Annabel:
Hi, I'm Annabel and I'm a certified infant and child sleep specialist.
My journey into the industry begun after I had my first baby, and our family started to experience some serious sleep deprivation. By the time our son was 6 months old we were experiencing 2 hourly night wakes and struggled to achieve naps of more than 30- minutes. Our family quickly became exhausted.
I was trying my hardest to understand the mountains of information online and purchased some sleep routines, however they were impossible to achieve, and things weren’t improving.
After engaging a sleep consultant, our lives quicky changed for the better. Within 2 weeks of implementing a routine alongside some gentle sleep training, he was taking longer naps and our nights dramatically improved. The best part? He was noticeably happier and thrived on his new routine.
Sleep is a biological need and such an important part of a child’s development!
After my experience, my passion to help other struggling families grew and led me to starting Sleep Dreams. I believe there is no one size fits all approach to helping families achieve a healthy sleep dynamic which is why I am committed to offering a personalised, no judgement service.
Laura:
I’m Laura, I’m a certified sleep consultant, experienced adult and paediatric registered nurse and mother of two beautiful children. I adore babies and feel privileged to have the opportunity to work with them daily, as well as their parents.
My first son was a typical colic newborn and terrible sleeper. My second was born far too soon, never wanting to leave the comfort of her mum for the entire ‘fourth trimester’. Both children were referred to as orchid babies who were highly sensitive and very reliant on me. I ended up feeling deflated and exhausted and falling in a heap. Post natal depression occurs in 15-20% of women in Australia and sleep deprivation is a major contributing factor. I have been through this myself (which I am now eternally grateful for) and understand the importance of sleep and self love. I have a vast array of experience and knowledge that will make a remarkable difference to your parenting journey and your child’s well-being.
My goal is to empower parents to use evidence based knowledge to provide their family with optimal sleep. It is important to remember that our little ones look to us for guidance. They are new to this world and need us more than we will ever know. Our role as parents is to provide the basic necessities, as well as everlasting love and nurture.
Without adequate sleep, it is often difficult to achieve this for our little ones. The daily juggling act of maintaining the household, the relationship with our partners, other siblings needs, a career and our fur babies is unfathomably exhausting (emotionally and physically) in itself. I would like to remind every parent that they are doing an amazing job and I am so grateful that your intuition has led you here.
It would be my pleasure to lend a hand and implement personalised plans congruent to your parenting style and child’s individual needs. I am passionate about improving sleep for familial wellbeing with a focus on honouring you and your little one.
We recently sought help from Annabel with our 17 month old daughter who has always been a difficult sleeper. My partner and I had all but given up on having a decent night’s sleep and had resorted to co-sleeping as she was waking 3-4 times a night, refusing to resettle without being breastfed. Annabel looked at our routines, asked our goals and offered strategies that suited our situation, parenting style and daughter’s temperament. We now have a toddler who is night weaned and has decreased her wakings to only once most nights. We preferred a slow and gentle process which Annabel was completely supportive of and we are really happy with the progress our daughter has made. Thank you for all of your advice, guidance and support, Annabel. It’s a great feeling to finally have a restful night after 17 months of constant wake ups!