10 Expert Tips To Try Before Hiring A Sleep Coach

Are you exhausted from sleepless nights and wondering if hiring a sleep consultant might be the answer?

Perhaps your baby is waking frequently throughout the night, and you’re desperate for longer stretches of sleep. Maybe your little one decides that 2am is the perfect time for a party, or bedtime feels like an ongoing battle that leaves you both exhausted.

Whatever your sleep struggles, please know this: you are not alone. You have not created bad habits, and you are not doing anything wrong. However, small changes can often make a big difference in improving sleep for your entire family.

If you are looking for sleep support that does not involve leaving your baby to cry alone, cry-it-out (CIO), or controlled crying, you are in the right place. My approach is always gentle and responsive, ensuring that you feel comfortable and confident with any changes we make.

Having an experienced hand to guide you through a plan tailored to your family’s unique situation can be invaluable and transformative. But before seeking professional sleep support, I encourage you to work through the following ten steps. These steps will help lay the foundation for better sleep and ensure that any additional support is truly necessary.

10 Things to Try Before Seeking Professional Sleep Support

1. Rule Out Any Sleep Red Flags

If you suspect your baby is experiencing pain or discomfort, or if they snore, frequently breathe through their mouth, or have other signs of medical issues, it’s best to consult a healthcare professional. Medical conditions can significantly impact sleep, and no sleep strategy will be effective until these concerns are addressed.

Additionally, be mindful that developmental leaps, growth spurts, teething, and illness can all disrupt sleep. If your baby is going through one of these phases, it may be best to wait before making any major changes.

2. Ensure Their Sleep Environment Is Conducive to Sleep

Dim light helps trigger the release of melatonin, our natural sleep hormone. Bright lights, including blue light from screens, can disrupt melatonin production, making it harder for your baby to settle. Dimming the lights and avoiding screens for at least two hours before bedtime can help signal to your baby that it’s time to wind down.

3. Check the Temperature

The ideal room temperature for sleep is between 16-20°C. Your baby’s core temperature naturally drops in the early morning hours, which can contribute to early waking. Ensure they are dressed appropriately for the season and check their chest or the back of their neck to see if they are too hot or too cold.

4. Minimize Noise Disruptions

If your baby is easily disturbed by noise, white noise can be a helpful tool as a constant background noise. White noise mimics the comforting sounds of the womb and can help mask household sounds like barking dogs, traffic, or siblings playing. Playing white noise consistently throughout naps and overnight can also assist in linking sleep cycles together for some babies.

5. Ensure Daytime Naps

Support Night time Sleep
Daytime sleep plays a crucial role in supporting night time sleep. If your baby naps too much or too little during the day, it can lead to difficulties settling at night and more waking through the night. Each baby has different sleep needs, so adjusting nap lengths and timing can often mean that they are at their optimal level of tiredness for a good night’s sleep come bedtime.

6. Find the Right Time for Bedtime for Your Baby

The ideal bedtime varies depending on age, family routine, and cultural factors. However, the average amount of night time sleep for babies who are still napping is around 10-11 hours. Making sure bedtime is not too early or too late for your baby’s natural rhythm can be a game-changer.

7. Create a Predictable and Consistent Bedtime Routine

Babies and toddlers thrive on routine. A simple, predictable bedtime routine signals that sleep is coming. Research has shown that having a consistent bedtime routine by doing the same activities each night (e.g., bath, pyjamas, story, cuddles, and bed) can improve the quality and quantity of night sleep so it is really worth focusing on this.

8. Prioritize Connection Before Bedtime

Night time is a long time of separation from you and it’s really important that your little one goes to bed feeling loved and connected to you. Ensure your child’s love tank is full by spending some focused one-to-one time with your child especially in the couple of hours leading up to bedtime. Also having a bedtime routine that is calming with lots of time together will help your little one feel relaxed and topped up with love and connection with you, making falling asleep easier and less likely to be craving connection through the night.

9. Encourage Plenty of Daylight and Physical Activity

Natural daylight exposure and outdoor play help regulate your baby’s circadian rhythm (internal body clock). By getting out and exposing your baby to natural light during the day as well as making sure they have appropriate exercise, activity and stimulation will help them learn the difference between night and day as well as ensuring they are ready for sleep when it’s bedtime.

10. Simplify How Your Baby Falls Asleep

This is often the last piece of the puzzle. There is absolutely nothing wrong with feeding, rocking, or holding your baby to sleep if it works for you. However, if your baby is waking frequently and needing the same support each time, gently simplifying how they fall asleep may help. If you need guidance on this, I cover it in The Good Night Sleep System.

Where to Go from Here

I understand that some of these tips may seem basic, but they are the foundation of good sleep. But this is really the best place to start when working on improving sleep. Even a small change can have a significant impact. Sometimes, addressing one or two factors can lead to dramatic improvements in sleep quality, making things much more manageable for your family. When you have the best sleep foundations in place, you can then start working on the areas of sleep which are not working for you.

However, if you’ve worked through these steps and your baby is still waking frequently, I would love to help. Every family is unique, and a tailored approach can make all the difference. Get in touch to discuss how we can work together to improve your little one’s sleep in a gentle, supportive way.