Frequently Asked Questions

For children's sleep issues, I can treat ages from 3 weeks old through to 12 years. For adults wanting sleep support, the sessions would be best booked as naturopathy support as the treatment would be very different. 

I can start supporting healthy sleep patterns and associations from age 3 weeks. This would not be sleep training, but more setting up good habits from the beginning, and helping with settling techniques or colicky babies. Sleep training methods can typically start from around 4 months of age. 

I have a variety of methods that I can workshop with the parents and we can choose a method that you are comfortable with. I don't typically encourage cry it out, however, there are variations of crying it out that are more gentle in nature and highly effective. Some parents want minimal crying, others want minimal time spent on sleep training and the quickest results. Navigating these goals and everything in between will lead us to choose a particular method over another. 

I do work with neurodiverse children for both sleep concerns and naturopathy. In this case, it is best to have a discovery call with me first to determine whether you need naturopathy support or sleep support and if now is the right time for you to be working with me. 

In this case, it is most likely that I will want to see if we can work naturopathically first to help with the food intolerances and eczema, but it does depend on the case, and how much these issues are affecting sleep. If the sleep problems are being caused by something like food intolerances, then sleep training will not be as effective until the intolerances or eczema are resolved or under control. 

Excellent news! I would love to do this. In this case, naturopathy consults are what you are after, and we can always interweave healthy sleep habits for your child into the consults, providing nothing has gone significantly pear shaped in that area. 

Perfect, book in for naturopathy consults and we can work on this!

You and many others!  Book a discovery call and we can work out the priorities of what is needed first and go from there. 

While most children's sleep issues can be resolved in 2 weeks, there are some that take longer, whether it be because the parents want to take the gentlest approach possible, which can mean a slower progress, or because the sleep issues are multi layered and so take longer to unravel. Whatever the case may be, this is what the subsequent 1 week support option is offered, which can be done immediately after the first 2 weeks, or up to 6 months post the initial 2 week appointment. 

No, nothing can ever be guaranteed. However, I can guarantee that I will try my utmost to get you the results that are feasible within a certain time frame. For some babies, that means sleeping well within a week, for others it can be longer. For most naturopathic cases you will start to see some changes quickly, but deep healing typically takes months, sometimes years. It doesn't mean you necessarily work with me that whole time, but you might dip in and out, or you might find you feel equipped to move on by yourself after 3 consults. Success comes  from both my guidance and knowledge, and your commitment and dedication. 

Absolutely not. It is much more dangerous for all involved to go for months, or years with less sleep than is healthy or desired. Sleep training is typically very short, within weeks if not days, and the effects of poor sleep can go on for many years.  The sleep training that I do is only ever done with the health of both the child and parent in mind, both from a physical and emotional point of view. Furthermore, there have been many studies that show that sleep training causes no psychological harm to the child. 

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Some people say that sleep training causes harmful spikes in cortisol, but research does not support this. When sleep training is done in a short term, age appropriate and responsive way, it does not cause excessive stress or emotional harm.  For example, a study by Gradisar et al. (2012) found that infants who went through gentle sleep training methods showed no negative effects on attachment, emotional health or stress levels, even 5 years later. Another study, Price et al. (2012) showed no significant increase in cortisol in sleep trained babies, especially compared to everyday stressors such as separation at daycare. Other research such as that of Mindell et al. (2006) shows that supportive sleep training is linked to longer stretches of sleep, fewer night waking's and better emotional regulation.