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About me or my services?
I’ve pulled together all of the common questions parents ask me here!
No. Absolutely not. I am DEFINITELY NOT a sleep trainer in disguise.
I define sleep training as any method that requires you to either not respond to your little one’s signals at night, delay your response, or not respond appropriately (e.g. patting them if they’d prefer to be rocked, or fed).
There are many different sleep training methods (known in the science world as ‘extinction’ or ‘graduated extinction’). They all aim to sever the connection a baby’s brain makes between signalling for help and getting a response. So – if sleep training is ‘successful’ – the research shows the baby still wakes as often, they’ve just learned to stop signalling to their parent(s) / caregiver(s) when they wake at night1.
What I teach is completely different. My focus is on helping you understand how sleep works (the physiology of sleep), get across the latest evidence (research) on sleep and wakefulness, and learn how best to support your little one’s natural sleep regulation system and optimise their sleep pattern. It’s an effective alternative to sleep training or ‘waiting it out’.
I will always encourage and support you to respond to your little one at night quickly and in whatever way works best. Feeding/nursing to sleep and (safe) bedsharing – or whatever settling method/s and safe sleep environment/s you and your little one prefer – are absolutely fine!
- Kempler, L., Sharpe, L., Miller, C. B., Bartlett, D. J., (2016). Do psychosocial sleep interventions improve infant sleep or maternal mood in the postnatal period? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 29, pp. 15-22. DOI: 10.1016/j.smrv.2015.08.002
So many parents feel the exact same way when they first come across me (so I get this question a lot!).
If you’re anything like them, you’ve probably been living in hope that there might still be a solution out there but feeling like it may be an impossible dream given the long list of things you’ve already tried.
But what I do IS different. The information and guidance I provide is evidence-based and supported by research. So many parents – many who’ve been struggling with a LOT of wakefulness for months (sometimes years) – are blown away with the improvements they’re able to get when they apply the knowledge and tools I share.
So, I want you to know, there is a light! There’s a really good possibility that – with what I teach in programs – you CAN help your wakeful little one sleep better (and feel well-rested yourself) without having to sleep train.
It takes on average 17 years for a body of research to flow through to those at the coalface. So while it’s slowly changing, there’s still a long way to go when it comes to evidence-based solutions that are responsive and gentle, and take into account your little one’s temperament and unique needs.
In the meantime, parents continue to be bombarded with a lot of misinformation that causes stress and confusion, and in many cases can actually cause sleep problems.
But slowly things are changing for the better!
This is a great question. And also quite a common one!
If you’ve already made changes to try to increase sleep pressure but your LO is still very wakeful at night, the nights are inconsistent, or the nights improved for a short period but then the wakefulness returned…
Either:
1) Low sleep pressure isn’t the cause of the wakefulness.
If this is the case, then the most likely causes are separation stress/anxiety or a health-related cause.
Separation stress/anxiety may be the cause if you find your little one sleeps soundly when near or next to you, but is wakeful when they sleep on their own. Please note, it’s also common for little ones with low sleep pressure to only sleep if held (e.g. on your chest). If you’re LO is still wakeful when they sleep next to you (safely bedsharing), then low sleep pressure is more likely to be the cause, assuming health related causes have been ruled out.
If you haven’t already investigated possible health-related causes with a healthcare professional, it’s important to do so, even if just to rule them out.
If you’d like more help to troubleshoot the likely cause/s of your little one’s wakefulness, this article may help.
2) Low sleep pressure is causing the wakefulness, but the things you’ve tried so far haven’t been enough to have consistently restful nights.
If you’ve ruled out separation stress/anxiety and your healthcare professional doesn’t have any concerns, then this is the most likely reason for the wakefulness.
And it’s why I created the Baby Sleep Revolution™ program. Because I was finding that many parents were not able to get a consistent improvement in sleep just by making general changes to help sleep pressure build over the day (e.g. getting up around the same time, keeping an eye on nap timings/lengths and just waiting until baby is tired enough to fall asleep easily).
This comes down to the individual baby or toddler. While some only need a little bit of support here and there, others are wired differently and are more prone to wakefulness / need a more precise approach to help support the body’s natural sleep regulators.
