sleep, including preparation for bed, managing difficult emotions, rewards for helpful sleep behaviours  and their knowledge of what “normal” sleep is/feels like

Check-ins

Regular check-ins for you as their parent, taking in the stresses of sleep issues and how it can affect our own mental and physical wellbeing.

Working with me

  • Step 1

    My support starts with a sleep questionnaire. For me to formulate a sleep coaching plan that suits your family, I need to get to know your child’s temperament, medical and wellbeing history, and detail about what sleep looks like on a bad night/better night. I also need to get a sense of your hopes and expectations, your boundaries, and what your day-to-day, real-life looks like. 

  • Step 2

    Following your sleep questionnaire, we will have an online call, so I can ask you anything else that I need to understand, to help me build a sleep support programme for you. It will be a chance for you to explain in-person what you’re finding tough, what your instincts are telling you, and to ask me any questions as well.

  • Step 3

    Following the initial sleep consultancy call, we will book in our next mentoring session. If you have chosen Spoken, there will be one more session, Written - 3 more sessions and Guided 5 more sessions.

    I will write you a sleep consultation (if you have chosen Written or Guided) so you can get started straight away, and I will ask you to keep a simple sleep diary for your child.

See package prices

If after reading this, you feel that a sleep programme of support (Spoken, Written or Guided) would suit your family, get in touch. We can chat this through before you commit to any sort of paid package. 

Please note: I have access to professional supervision - for sleep, mental health and nutrition - meaning I am able to cross-check my practices and advice with other highly trained and experienced paediatric practitioners, should I encounter a case that I need additional support with, or should I need to refer a client on for more specialist advice. This may be the case if a child is using medication or has specific physical/mental needs that I’ve not encountered before. I would always ask for a parent’s consent before sharing details of your child’s sleep with these professionals, and this would remain nameless. You also have the option to ask for further referral to these private services.