"Don't tell me to follow my instinct!  Just please someone tell me what to do!"  This is the best way I can describe my entry into motherhood which was very rocky. Traumatic birth ending in emergency c-section.  Struggles with feeding.  Baby losing weight.  Post Natal Anxiety.  Totally confused and stressed by all the differing views from support people and information available.  Frankly I felt like a total failure. 

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I would see all these other mums, they made it look so easy, their sleepy easy-to-feed babies on their shoulder while they laughed among mum friends in the cafe.  Meanwhile some sort of best-effort smile plastered on my face as a mask to the true journey going on inside me.  How did they just feel so easy about it all?  I hated feeling out of control, that life was now so unpredictable. What do you mean I won't know how long the nap is?  What do you mean I won't be able to fix this? And all the structures I had built into my life that made me feel calm and balanced... were gone. 

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It wasn't helpful for me to be told to just go with the flow, follow your gut, trust your instinct.  That wasn't who I was, what wasn't how I did life, that wasn't my approach to any thing at all in my life. 

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My natural instinct was to be drawn to exact things.  Exact guides.  Exact plans.  Exact awake times.  These would give me the peace I was looking for right?  This would make me feel like I had control and I was doing it the 'right' way.  It was a false security though as I became obsessed, entrapped and stressed by the very things that were meant to bring me freedom, calm and peace.

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If I could go back and know what I know now.....I often wonder what that would be like.  To be able to find the balance I know that can exist for parents who are not 'go with the flow', the parents who want to go deep with knowledge so that they feel confident, that we can discover and empower an instinct through knowledge, kindness and nurture.  It's okay for it to be a journey towards this.

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This is the very heart and centre of the love I have for parents.  My greatest joy is enabling parents to worry less, stress less and feel empowered to have calm confidence when it comes to sleep.  To be able to thrive.  To help parents find their way in a way that suits their own way of doing life.  I personally understand how the joy can be robbed from these precious times with our little ones when we feel so much stress about sleep.  I want better for other parents.  Not to be given a one-size-fits all method for their child OR for them as a parent.

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I have a passion for supporting parents struggling with mental health, have an interest in sensitive children and am a gentle-parenting advocate. The list of further studies, courses and books is an ever growing list!  I am unashamedly a geek when it comes to understanding sleep science and all things parenting. I’m always buried in a new book or research paper (just ask my husband!) and my research database is ever-growing. I have also been recognized as one of the Top Sleep Coaches by Coach Foundation.

 

But most of all, I believe the most important thing I offer parents is that everything I do is based on the foundation of love. My motto is ‘always love’ and I would be honoured to support you and your family. I'm a Mama to my two littlies who are growing up way too fast and live together with my husband on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, Australia.

 

My qualifications are:

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• ​Certified Holistic Sleep Coach (OCN Level 6) through the Holistic Sleep Coaching Program founded by Lyndsey Hookway in the UK, the most comprehensive sleep coaching program available internationally.  Trained by over 25 world-renowned experts with a focus on evidence and research-based knowledge.

• Adult Educator (Certificate IV in Assessment & Workplace Training) and bring my love of teaching to the way I provide knowledge to parents

• Basic Skills in Perinatal Mental Health through the Centre of Perinatal Excellence (COPE)

• Completed Introductory Workshops (Possums NDC Australia)

• Trauma-Informed Coach Certificate for Coaches

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Current studies:

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• Allergies, Colic and Reflux

 

Always love,

 

Annie x

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