Frequently Asked Questions

Sleep Coaching, or Sleep Training as it's commonly known, is the process of your baby learning to fall asleep by themselves - whether that's in the beginning of the night at bedtime or when they wake up in the middle of the night. 

However, Sleep Training is often misunderstood as just leaving the baby to cry and feel abandoned to the point where they fall asleep exhausted on their own. While Cry-It-Out can be an effective sleep training method, that is NOT the only option and not my method of choice!

Teaching a baby to fall asleep independently can be a gentle process and part of the process is allowing the baby to feel secure and comfortable and feeling self-assured that they can sleep in their own safe space. 

No you do not! Some kids are just naturally better sleepers and learn to settle themselves much easier than others. Sleep training isn't for everybody and I completely understand that as well! All that matters is that you are happy with your family's sleep situation. 

However, if the lack of sleep is: 

1. Causing the baby to not feed well and affect their development; 

2.  Causing the baby to have no energy to play and the baby appears fussy and grumpy during the day; 

3.  Negatively affecting your relationships with your baby and/ or your spouse; 

4. Negatively affecting your physical and/ or mental health; 

then don't write off sleep coaching just yet! Come explore some gentle training methods with me!

Ideally, instilling good sleeping habits should start from birth as it can mitigate a lot of  sleep troubles down the line for babies. Sleep coaching is suitable for all ages!

In the early days, it’s about learning about sleep, learning to read your baby’s cues, and building a healthy foundation for good sleep. By doing so, as soon as your baby is ready to sleep through the night, your baby will do so without props or help. For older babies and children, sleep coaching a lot of the time involves reversing unsustainable habits and providing much needed structure. At the end of the day, you are in the best position to know when it’s time for sleep coaching! Whether it’s pre-empting any foreseeable sleep issues or you’re at the end of your tether, we are here to help!   

After our initial free sleep evaluation, where we will cover 1) your child’s key sleep challenges; 2) discuss what sleep coaching entails and 3) discuss potential sleep solutions, we will send you an intake form and a baby sleep log template. The form and sleep log allows me to gather all the information that I need (such as your baby’s sleep environment, achieved milestones, feeding, napping/ sleeping routine, personality and temperament, etc.) to put a personalized sleep solution together for your child. 

The Sleep Plan will outline suggestions for various peripheral environmental changes (such as making the room darker, white noise machines, etc.), and include a few methods (written as a step by step guide) on what to do in various sleep scenarios. This will cover naps, bedtime, middle-of-the-night wakings, early morning wakings, etc. The Sleep Plan will be sent to you ahead of our Consultation Call where we will go through the Plan together in detail. In the Call, we will also go through any individual concerns you may have, any key challenges you have been facing, discuss any frustrations and provide you with the support and guidance that you need - you are not alone!

As you put the Plan in motion, we will provide you with the support in accordance with the Service Package that you have chosen. Should you require any additional support, we also have Add-on Services that you may purchase on top of the Service Packages as well. 

No. The “Cry It Out” Method, also known as the extinction method, involves putting your baby in their crib fully awake, walking away, and allowing them to cry/ scream until they fall asleep, without any help from you. While the CIO method can work, many parents are not comfortable with the level of crying  involved, and understandably so!

Please be assured that my sleep plan will never advocate for leaving a child to cry alone until they fall asleep from sheer exhaustion. Bedtime should be a happy and pleasant experience, not something to be dreaded for both you and your child. That being said, realistically, some tears will be shed as there will be change. They will see that you are “taking away” something of theirs and they will likely be both upset and angry, and without the vocabulary to express their feelings. Crying is the only way babies know how to protest. Without giving them the opportunity to learn and change their habits, these habits will be remain unchanged. We will always ensure that your baby’s basic needs are met (hunger, pain, coldness, etc.), and if you are uncomfortable with the length of crying time after attempting to put the Sleep Plan in action, I am happy to come back to the drawing board with you to discuss and see what changes can be made to the Plan. 

Yes! However, we would recommend setting up a partition or a divider in the room between you and your child until the baby’s sleep improves.  

Yes! Sleep troubles for older children are predominantly behavioral, and whilst they can be carried over by unresolved sleep issues from toddler-hood, some issues may stem from new fears (e.g. scared of monsters, scared of the dark,  etc.), which can start occurring as their imagination grows. 

Individualized Sleep Plans at this age focuses on empowering the child to look forward to bedtime and enjoy a restful night of sleep. 

Nearly all our clients have “tried everything” - from Googling extensively, to following sleep-training books. There is so much contradicting advice and programs out there that it gets confusing and overwhelming. 

We take the guesswork out of sleep-training. Our individualized sleep coaching solution provides you with ongoing support as we can troubleshoot in real time. We believe that there is no one-size-fits-all program. We stay with you and support you so that we can tweak our strategy based on close observations. 

It depends! It is influenced by the temperament of your child (easy going or stubborn), the age of your child, what sleep-training method you choose, how consistent you are, and how precisely you follow your Plan. Some families see results in as little as one to two days. For other families it can take up to two weeks to see night time sleep consistently improve. During your free 20  minute call, we can provide a better estimation on how long it will take to see results based on your child’s situation.  

No refunds are given once payment has been made. We will do our best to find a solution that works for your child and your family.