HOLISTIC
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NO ONE WAY
GENTLE
& RESPONSIVE
KNOWLEDGE
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Working together means we will do all the wonderful things to understand and optimise your child’s sleep, we will remove any roadblocks to their sleep and we will do this based on the evidence of what normal infant and child sleep development looks like as well as a deep knowledge of sleep science. We will find what's best for your child, your situation and your family.
The powerful lens of understanding and considering all the many influences on sleep and how they interconnect for the whole view of your child’s sleep.
Rested children and families come in all shapes and sizes. There is no one right thing for every little one, situation or family.
Respecting and responding to everyone's temperament, needs, wants, responses to change, unique sleep needs and everything that makes you all unique.
Evidence-based knowledge aligned to biological and developmental norms brings clarity empowering you to ditch myths, shut out 'noise' and understand and support sleep with confidence.
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NURTURE
Beneath every interaction with you and your family lies the foundation of nurture for everyone's mental and physical health with the motto of 'always love'. Great calm can come from being heard, validated and understood and being cared for and guided with compassion and respect.
Let me wrap my arms around you as you wrap your arms around your family's sleep.
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How does this all come together?
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Holistic Assessment
We begin here. The benefit of a holistic approach is that aside from looking deeply at your child's current sleep situation and sleep history, we will also review and take into account temperament of all involved, sensory profile, development, feeding, allergies, intolerances, health issues, trauma, family history, pregnancy, birth, infant mental health, parental mental health, family dynamics,family logistics, support for family, life experiences, extended family dynamics, parenting styles and anything that makes every child,family and situation unique.
Biological & Emotional Pathway
Typically we will begin with this pathway (although every situation is unique and in some circumstances we will also move down the Behavioural Pathway at the same time ).
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We will ensure that everything about your child's sleep is in line with their biological and emotional needs based on everything that arises in the Holistic Assessment. We will create optimal opportunities for your child's and family's sleep.
You might be coming to me with a clear set of goals for your child with independence with sleep but like many families I support, you may find the initial approach we take to support sleep from a Biological & Emotional Pathway makes such a difference that you don't even need to change their journey to sleep. ​​
Or if we do then go down the Behavioural Pathway, what may have felt like a Level 10 challenge may feel greatly reduced making it much easier. Secondly, it means you are then taking next steps with a great level of knowledge and a greater sense of your own calm,
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Behavioural Pathway
Some families do want to make changes to how their child is falling asleep. While we can accept that being supported to sleep is biologically and developmentally normal, I can't ignore the large bodies of work that show that for some children, becoming accustomed to falling asleep with less or no supported can make great improvements for sleep. For others, this makes little to no improvement to sleep and for others it can worsen their sleep. It's simply not a black and white 'formula' for sleep which is why many families come to me feeling they have failed after having expectations set about what would happen with sleep training.
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I also support families who want to make small changes such as reducing the length of rocking to sleep or contact napping or having more flexible options rather than just one way.
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I will support you to find a way, steps and pace that is responsive and respectful to your unique child and family. Every child is unique and some might be okay to adapt to changes in a few days, others may need weeks and some just are not ready for these changes yet. There are no set sleep plans or cookie-cutter approaches here.
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Nurture & Mind Space
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Supporting your journey as a parent is woven into every aspect of what we will do together. One of the greatest sleep interventions is honestly plain old kindness. Parents share with me how immensely reassuring and comforting it's been to have someone who will walk this way shoulder-to-shoulder.
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What this isn't....
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Not sleep training
This is not a Sleep Training approach which is based on the idea that all children, must/can/should sleep independently for sleep to be 'good' or improved. All sleep training has self-settling as it's key focus and things typically move quickly. The methods may be include responsive or unresponsive methods. Often this is regardless of how a baby or child may or may not be responding. For some children, the way they journey to sleep is a game changer for their sleep. For others it's not. For some children they can cope with many changes quickly. Others will not and sleep can in fact worsen when this is is pushed.
When we deeply understand sleep, we can see there are many influences on your child's sleep. The sleep training view means we can miss so much about your unique child to help understand and support their sleep.
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Sleep training can also ask you to ignore what is biologically and developmentally normal for infant and child sleep and sleep behaviours.
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Not 'Wait it Out'
Nor is this an approach where I'm going to tell you to just wait it out and that sleep will simply improve over time. While the research does show that even if you do nothing, sleep will improve at some point if there are no underlying factors, there are many wonderful ways we can support sleep.
The 'Wait it Out' approach often comes with a message that there is also one right way for all babies, children and families. While this approach may work beautifully for many families, this approach can be equally limiting and one-size-fits-all.
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