The.Sleepy.OT

28/05/2025

10 days ago this family were co-sleeping, feeding to sleep and naps were so inconsistent & often a battle.

This mum had a face to face package with a root cause analysis, 1:1 consultation, personalised written sleep plan & daily WhatsApp check ins

Just look at the transformation 🙌

Are you ready to become well rested? Message me for a free discovery call 💤

24/05/2024

Have you heard of The Soothing Ladder method? 🪜

The Soothing Ladder is a method that helps parents & caregivers to provide the right support for the right amount of time without jumping the gun! The method allows parents/caregivers to be present yet provide their little one’s with the time and space to practice settling themselves.

When your little one signals for you in the night you start at number 1 (your presence). If your baby is under 6 months you wait 30 seconds before climbing the ladder, if they are over 6 months you wait 60 seconds.

You may notice your little one requires less support than you realise & the method can prevent you jumping to a higher level of support (E.g. feeding) when unnecessary (and potentially causing sleep associations such as sucking that can cause further disruptions).

Have you tried it? What’s your experience?

26/03/2024

A lovely message after facilitating my virtual workshop tonight 💤

12/03/2024

Did you know our little one’s are born a signaller or a soother and this is classified dependent on their temperament!

So we know that waking up between sleep cycles is normal (we all do this even us adults). We haven’t always lived in brick houses so our clever brains briefly wake us up to check we are safe before returning back to sleep. As adults we do this subconsciously and have no recollection of doing so in the morning.

In regards to babies some little ones will briefly wake up- suck their fingers, have a look round, shake their head and return to sleep (these are known as soothers). The other group of babies wake up and cannot return to sleep without support from their parents/caregivers and cry out, they are known as signallers.

This means that some babies naturally have the ability to soothe themselves from birth and it is it not a skill to be taught. Some babies just need more support than others & it isn’t down to how they have been supported by their parents/caregivers.

I’ve experienced this firsthand as my first baby was a signaller (hence becoming a sleep consultant), whereas my second is a soother (she can fall asleep practically anywhere with a little suck of her fingers!).

Is your little one a signaller or a soother?

10/03/2024

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

I have loved working with this family. When they approached me their little one was going to sleep anytime between 7-11pm and having up to 6 wake ups a night, using milk as her main sleep association & consequently having increased urine output.

Fast forward two weeks, she is now consistently going to sleep at 8pm, has began to sleep through the night & if she does wake up she is only taking 30ml of milk or using other sleep associations!

Well done to her mummy & daddy for keeping consistent while following her individualised plan!

Can you relate to them?! Get in touch via DM for more information

10/03/2024

UPCOMING EVENTS

20th March- Virtual infant sleep workshop!
26th March- Face to face infant sleep workshop at the Playhubs UK

Click the link below to sign up

We’d like to set additional cookies to understand how you use Bookwhen. We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services.

06/02/2024

06/02/2024

A few recent reviews… check out more on my Google reviews ⭐️

25/10/2023

11/10/2023

Do you use baby tracking apps?

Becoming a parent plunges us into the world of unknown, we doubt ourselves & often face things that are out of our control. It’s not surprisingly we reach for resources to try & help us regain an element of predictability.

Many of my clients who come to me either actively use tracking apps or historically have used them (I’m guilty too). Yes, they can help us identify loose trends, however, evidence demonstrates baby tracking apps can cause negative consequences on parental mental health including a sense of failure & questioning our parenting abilities.

Not only can they cause a negative impact on MH they can also cause us to look at scenarios through a specific lens. For example, if the app predicts your little one is about to enter a ‘regression’ then we are more likely to be hyper alert & blame every behaviour or disruption on this when the truth is your little one may not experience said ‘regressions’. Consequently, stopping us from looking at the holistic picture & understanding the real cause, meaning disruptions can go on for longer as the cause is not being addressed (sometimes these can be really simple adjustments!).

I will let you in on a secret… sleep regressions are 💩, the only ‘pro-regression’ with evidence is at 4 months), this is when sleep structure matures & although you may have increased disruptions this is all progress. The same goes with wake windows, there is no hard evidence to support them. Please don’t get caught up in them!

My advise. Unless a healthcare professional has requested you to record data for a specific reason, delete the apps.

Spend your time absorbing in whose precious moments. Get to understand your little one’s zones of regulations, become intune with their needs & signals & learn self regulation for you as their parent.

Regulated caregiver = regulated baby!

20/06/2023

Did you know sleeping training doesn’t have to involve leaving your baby to ‘cry it out’?

Research is developing fast & evidence is supporting parents to make an informed a choice about how they approach their infant’s sleep needs.

Historically the cry it out method was known by parents as the one & only way to get your child to sleep through the night, however, we now know this doesn’t work for all children, you are likely to going to have to repeat the method during development changes & there is potential long term negative implications on the infant.

Society is starting to move away from the cry it out approach & understand that crying is communication and infants have needs 24 hours a day. There are plenty of highly effective gentle approaches to meet all varieties of sleep needs.

Having said that, everyone’s circumstances are different & in some cases the situation may indicate the need to use this approach. I’m not here to judge opinions, I’m here to ensure parents have exposure to comprehensive information to allow them to make an informed decision around their family needs without the scaremongering.

My key advice… if your gut is telling you to stop.. stop ✋ & review other options!