Our Story

My daughter had many sleep challenges. I would spend countless hours rocking, patting, driving, singing, rocking some more and scrolling google looking for ways for both of us to just get more sleep. Sleep wasn’t meant to be so hard. In desperation I hired a sleep consultant, one that promised a gentle method and no sleep training. She came with many positive reviews and had even been featured on a prominent news show as a baby whisperer. When she arrived she promptly put up a curtain of baby blankets tied on the cot. I was told not to look at my crying baby, nor to hold her hand. When I asked ‘but what if she has teething pain’ I was told to ‘rub teething gel on the gums through the curtain’. I was given a document that contained a one-size-fits-all routine that required me to spend up to 2 hours in a dark room to get my daughter to nap. I didn’t know it at the time, but these were all sleep training methods even though the consultant claimed not to sleep train. In the one 15 minute follow up consult I was told that we were causing the sleep issues. Rather than solve our sleep challenges it led to intense frustration for both my daughter and I.

When my daughter was four she was diagnosed with a mild sleep disorder due to enlarged adenoids and tonsils. In the years previous I tried many natural things to ease her difficulty breathing and intermittent snoring and while some things improved it they never fully resolved it. I researched extensively on mouth breathing, Buteyko breathing and facial development as I sought a non-invasive solution for her. I then took her to a specialised dentist who found a tongue and lip tie. Despite having seen 3 lactation consultants when she was an infant not one looked in her mouth. Frenectomy to release the ties, combined with oral myofunctional therapy, was the turning point for us. The release and exercises combined with natural therapies have shrunk her adenoids and tonsils and she is able to breathe through her nose comfortably now without surgery!

My desire to understand the ‘why’ behind my daughter’s sleep issues resulted in me gaining further education in the field. I know now that my daughter wouldn’t nap because she wasn’t sleepy. She didn’t need a one-size-fits-all routine. She needed no routine and a mum empowered to follow her cues.

Along the way my own sleep derailed and I developed sleep maintenance insomnia. Today, to ensure I sleep well I use a variety of natural treatments, dietary and lifestyle modifications, healthy breathing, and strategies from CBT-I.

Overcoming my and my daughter’s sleep struggles has fuelled my passion for supporting sleep in people of all ages. Now, I aim to educate and empower about all things sleep so that you can sleep better and live well!