The Sleep Sense™ Method was created out of a strong belief that healthy sleep habits make for healthy children. A well-rested child is curious, energetic, happy, playful, and eager to learn.
When parents entrust me as their child’s “sleep guide,” either through one-on-one consultations or seminars, they are placing a great deal of trust in me, and I want to let you know that I take this responsibility very seriously.
My approach to improving your child’s sleep is pretty simple:
I’ll give you honest information about WHY sleep is so important for your child’s well-being. (This will give you all the motivation you need to make changes to your child’s sleep habits.)
I’ll lay out an easy-to-follow, step-by-step plan that lets you make some choices about what is the right approach for your child. (All children are different, and nobody knows your child better than you do. I encourage you to use your knowledge of your child to customise his or her sleep plan.)
I’ll show you how to measure success. (No, you shouldn’t expect your child to sleep 12 uninterrupted hours on the first night — although it does happen! I’ll tell you what you should expect along the way…)
While most books and programs dealing with child sleep issues take philosophical stands (based largely around the issue of “crying it out”), I believe that your child can learn better sleep habits by using gentler methods. That’s why the Sleep Sense™ Method places so much emphasis on accommodating different parenting styles. The bottom line is that you, as a parent, need to be comfortable with your new sleep plan in order for it to work for your child.
Since people always ask me about whether my solutions involve “crying it out,”
I think it’s something that deserves to be addressed here.
Crying is your child’s way of protesting change, and you can expect that making changes to their
sleep habits will result in some protest. That is why I’m always sure to tell parents that my program
will most likely involve at least some amount of protest on the child’s part.
Please understand that I will never ask you to leave your child to cry alone,
nor will I ask you to ignore their cries. We will develop a plan that you feel comfortable with,
based on what you know about your child and using my experience.
