Nurturing Sleep

Home of Emotional Wellbeing and Child Sleep 

Emotional Wellbeing:

Happy, Safe and Reassured!

I've worked with young children and families for a long time now, (over 30 years!) and one thing that I've learned is that the most important factor influencing children's lives is how they feel; their emotional wellbeing. Far too often babies and children's feelings are ignored or dismissed when it comes to improving sleep or addressing behaviour issues, and this is one reason why I developed the Nurturing Sleep Emotional Wellbeing foundation for baby and child sleep.

What is the aim of Emotional Wellbeing?

The main aim of my Emotional Wellbeing approach is that the child's feelings are recognised in relation to their behaviours. In a nutshell, I believe that behaviours tell us about how the child is feeling. Those feelings can be related to attachment, parental depression, pregnancy, separation, cognitive and physical developmental stages such as separation anxiety, birth traumas and early experiences such as tongue ties, illness, reflux, separations to name but a few.

You may ask how early experiences such as birth experience can influence a baby or child's sleep and behaviour?

My response is that any experience that the pregnant mother and foetus, baby, infant, toddler and child experiences will influence how they feel and experience life. This is very probably why much of my work is now related to parents, babies and children who experienced difficult births, illness, tongue ties, separations and early difficulties in general. For these families 'traditional' sleep approaches that disregard feelings and emotions - the roots of the behaviors - typically won't be holistically effective, or parents instinctively feel that a behavioral approach isn't appropriate for their child because they know that there is more to the sleep problem than meets the eye.


The aim of the Emotional Wellbeing approach to sleep is to ensure that each baby and child feels safe, reassured, and supported to sleep peacefully.


How did the Emotional Wellbeing foundation and approach evolve?

 This approach is very personal to me, my life as well as my work. It is not just based on my professional experience, study and research. It is also about my own personal experience of chronic pain and debilitating illness as a young married woman, a time when I was bedridden for 2 years, and my recovery from those dark years.


Healing and recovery was emotionally and physically painful , but the most important factor relating to my recovery was having someone close to listen, validate, support, and allow me to heal without judgement or criticism; someone to provide the emotional safety that is the foundation for true healing. It was (and still is) a strong attachment to someone I trusted implicitly.



I had someone to listen to me,

I had someone to trust;

I had someone who provided emotional safety;

I had someone who cared unconditionally;

I had someone who accepted me however I felt - happy, sad, afraid or anxious.


Sound familiar?

 Probably, because I'm talking about the qualities of trusting relationship - secure attachment.



This is why I developed the emotional wellbeing foundation,

This is why I have a deep empathy for babies and young children struggling to sleep;

This is why I look deeply into each case history to identify the emotional influences - how the child feels - and will not use a standard 'proforma' one - size - fits- all sleep plan.


The Nurturing Sleep Vision:


Parents are empowered to be mindful and understand their child's feelings and emotions;

Every baby and child shall be listened to;

Every baby and child shall feel reassured;

Every baby and child shall feel emotionally safe;

Every child's emotions are respected;


Nurturing Sleep stresses the importance of connection, healing and play for each baby and child's

emotional wellbeing.




I teach my approach and provide mentoring for sleep consultants through the International Maternity and Parenting Institute;

No other training faculty has permission to teach my Emotional Wellbeing approach.



This work is unique and protected by copyright.