Children’s Sleep Support, 0 to 18 Years
Bedtime has turned into a negotiation. Or a stand off. Or forty minutes of stories, water, one more cuddle and then a small person in your doorway at 11pm asking whether sharks sleep.
Older children’s sleep gets taken less seriously than baby sleep, which is strange, because by this point everyone in the house has been tired for years. And the advice you find online tends to assume your child is nine months old.
I work with children from birth right through to eighteen. The approach changes completely as they get older, because a three year old and a thirteen year old need very different things.
What I can help with
Difficulty settling to sleep
Bedtime resistance and bedtime battles
Night waking
Early morning waking
Sleep anxiety and fear of the dark
Children who will not stay in their own bed
Developmental sleep changes
Night terrors and nightmares
Sleep during periods of change, such as a new sibling, a house move or starting school
Why bedtime stopped working
Usually it is not one thing. It is a timing problem, a boundary problem, an anxiety problem, or some combination, and treating the wrong one is why previous attempts have not stuck.
Timing
The most common cause, and the easiest to miss. A child put to bed before they are tired enough will lie there, get frustrated, and learn that bed is a place where nothing happens. A child put to bed overtired will fight it. The window is narrower than most parents expect.
Naps
Somewhere between two and four, a nap that was essential starts to get in the way of the night. Some children still genuinely need one at three, and taking it away too early makes everything worse. Working out which situation you are in is part of the assessment.
Anxiety
For a lot of children, bedtime is the first moment all day with nothing to distract them. The worries arrive then. This looks like stalling and it gets treated as naughtiness, which makes it worse.
Boundaries
Sometimes the routine genuinely is being tested. That is normal child development, not bad parenting, and it responds well to consistency once everyone in the house agrees what consistency looks like.
Night terrors
Night terrors are frightening to watch and are not the same thing as nightmares. Your child is not awake, will not respond to you, and will usually have no memory of it in the morning.
They are common, they sit within normal development for many children, and they often settle over time on their own. There are things that make them more likely, including being overtired and irregular sleep timings, and that is usually where we start. If your child’s episodes are frequent, involve injury, or you are at all worried, please speak to your GP as well. I work alongside medical advice, not instead of it.
How It Works
Free 15 minute call
Tell me what bedtime actually looks like, not the tidy version.
Full assessment
Timing, routine, the bedroom, daytime activity, school, screens, family circumstances, and anything medical that might be relevant.
Your plan
Age appropriate and written for your child. For older children, they are often part of the conversation themselves, because a plan a teenager has not agreed to will not survive the first week.
Support while you do it
Ongoing contact while you put the plan in place.
Sleep Support Packages
Four packages, so you only pay for the level of support you actually need. Most families know which one fits after the free call. If you start with a smaller package and find you want more contact, you can add it on at any point rather than buying again.
Moonbeam
£149
For families who mostly need clarity and a plan to follow themselves
Twilight
£249
The full plan with support through the first stretch
Starlight
£299
Most chosen. Full plan with two weeks of daily contact
Moonlight
£349
For complex cases, or when you want someone alongside you the whole way
- Every Package Includes
- A full sleep assessment, including analysis of your sleep log
- A personalised sleep plan written for your child’s age, needs and your family’s goals
- An explanation of why each step is there, so you are not following instructions blindly
- Safer sleep guidance in line with current Lullaby Trust and NHS advice
- Specialist SEND support where your child has complex or additional needs The option to add further support at any point
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Additional Support,
Add On At Any Time
- One week of online and text support
- Two weeks of online and text support with a phone call
- An additional daytime phone call
- An additional evening or weekend phone call
Frequently Asked Questions
My child is seven. Is it too late?
No. Sleep patterns can change at any age. Older children often respond faster than toddlers because they can understand and take part in the plan.
Will you tell me to lock the bedroom door?
No. I do not use methods built on distress or removing a child’s ability to reach you.
My child only has a problem at their dad’s house.
That is common and it is workable. Consistency across both homes is usually the whole of the solution, and I can write the plan so it works in both.
Is screen time really the issue?
It is sometimes part of it, but it is rarely the whole story, and blaming screens often means the real cause goes unaddressed.
Do you work with neurodivergent children?
Yes, and there is a dedicated service for that. See SEND Sleep Support.