About me.
I am a proud mother of two wonderful little humans. My son is 7 years old, and my daughter is 3 years old. My husband and I live on a farm in Red Deer County, where we have a small cattle operation. In addition to my working in assisting parents to teach their children to become masters at sleeping, I am also a registered Medical Radiological Technologist. I still work part time as a MRT in a clinic in central Alberta.
Our oldest child was not a good sleeper! Both my husband and I were up many times every night with him. After experiencing this for many months, I know firsthand the effects of being a sleep deprived parent and the negative impact it can have on your entire family. I missed having some time to myself and spending quality time with my husband.
After discovering the Sleep Sense Program and working with a certified consultant, our family’s sleepless nights resolved, and everything changed for us for the better! After just one week, we taught our son to sleep on his own, unassisted for 12 hours straight through the night! We had our evenings back to ourselves and we could drink our favorite morning beverages HOT! Our family is now well rested, and we have a happy and healthy family dynamic.
This is what sparked my passion to help every child and family obtain the gift of sleep. I strive to work with families by providing 1 on 1 coaching to help their children generate healthy sleep habits. Every child and family deserves the gift of sleep and I can help you obtain this! With my support, being consistent and a customized plan, you and your child don’t need to suffer anymore. By achieving great sleep for your entire family, you will all be healthier and happier.
Why I am better than a book
No two babies or children are exactly the same! One approach may work for one child but not for another. This is why I have such great success with the families I work with. In order to solve a personal problem, you need a personalized solution.
Many parents try following the methods outlined in a book and find it is not successful, and there are dozens of reasons why that can happen. The biggest reason why the solutions that work for one parent don’t work for another is simple. They’re not dealing with the same baby!
Some babies are heavily reliant on sleep props. Others can’t sleep in a room that’s too warm. Some may not be getting enough daytime sleep, and others might be overtired. Some children have developed an association between feeding and falling asleep. Another child might be ready to drop their second daytime nap.
And, of course, it could be any combination of all the above, or the many other sleep challenges that children may experience.
Adding to the challenge is the fact that most solutions don’t work overnight, so parents might try a solution that could potentially help their child to start sleeping through the night but abandon it before it takes effect due to some heavy protesting on their child’s part.
In short, sleep is a complicated issue and there’s very rarely one single thing that can remedy the situation overnight.
As a professional sleep consultant, I have the experience and training to recognize which problems result in specific symptoms, and I can work with you to develop a personalized plan for your child that addresses those individual issues. I can also provide some much-needed support when things don’t seem to be working and give parents the encouragement they need to follow through on that plan until it starts to work.
Consider the example of a personal trainer. You could just buy some dumbbells and watch some YouTube videos to get in shape, so why pay someone to guide you along?
Well, because they’re able to give you solid advice based on education and experience, they can help to keep you motivated, and they know how to respond to the problems that might arise when it comes to your specific situation. The same applies when you hire a sleep consultant, like me, to help solve your child’s sleep problems.
When it comes to your child’s sleep, I hope for every parent to find success on their own, and with as few problems as possible. But if that doesn’t happen for you, I as a professional Pediatric Sleep Consultant have the answers and support you need to achieve great sleep for not only your child, but your entire family!
My Sleep Philosophy
I will personalize a plan for your little one that is research based, gentle (yet effective) and completely customized to meet you and your family’s unique needs. We will uncover the root cause of your problem and take action to resolve it. We will work together as a team to get your entire family the sleep they need and deserve.
Crying
Let’s address the elephant in the room: Crying. Many parents will rightfully ask me if my approach to solving their child’s sleep problems involve “crying it out”. I feel this topic is very important and needs to be addressed here.
Your child’s way of protesting change is crying. Protesting is expected when you make changes to your child’s sleep habits. This is why I strive to be transparent with parents and inform them that my approach will most likely involve some amount of protest from their child. Ultimately, if someone made changes to your sleep environment or sleep habits you would protest to some degree too.
So I can’t guarantee there will be no crying, but I can guarantee that I will not ask you to leave your child alone to cry if that is something you are not comfortable with. I also will not ask you to ignore your child’s cries. The reason my approach is effective is that we will work together to customize a sleep plan that you are completely comfortable with.