The light at the end of the tunnel for tired-out-of-their-minds parents

Let me help you (and your little one) get a great night’s sleep. Every night. #nocryingitout

You’re exhausted. You knew that parenting would involve sleepless nights, but this is relentless.

You really need to help your child sleep better, but you don’t want to use any ‘cry it out' techniques.

You’ve bought the sleep books. You’ve spent hours on online sleep forums. You’ve had advice from well-meaning friends and family. However, there are so many conflicting opinions, it’s hard to know who or what to believe.

You need a clear plan. You want practical, evidence based advice and 1:1 support from an expert you can rely on.

Sleep For All is here to help.

 

Common sleep challenges I help with

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Transitioning from co-sleeping

You didn’t intend to co-sleep, but you’ve been so exhausted lately, you’ve been bringing your baby into bed in the early hours just to get a bit more rest.

The problem is that even when you are co-sleeping, neither of you seem to sleep very well. Your child is wriggly and often takes ages to resettle. You spend your night being as still as possible so that you don’t wake them. Your partner has been in the spare room for months.

It feels like time to move away from co-sleeping, but you want to make the transition gentle for your child and manageable for you all.

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Frequent night waking

You know that it’s normal for your baby to still need you at night, but they are waking up so often, you’re barely getting any sleep at night.

Your gut tells you that it’s time to encourage some longer stretches, but you definitely don’t want to do anything that involves your child ‘crying it out’.

You want to learn about practical strategies that are evidence based, effective, and appropriate for your child, that will help them become the best sleeper they can be.

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Difficulty settling at night

The thought of bedtime fills you with dread. You spend hours in the dark bedroom, feeding, rocking and bouncing, willing your child to go to sleep.

Everything feels so ingrained, it’s getting harder to believe that it’s going to get any easier any time soon.

You’d love to help your child settle more easily in the evenings. It would be a life changer to be downstairs by 7.30, eating dinner with your partner and having the chance to chat about your day!

Sleep regressions

Just when you thought you’d turned a corner and got sleep sussed, the dreaded regression hit!

You were initially optimistic that it would pass within a few weeks, but it’s now been a few months and there doesn’t seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel!

You’ve noticed your child has developed a number of sleep crutches recently, and the nights feel like they are getting progressively harder, rather than easier.

You want to nip things in the bud and create a more sustainable routine that will help you and your child get the sleep you both need.

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Nap struggles

Your days are dominated by trying to help your baby nap. You often miss out on meeting up with friends because you know your baby won’t nap well if you’re out. However, even if you stay home, you might spend ages trying to get them to sleep, only for them to have a 15 minute cat nap, or worse still, no nap at all!

You want to help your baby get the naps they need, but being tied to the house for so much of the day is isolating and frustrating.

You want a pragmatic plan that will help you get the timings right and make naps easier, but also allow you the flexibility to get out and enjoy life!

Bedtime resistance

Your toddler hates saying goodnight at bedtime, and has learned the art of procrastination.

When it comes to the time to turn the lights out, they come up with every excuse not to go to bed. Even if you manage to get downstairs, they are quickly calling for you. It can take hours for them to settle, and as a result, they are grumpy and tired the next day.

You do everything you can to wear your child out in the day, so you can’t understand why they won’t just go to sleep! You’ve tried a few things, but they are so strong willed, nothing seems to work…

Louise-goncalves-infant-sleep-consultant

Hi! I’m Louise

I help exhausted parents who are at the end of their tether, and who want to feel more confident in helping their child sleep well.

I'm a certified Holistic Sleep Coach with 15 years of experience in working with children and families. I can help you solve your child’s sleep puzzle piece by piece, helping them become the best sleeper they can be. I support families across the UK, providing both online 1:1 consultations as well as overnight sleep visits.

With better sleep, you’ll be able to enjoy life free from the cloud of exhaustion you’ve been living under. Days will no longer dominated by naps, and evenings can once again can be a time when you can recharge and relax.

If you’re ready for better sleep, you can get started today. Choose your package, book an appointment to get started and lets work together so that your family finally get the sleep you need!

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Pick from a 1:1 online consultation, or the practical support of a home visit

0-12 months

12-24 months

2-8 years


Sleep For All stories

In the thick of sleep deprivation, it can be hard to believe that things will ever change.

Trust me though, they can and will. Here are just a few success stories that I hope will show that however tough things are at the moment, there is a light at the end of the tunnel… 

Reuben’s parents,

Fe & Dan

“We contacted Louise after struggling for months with our son’s sleep. He was 15 months old. It was a battle getting him to sleep, and then he was waking 3-7 times a night wanting milk and then refusing to sleep unless he was in our bed. We were exhausted!

Louise helped us develop better sleep habits and tweak our bedtime routine so that he is now sleeping through the night for 12 hours and napping for 2 hours in the afternoon! Amazing!

