My Sleep Service
A high end service for a special needs child.
A Service Bespoke To You
Most parents will have issues with their child’s sleep at some point. However, studies have shown that around 50-80% of neurodivergent children struggle with sleep, and issues can develop at any stage, whether they’re six months or six years old.
Does any of this sound familiar: Difficulty switching off and settling to sleep alone? Bedtime battles that begin even before it’s time to brush their teeth and can mean a nightly routine that takes literally hours?
Regularly waking to find your child up and wandering around or enthusiastically bouncing on the bed in the middle of the night? Having to use a screen to help your child regulate but then worrying that their screen time is out of control, especially in the run-up to bedtime?
You’re not alone, and you’re not ‘doing it wrong.’ However, your child is very unlikely to just ‘grow out of it’ or learn to ‘go to sleep when they’re tired’ - and traditional sleep training techniques as practised by the majority of sleep consultants just don’t work for autistic children. In fact, they can make the situation even worse. Autism and anxiety often go hand in hand and therefore changes have to be made thoughtfully, gently and at a considered pace that puts the child’s wellbeing first every step of the way.
Good sleep is essential for development and mental health. Difficulties with sleep affect not just the child but the entire family, and can have lasting consequences for everyone. Lack of sleep is not just something you have to accept! Seeking help from a qualified specialist is the key to solving your family’s sleep issues.
Unlike most sleep consultants, I have an extensive background in childcare and education, having worked all over the world as a professionally trained governess. After over a decade spent providing high end in-house support to VIP families of both neurotypical and neurodivergent children with education, etiquette, sleep and more, I am proud to now be one of only a very few specially trained certified sleep consultants worldwide who have the skills to work with autistic and high needs children who require specialist help with their sleep issues.
I offer a bespoke service that is tailored specifically to your child and your family, with a comprehensive sleep plan and a generous support period to help you put it successfully into practice. As parents I know you’re doing your best just to take care of your child and it can feel overwhelming when something as crucial as a good night’s sleep seems out of reach. Let me hold your hand in the witching hour and I’ll walk you through the steps to finding that bedtime balance. No spells, just science.
If you’d like to know more, click below to book a free 20 minute call.
Frequently Asked Questions
To understand if a Sleep Consultant is right for your family, learn more about the process, or what to expect, explore my Frequently Asked Questions.
Everyone’s heard of those unicorn babies that sleep through the night, every night. Personally I think a unicorn is more likely - over a decade in childcare I’ve never actually seen one of these babies! The reality is that most children need a helping hand at some point to get to sleep at bedtime and settle themselves back to sleep if they wake up during the night. It’s a skill that needs to be learned, just like potty training. This is particularly true of autistic children and children with high needs - and traditional sleep training as practised by the majority of sleep consultants simply isn’t set up to serve them. The support available is limited - the overstretched NHS simply doesn’t have the capacity to work with individual parents to find solutions, especially in more complex cases. When the alternative is simply accepting what could be years of poor sleep for your child and your family, I believe working with a specialist sleep consultant will be some of the best money you’ll ever spend.
The Witching Hour is a term coined (probably) by an exasperated parent whose baby, having been perfectly happy previously, suddenly seems to have been replaced by a sobbing, screaming changeling between the hours of 5pm and 11pm. It’s common in newborns and is usually due to a combination of overstimulation, tiredness and hunger (though be aware that it can also be a sign of colic). However, it’s not exclusively restricted to newborns, or even just an hour, and every parent or carer will at some point have paced the floor after midnight with a child who just can’t sleep and felt utterly alone and helpless. That’s the Witching Hour, and you’re not alone in it anymore.
You book a complimentary call with me, and talk me through the challenges you’re facing. Whether bedtime takes three hours and multiple meltdowns; your toddler can’t get to sleep without their iPad and it’s making you feel like a failure; or you’re regularly woken up by the sound of your child enthusiastically jumping on their bed in the wee small hours, I’m here for you. Once we’ve decided to work together I’ll ask you to keep a detailed diary for seven days - wake-up times, bedtimes, nap schedule, activities, food, mood - in short, absolutely everything that happens in your child’s week. I’ll use this to identify where we can begin to make some changes and I’ll come up with a comprehensive plan to implement over the next four weeks. Sometimes improvements can be seen much quicker, but it’s important not to rush autistic and high needs children and we are aiming for long lasting, sustainable results. During this time you’ll have my personal support via WhatsApp - and video or audio call too if we feel it’s necessary - and I aim to leave you with a child who is now getting the best sleep possible for them.
Leaving your child to cry themselves to sleep is not and never has been a sleep training technique. There are methods that use episodes of ‘controlled crying’, and I would never contemplate using these with a child, and particularly not a neurodivergent child, as this will simply make matters worse. Instead my approach is gentle, responsive and always at a pace that the child is comfortable with, in order to create real and lasting change.
I never met a dog I didn’t love, starting with my twelfth birthday present: Merlin the Border Collie, and I’ve been privileged over the years to have some amazing Work Puppies to brighten my day - shout out to Graf the heroic three legged Dalmatian, Luna the Mini Maltese, Tilly and Luna the Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Nala the maltipoo and Bella, the original Sausage TM. Mabel and Sherlock belong to a friend and were thrilled to be invited to have their photos taken (but not as thrilled as I was to see them!) Part of my drive to leave the private household industry was to create a better work/life balance for myself (or let’s be real, a work/life balance full stop, given my shifts were 24/7 for weeks at a time and I also struggled to get more than six hours sleep a night!), and at some point I’d be delighted to have my own dog again.