The Baby Sleep Revolution™ program – while based on the general principles of sleep science – is different in that it involves following a unique, step-by-step process which helps parents to transition their little one into a sleep pattern where their sleep pressure is able to build to an adequate level each night, so the nights are consistently restful.
A lot of parents join Baby Sleep Revolution™ after following a more general approach aimed at building sleep pressure without a lot of success, and they find that with the Baby Sleep Revolution™ program they’re able to get a really great improvement in their little one’s sleep, and have restful and predictable nights going forward. So even if you feel like you’ve tried everything, it may very much be worth giving BSR a go!
No, I don’t at the moment. It’s a conscious decision I’ve made for a couple of very good reasons.
The main reason is because I’ve found 1:1 consultations are not the most effective way to help parents overcome excessive night wakefulness.
The process I teach in the Baby Sleep Revolution™ program usually takes somewhere between 4-6 weeks to fully complete, sometimes a bit longer if there’s quite a bit of fine-tuning required or if the process must be paused due to illness.
It’s important for parents to be able to ask questions or request help/guidance at any point during the process. When I first developed the program, I actually offered 1:1 consultations, but found that most parents needed further help or guidance and would get stuck or go off-track while waiting for their next consultation. Many also needed a lot of consultations during the process.
For this reason, I made the decision to structure the program in the way that gives parents the best possible likelihood of getting a great improvement. The program combines comprehensive self guided modules and lessons, a Help Hub packed with additional help and guidance – including the ability to ask my team a question if it’s not answered in the content and receive a general answer, as well as membership of our private Baby Sleep Revolution™ Alumni community where you can connect with like-minded parents who’ve been through the program themselves.
The other reason I don’t offer 1:1 consultations is because I want to help as many parents as possible get to a place where sleep is no longer stressful, and the nights are restful and predictable. Having struggled with a wakeful baby myself, I know how debilitating severe sleep deprivation can be and I want as many parents as possible to have the opportunity to access help and guidance, rather than only being able to help a few families at a time.
Yes. If your little one was born prior to 37 weeks gestation, please use their adjusted/corrected age.
I don’t offer any discounts on the Baby Sleep Revolution™ program because I want parents to be able to access it year-round whenever they need it, rather than waiting for a promotion.
From time to time there may be offers on some of my other courses and resources. If you’re not already on my email list, sign up here (and get a copy of my free PDF guide while you’re at it!) because that’s where you’ll hear about any offers.
At this stage I don’t, sorry!
No, I don’t have a PayPal option. All payments are processed using card payments via Stripe (a secure card payment processor).
I don’t have a specific ‘gift’ option for my services right now (I plan to in the future though!). If you’d like to purchase a guide or program on behalf of someone else you can do so by purchasing it in their name / and using their email address on the order form. If you do this, it’s best to let them know before you place the order as their access will start immediately.
Yes, every video has a transcript, as well as Closed Captions.
Yes, every video has Closed Captions, as well as a transcript.
The Baby Sleep Revolution™ and Baby Sleep Unlocked™ programs are hosted on the Kajabi platform, which is accessible via your browser or via the Kajabi app. There isn’t a specific audio-only option, but it’s possible to play the videos and just listen to the audio.
I’m an evidence-based baby and toddler sleep educator. So I help parents better understand the science of sleep and empower them with knowledge and tools to help them naturally minimise wakefulness and optimise their little one’s sleep pattern.
I’m currently completing postgraduate studies in Psychology. The information and guidance I share is based on the latest scientific learnings and research in the fields of human and infant sleep, neuroscience, and developmental psychology, and is always referenced back to the source – peer-reviewed studies, articles, books, etc.
I decided to become a baby and toddler sleep educator after struggling with a very wakeful little one myself, and you can learn more about my experiences and background on my About page.
Please note: It’s important to be aware that there are some health and developmental conditions that can affect sleep. I am not a healthcare professional, it’s important to consider and investigate possible health or developmental causes of wakefulness with a qualified healthcare professional as a first step.
Still got questions?
If you have a specific question about my program, mini-course, or other resources, check the solution-specific FAQs by clicking the relevant link below and scrolling down to the bottom of the page:
If your question isn’t answered there, you can send it to me via the contact page.
Please be aware: I don’t answer general/personal sleep questions via email or private message. I do run regular Q&A sessions over on Instagram though, so be sure to follow and ask me there!