I have a joke I share with a colleague of mine that I don’t just sleep train babies I sleep train parents too!

I train them to realise that if they little one isn’t sleeping through the night consistently…It isn’t their fault. It’s not that anything is wrong.  It’s not that anything they do to help them sleep is wrong, their baby isn’t ill or has some secret syndrome that prevents them from needing as much sleep as their friends babies. It’s not because their little ones enjoy being awake and screaming at 3am (in fact they probably want to sleep as much as their parents do). It’s not because you rock them to sleep on occasion or because you missed they’re quiet window yesterday afternoon, or even because you’re inconsistent with your routine  on the odd occasion. It’s just that sleeping independently all night every night isn’t something they have mastered yet…

More than ever I feel that parents need support and knowledge in this area if for no other reason than to stop blaming themselves if their little ones aren’t great sleepers.

When I first started out as a night nanny back in 2000 sleep training your baby was the in thing.

Gina Ford was all the rage and getting babies to sleep through the night as fast as possible was the goal. Before I became a mum myself I didn’t

So you’ve been doing this parenting gig for a while now and so far it’s going ok. You’ve figured out what to do when  they get hungry , and you can now change a nappy without too much poop ending up on your forehead,  You haven’t murdered them yet and they’re growing thriving and gaining weight nicely… just that one thing  that eludes you  is sleep!! 

I found a picture of my now 14 year old as a toddler.

We used to call her "The Dummy Commando" (amongst other things) As she loved a dummy at that age. 

Many mums ask me if dummies/pacifiers create bad habits or a negative sleep association, many sleep experts suggest getting rid of dummies as early as possible. I really don't have an issue with dummies unlike many other experts. As long as you keep dummies as clean as possible i don't think your little one having a dummy need be a problem. 

Hello Lovely Mums and Dads 

I hope you are well and getting as much sleep as possible!!

Listen to my latest podcast 

How do  i get my baby to sleep through the night?

Have a listen, share with your friends and comment below and tell me what you think?

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HI Ladies

My latest podcast is now up!

Could you be unintentionally stopping your little one from learning to sleep independently?

I found i was doing this allbeit unintentionally with a client......

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WARNING: Im annoyed whilst writing this but you probably can't tell.

Ok I just wanna get this off my chest. A few post on social media I've seen by fellow "baby sleep experts" has really pissed me off so I thought I'd just write this and say my piece on the subject.

I saw a post by an "expert" advertising a seminar teaching how to get newborns sleeping through the night.

It irritated me to the nth degree and then the comments that came after I challenged the experts point of view made my blood boil.
Why would an expert be teaching a class on a newborn sleeping through?

Surely any baby expert worth their salt would know that a newborn being trained to sleep through the night is dangerous?

I have a Facebook group of loving caring yet sleep deprived mums  with little ones who struggle to sleep.

Over the last few months, conversation in the group has been brief but when discussion has arisen a common theme other than sleep often appears. The topic of crying.

I’m pleased to say that within my group a lot of the mums adopt a more gentle approach to sleep shaping.

Im all for helping and encouraging positive sleep habits and associations but i believe we can use gentle and respectful ways to help pur kids sleeep rather thanjust leaving them to cry and ' self soothe' 

It’s a common assumption that babies and toddlers outgrow their poor sleeping habits, on occasion that can be true, many children can outgrow poor sleep habits and sleep longer  at night those children and families are fortunate but what about those babies and toddlers who don’t. I get many enquiries from mothers who are still struggling with getting their 3 & 4 year olds to sleep all night.

Contrary to previous thoughts children don’t just wake up overnight out of hunger. They wake up for various other reasons too but figuring out the cause of sleep reistance can be tricky

How I get 12 toddlers to nap EVERYDAY at nursery! ( If it works with 12 toddlers it will be  breeze with just 1!)

 At nursery, a few weeks back we had a perspective parent make an impromptu visit to the nursery, I was in the baby room with 12 sleeping toddlers and the dad came in on tiptoes awe struck.

“How do you do this? We have a nightmare getting Netty to nap.”

It was 12.55 and all 12 of my babies were fast asleep.