FAQs

As a Family Sleep Consultant I can work with all sorts of different sleep challenges.  From helping set up healthy sleep habits with your newborn, to helping your baby, toddler or child independent sleep skills.  or if you are struggling with your own sleep and want to get sleeping better, I can help there too.

Many families tell me after sleep training their child that they now find it hard to sleep well again.  This inspired me to learn all I can about adult sleep as well, so I can help all the wonderful families that come my way with all aspects of sleep.

I can work with people of all ages – newborns, babies, toddlers, older children and adults.

An important thing to note though is that I do not work with babies younger than 4 months (adjusted) to sleep train, as their circadian rhythms are not developed until 16 weeks of age. Personally, I find that a baby 4 – 5 months may still not be ready for sleep training sometimes, so If you have a child younger than 6 months, during our  get acquainted call I’ll ask you some questions to determine if now is a good time to start sleep training. If I believe it is too early I will often suggest a  sleep strategy session instead so we can discuss setting the stage for healthy sleep and changes you can make until they are showing signs they are ready for formal sleep training. I can do  sleep strategy sessions as well for expectant parents and parents of newborns.

First, contact me by my  contact form or go direct and schedule  get acquainted call. If you use the contact form I will do my best to get back to you within 1 business day. Either through our get acquainted call or via email I will answer all of your questions about me and how I work and we can discuss which of my  packages will work best for your family.

Once you have purchased your packages I ask you to fill in an Intake Form and then we have a 1.5 hour consultation. During the consultation, we will discuss your sleep challenges, sleep goals and together come up with a sleep plan you are comfortable with and feel confident you can implement.

After the consultation, I will provide you with an in-depth sleep plan for you to follow based on our discussions during the meeting. As you implement the sleep plan I support you and work to achieve the sleep goals that you identified.

Before becoming a certified as Child Sleep Consultant through the  Family Sleep Institute my background was social work, working predominantly with children and families. After having my kids I changed course and trained to become a Child Sleep Consultant. This training included over 250 hours of study in the field of child sleep, which is greater than any other sleep consulting program in the US! I have added on to this certification by completing a Child Behavior certification through  The Early Years. This has really enhanced my sleep work, especially with my toddler and children clients!

I have also added to my knowledge by studying CBT for Insomnia and Adult Sleep as well.

I am also committed to regularly adding to my knowledge in both sleep and child behavior by attending regular continuing education opportunities.

No, I don’t specifically have a nap package because I have noticed that it is often important to address sleep as a whole (night and days), even when working to improve naps. Of course, if in your child’s case naps really are the only issues and you don’t feel a full package is appropriate, you could look at booking a  sleep strategy session. We can then delve into the nap issues, I can provide you some advice and strategies and you can then go off and work on them on your own.

I’d love to guarantee a 100% success rate but this isn’t possible. The thing is, sometimes parents aren’t consistent, or go off the sleep plan I provide, and this can end up with an unsuccessful experience.

Will your baby be able to self soothe to sleep if you follow my plan? Definitely! Will night wakings or short naps improve? Absolutely! But the key is to follow my sleep plan closely and keep in regular contact so I can be your biggest cheerleader and help you along the way. I love being your sleep training cheerleader and you won’t find anyone who gets as excited as you do about your little one’s sleep successes!

It would be lovely if we could fix sleep permanently but babies, toddlers and children experience bumps in the road along the way. Yes, once they learn how to fall asleep independently then they will be better able to handle those bumps, but it is also perfectly natural to have off times and need a little sleep boot camp to get back on track. If you find you need a little extra help down the road because sleep got off course you can schedule a Sleep Strategy Session or Returning Client Package to get you and your little one back on track.

As a certified Child Sleep Consultant through the  Family Sleep Institute, I follow the guidelines set out by the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics). For safety purposes, the AAP does not promote co-sleeping, especially for a baby under 12 months. This means that I don’t work with families who wish to continue co-sleeping. I am happy to work with families who currently co-sleep and are ready to transition their child to a crib either in their parent’s room or in their own room though.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a concrete answer when it comes to how long. Every baby and child is different and every sleep plan is as well. It depends on the child’s temperament, the sleep challenges we are working on and the level of involvement you feel comfortable with while you address them. The more parental involvement in the process, the longer it takes. And consistency makes a difference too! If you are consistent and don’t accidentally slip back into old habits you’ll have improvements quicker.

Generally, with consistency, there will be noticeable improvement within 1-2 weeks for nighttime struggles and 2-4 weeks for naps. That is why my main packages all come with 2 weeks of support. During this time you will get to a stage where you can feel comfortable continuing on your own. Even if there is still some work to do to get things to 100%, you’ll know exactly what needs to be done to get there.

No, I do not subscribe to any one method of sleep training. Each child and their family are unique, and because of this, I tailor my sleep training methods to keep all of that in mind. I want YOU to be comfortable and confident to go and implement the sleep plan, and this means using a method that we all agree will be the best for YOUR situation.

This is a very important question. As a mom I completely understand. It is so hard to hear our little ones cry.

For babies, crying is their main way of communicating displeasure. Teaching your little one independent sleep skills means that you are changing your current sleep routine. Your little one won’t like the changes you’re making. They loved how things were. Who wouldn’t like to, say, be rocked or held to sleep? So nice and cozy for them but can be exhausting for you when you end up having to do it regularly throughout the night. Your little one will likely communicate their feelings about the change by crying. I will help you to be there to encourage and support your child as you all get used to this big change in the way they sleep.

The length and intensity of your baby or child’s crying will depend on different factors. Factors such as their temperament, their little personality, and even their persistence. Think about what they are generally like in their waking hours and this may give you a clue about how their crying might be during the sleep training process. The other thing to note is that your consistency in following the sleep plan and ability to display confidence in your child and the process will affect how long your little one will cry too.

Think of learning independent sleep skills like learning to walk. Yes your toddler will fall down and they might cry because of it, but you wouldn’t just pick them up and decide to carry them from then on. You’ll keep giving them opportunities to walk until they become the amazing walker you knew they could be. We need to do the same thing with sleep!

There are a lot of options out there and you may already know quite a few from your research on sleep. It’s much better to get to know your child and your family and then recommend any sleep training techniques. There are so many things that play a factor in choosing a technique from your child – your wishes, their temperament, their age and the sleep challenges you are facing.

I don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach to sleep training. That means I am not a sleep consultant who has one method and expects you to subscribe to it too. The best, most successful sleep training method will be the one that you feel confident about and that you can consistently implement. I may even ask you during our consultation what you can imagine doing in the middle of the night when you are still half asleep!

I definitely do! But I must tell you that this doesn’t mean there won’t be some crying, as I mention in the “Will my baby cry?” question. Please note that I will never ask you to do anything you are not comfortable with. My sleep plans are created specifically for you and I will make sure that you are comfortable with the plan. If you start the plan and feel uncomfortable about something, we can absolutely make changes to it so that you are comfortable and confident.