Your child can sleep all night ... and so can you!

Making Changes Step-By-Step Together

The Sleep Sense™ Program was created by sleep expert Dana Obleman. I choose this program because it didn’t ask me to let my baby “cry it out.” I didn’t feel comfortable with doing that and I don’t expect you too either. The other reason was its tried and tested. It has helped over 109,000 people with strategies for overcoming sleep difficulties in infants. It works!

I’ve become serious about sleep over the past few years, and so flabbergasted by the results that we had seen, that I went to America to be trained by Dana Obleman herself to be a sleep consultant so I could help you too.

Underpinning the method is having trust in your little one’s abilities to sleep independently. They have the capability within them to sleep well … they just have no idea how. Once they are given the opportunity, with you alongside them supporting and comforting whilst they learn, they quickly start to enjoy deep and restful sleep … which in turn leads to healthier, happier children (and parents, just as importantly).

We all have a “journey” to sleep every night with a routine and cues to encourage sleep. It has become automatic to us, but babies and children need to learn this skill. Your plan will teach your children this process for themselves. That way, when they rouse in the night, they have the skills to get back to sleep quickly without having to rely on you to do it for them. They then carry these skills forward and perpetuate great sleep into adulthood: it’s fantastic investment for all of you.

The advice out there is vast, and ranges from extremes of “cry it out” to “attachment parenting.” I’m somewhere in the middle. I found all the conflicting advice and scaremongering overwhelming as a parent, it’s hard to know what is right for you and your child. Only you can decide, and the factors that determine that decision are personal to you and your family. When you decide you’re ready to help your child sleep well, I’m here for you.

A “one size fits all” doesn’t apply to families or children, and that’s the joy of working with an expert. I can adapt as guided by your baby. The approach to improving your child’s sleep is simple but tailored to your child and parenting styles so you feel comfortable with the plan. This enables you to commit and implement changes confidently and consistently. The key to achieving your sleep goals.

Keep the weeks you are making changes at home free with no big events in the middle of them. You want to avoid testing their new skills or expecting too much of them too soon. By committing to being predictable it allows them time to practice. It takes time and repetition to master a new skill!

Will my baby cry?

Honestly, yes.

Babies cry at lots of things. It doesn’t matter how old they are. It will always tug at your heartstrings.

My definition of “cry it out” method is putting your child down awake, shutting the door and leaving them until morning. It may work, but no parent I’ve met so far could consider doing this.

The crying when learning to sleep can be frustration. They are just stating their objection to a change, to a new sleep routine, not having their usual “props” to fall asleep with… and having no idea of how to do it themselves.

We are all protective of our sleeping environment. Making a change to anyone’s current sleep setting will be met with some opposition, the same is true for your child. Once they discover a strategy to get to sleep independently it’s like a whole new world has opened up to them. It must be so liberating … and the crying resolves.

The methods I use minimise crying as you’re there in the room to support your child. When you put it in perspective, without learning the skill of independent sleep, many areas of a child’s life maybe detrimentally affected by continued poor quality fragmented sleep. Short term protest is offset by you and your little one having years of healthy, rejuvenating and consolidated sleep.

During our time together:

I provide:

1. Honest information about WHY sleep is so important for your child’s well-being. (This will give you all the motivation you need to make changes to your child’s sleep habits.)

2. An easy-to-follow, individualised, step-by-step plan that lets you make some choices about what is the right approach for your child. (All children are different, and nobody knows your child better than you do. I encourage you to use your knowledge of your child to customise his or her sleep plan.)

3. Assurance that I will never ask you to leave your child to cry alone in their room if it’s something you are not comfortable with (most people are not), nor will ask you to ignore the cries of your child. You can go to them, sit with them, comfort them … always!

4. Ways to measure success and set your expectations. You shouldn’t expect your child to sleep 12 uninterrupted hours on the first night, although it does happen on occasion! I will tell you what you should expect along the way.