The best thing was her gentle approach. I hated the idea of sleep training because I didn’t want to abandon my son and hear him screaming for hours, but that isn’t Louise’s approach at all!

Thank you Louise!!”

Poppy’s parents,

Amber & Dom

“Louise has just left us after a 4 night stay to help with our 6 month old baby. We had every confidence in her as she helped with our first child a couple of years ago.

In 4 nights our baby has been transformed and I’ve had my first nights sleep in 6 months! Our daughter has gone from being dependent on her dummy; rocked to sleep; sleeping in my bed and being fed multiple times in the night, to last night sleeping straight through the night in her own cot with no dummy and no feeds! Amazing! She is even settling easily for her naps.

Louise really has a magic touch with a patient and gentle approach and we all (in particular our 3 year old son) love having her around. She fits in seamlessly and we wish we could keep her!”


The Sleep For All difference

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You’ve had enough of struggling with sleep. You want to make the most of this time and enjoy life! This is where I can help. Just imagine…

No more need to read the sleep books

There are so many sleep books out there, all with very conflicting opinions and advice. You’ve probably bought some, and had every intention to read them when you had a moment. However, when you are completely exhausted, the chances of being able to read more than a few pages at a time are pretty slim!

When you work with me, you won’t need to pick up another book. I’ve done the research so that you don’t need to. Throughout our time together, you’ll have access to evidence based, up to date information at your fingertips whenever you need it.

Have the time and space to talk through your child’s sleep challenges

Sleep is probably the thing you find yourself talking about most at the moment! However, there’s a big difference between chatting about sleep (or lack of) with a group of friends, and having a constructive discussion about your child’s sleep with an experienced sleep expert.

At the end of a consultation, parents often comment about how much better they feel. They’ve had ‘aha!’ moments about their child’s sleep while we’ve talked, they’ve set realistic goals, and they have a plan of how they are going to get there. They feel confident and empowered. These are all key to sleep success!

Develop a holistic understanding of your child’s sleep and the factors influencing it

So much of the typical advice around improving sleep focuses on filling babies up before bedtime to help them sleep through. However, evidence shows us that hunger is usually only a small part of the equation.

Sleep is multifaceted, and impacted on by a huge range of factors. These include naps, diet, daily activities, routines, environmental cues, as well as personality and temperament. Before your consultation, I’ll comprehensively review your child’s history, routine and sleep patterns to work out the areas that we specifically need to hone in on.

When working this way, making small tweaks can lead to noticeable changes in sleep at night. Sleep starts to improve before we have even started any sleep coaching, and the foundations are set for long-lasting results.

Follow a sleep plan that’s tailored for you and your child

There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution to baby and child sleep challenges. If there was, someone out there would be a millionaire and sleep issues wouldn’t exist! Your sleep plan will hone in specifically on the factors that are relevant to your baby, and will be designed to fit comfortably with your natural parenting style and ethos. The sleep coaching methods I suggest will all be gradual and gentle, and I won’t ever tell you to leave your baby to cry alone!

Make changes at a pace that feels right

When you are exhausted, the thought of completely overhauling your night time routine is likely to feel utterly daunting. Your sleep plan will be broken down into stages, so that you can make changes one step at a time. Working in manageable steps will set you up for success, and makes the whole process far easier for all the family.

Stay motivated and consistent

Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of working with me is the support and encouragement you’ll receive throughout your journey. I include 1 month of unlimited support on my sleep coaching packages. I’ll be there to keep you motivated throughout, helping you through the tough moments, and celebrating all your success on the way! My support will help you remain confident and consistent throughout the period of change, and with this, you’ll start seeing results in no time!


FAQs

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  • No, I will never suggest that you leave your baby to cry alone.  

    This is probably the biggest concern of parents who I speak to, and it’s totally understandable. Only a few years ago, pretty much the only advice given to parents on the subject of improving sleep was to put their baby in their cot, leave the room, and let their baby ‘cry it out’ until they learned how to fall asleep independently. If you’ve got a baby, the chances are that you’ve had well meaning friends or family give you this advice, adding something like ‘...it will be tough for a few nights, but after that, they’ll sleep through and it will all be worth it’.

    The truth is that even in the best of times, ‘cry it out’ sleep training is stressful for both parents and children. As well as this, despite what families are promised, there are no guarantees that it will work. Lots of parents come to me having tried a cry it out sleep training (often out of desperation), and it’s just been too stressful to continue. Or it may have worked temporarily, and then sleep has gone off the rails again. These parents often talk about feeling stuck between a rock and a hard place - desperate for sleep to improve, but with little hope of anything working. 

    The good news is that there are LOTS of gentle alternatives to ‘cry it out’ sleep training.  I promise that whatever stage you are at with your child’ sleep, and whatever your sleep goals are, there will be a gentle path that you can take to get to where you want to be. When you have a path mapped out, you’re using strategies that feel right for you and your child, and with the support you need, you’ll reach your sleep goals, and you’ll be sleeping better before you know it.   

  • Lots of babies who come my way are described by their parents as going from 0-60 with little warning.  There’s no way they can calm without being held close, rocked, fed, or all of the above. 

    For babies who do ‘dial up’ quickly, cry-it-out methods won’t work. They’ll probably start crying as soon as they sense you laying them down in their cot, and they won’t be able to calm by themselves.  

    You’ll need to take smaller steps, and you’ll need to make changes at your child’s pace. However, with the right strategy, a clear path and a consistent approach, you and your child will both be sleeping better soon and night time stress will be a thing of the past.

  • Firstly, if your baby is under 6 months and you’re feeding hourly, I’d recommend that you speak to an IBCLC (lactation consultant). Sometimes, sleep issues are a symptom of a feeding problem such as a shallow latch, tongue tie, reflux or allergy, so it’s important to ensure that there aren’t any underlying issues at play.

    If you’re happy that your child is generally feeding well, but their night feeds feel too frequent, then I can help you with this. You don’t need stop breastfeeding or introduce formula in order to improve sleep. Breastfeeding at night is completely normal and natural, but everyone has their limits, and if you’ve been feeding every hour or two at night for months on end, it’s not surprising that you’re exhausted.

    When we work together, I’ll talk you through strategies to help improve your child’s sleep and increase the chances of them sleeping for longer stretches at night. As well as this, I’ll talk you through methods you can use to gently introduce other ways of settling, so that you can have an alternative to feeding when your child wakes. Also, if your partner has previously struggled to settle your child (which is really common), I can talk them through strategies that they can use, so that  night time parenting can be shared between you a little more and some of the weight lifted off your shoulders. 

  • Firstly, you’re definitely not alone - lots of parents reach out at the 8-12 month stage when they are about to return to work and I have extensive experience in supporting parents through this transition. 

    In terms of support, I would recommend my Gold package. With this, we can take things in stages, and work at a pace that is right for both you and your child. We’ll often start with focusing on optimising sleep as much as possible, with a particular focus on attachment, and supercharging your little one’s buckets of love and attention before bed. Often these small changes can bring about big positive changes to the night. From here, if needed, we can work on reducing feeds or introducing alternative settling methods. I’ll be there to guide you every step of the way with limitless support, helping you both get the sleep you need so that you feel your best entering this new chapter in life!  

  • If you want to make changes either to where your little one sleeps, how you are settling them, or how you respond in the night, I’d suggest you have at least 3-4 weeks where you can be at home at night and be consistent in your approach. 

    However, I know that waiting 3-4 weeks to start might feel like a lifetime when you’re utterly exhausted!

    I can be flexible to help you with this. If you book a Gold package, you can get started with your initial consultation straight away and pause your support until your’e home. So, if you’d like to make a start on some easier tweaks that are likely to make a positive impact straight away, you can book your Gold package now and have the initial consultation straight away. During this call, we can discuss the easier changes you can make now, so that you can start making progress straight away. As well as helping you get some quick results, we’ll also be able to talk through some strategies to help sleep happen as easily as possible while you’re away.  

    You can pause the support while you’re away, and get started back when you’re home to make the bigger changes to the middle of the night settling. With this, you get the best of both worlds! It’s worked really well for families that I’ve done this with before. If you’d like to talk it through before booking, just book a discovery call and we can discuss your plans.  

  • I don’t make any promises that if you work with me, your child will be sleeping through the night within a certain time frame, or that they’ll never have a bumpy night in the future. If anyone you speak to makes a claim along these lines, please turn away and run a mile! 

    Every child and family dynamic is unique, and there is no ‘cookie cutter’ approach that can be applied to all babies to make them sleep through the night.  If there was, there would be one book about children’s sleep on the market, and no parents would be googling about sleep regressions in the middle of the night!

    Every family who I support has their own unique story, their own starting point, and their own goals. When working together, we’ll prioritise your goals and work at the pace that is right for you. You may be at a crisis point and need to change things quickly. Or things may be less urgent, but you want to start making changes now in anticipation of going back to work, or a new sibling being born in a couple of months. Whatever your situation, we’ll find the balance between making change at a manageable rate, and making progress at the speed you need. 

    Having said all this, the parents who I’ve worked with have given me glowing reviews and had vastly improved sleep. Even in the most extreme cases, some of my clients have had peaceful sleeps within the space of a few weeks. I've been doing this for 10 years, so I'm pretty confident I can help you.


Want to chat?

It’s good to talk! Book a free 15 minute sleep consultation and we can discuss your little one’s sleep challenges, your goals, and find out if we are a good fit. You can book a slot directly here or fill out the form below and I’ll call you within 24 hours.


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Not quite the right time?

I get it - sometimes, even when nights are tough, it’s just not the right time to make bigger changes. Let’s stay in touch though - if you pop your email below, I’ll send you some suggestions of small changes you can make to help you get more Zzz.