Dying to help your bub (or toddler) sleep better, mama? Check out our ultimate guide to baby sleep experts in Singapore and beyond!
Sleep is a topic that weighs heavily on the minds of parents, often before babies are even born. Sure, it’s great to be prepared beforehand with strategies and to familarize yourself with the lingo (“cry it out” aka CIO or “Ferberizing”; co-sleeping; pick-up-put-down, etc.), but really you never know how you’ll feel until your baby is wailing its lungs out at 4am and you feel like you will never be yourself again.
Many parents in Singapore swear by sleep experts – both local and abroad – who take a variety of approaches and ideally tailor their advice to your family and your baby’s needs and behaviours. We’ve rounded up a list of sleep experts recommended by grateful mamas in Singapore, including some experts abroad who will help via Skype consultation. Check out our gallery for more, mama!
There are also reams of books out there advocating different sleep approaches. A few we’d recommend (and have downloaded to our Kindles in desperation at 2am) include:
The Baby Sleep Book by Dr. William Sears
The Complete Sleep Guide for Contented Babies and Toddlers by Gina Ford
The Happiest Baby on the Block by Dr. Harvey Karp
Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth
The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley
Save Our Sleep by Tizzie Hall
The Sleep Lady’s Good Night, Sleep Tight by Kim West with Joanne Kenen
Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems by Dr. Richard Ferber
We know it’s not particularly uplifting to hear this when you’re in the thick of things, mama, but we promise: you will get through this! Here’s to many, many restful nights…
Here’s a promising statistic, mama: 99% of clients only require a single consultation to find solutions with clinical mental health therapist Tammy Fontana, who’s helped over 1,000 families! A comprehensive 80-minute session includes notes and five days of Whatsapp support; covering the brain, biology and cultural habits, sessions empower clients with an action plan to both solve sleep problems and maintain and troubleshoot future issues.
How much: $300 per session, either in person or via Skype. Tammy considers this a parenting issue (rather than a child one), so babies don’t need to attend the session.
BabySleepFairy from All in the Family Counselling Centre, 11 Collyer Quay, 17th Floor, The Arcade, Singapore 049317, [email protected], (+65) 9030 7239, www.allinthefamilycounselling.com/index.php/babysleepfairy
Founded by mama of four Zoe Chu, SG Supernanny came about when she was struggling to get her twins to sleep well. Following lots of research, she devised a successful system to help all her children sleep through the night, and when friends kept hounding her via Facebook and word of mouth, she decided to launch an official business. She’s now helped hundreds of families in Singapore adopt healthy sleep habits, and offers a range of options, from a 30-minute “Express” phone consultation, to group seminars, to comprehensive one-on-one consults with up to four weeks of round-the-clock support.
How much: Prices from $300.
SG Supernanny, (+65) 9238 8060 (Zoe Chu), www.sgsupernanny.com, www.facebook.com/sgsupernanny, @sgsupernanny
Mama Louise Duncan trained in the “Sleep Sense” program in the U.S., and offers a range of packages geared toward newborns, infants and toddlers. She advocates a gentle approach that might involve some level of crying, but maintains on her website, “I will never ask you to leave your child to cry alone, nor will I ask you to ignore their cries.”
How much: From $500 for an in-home consult plus two weeks of support.
Petite Dreamers: Tel: (+65) 9828 6264,
[email protected],
www.petitedreamers.com
Jacki Roche is a registered midwife and qualified health visitor from the UK with many years’ experience dealing with a wide range of babies. A quick tour of parenting groups like Stork’s Nest Singapore reveals legions of grateful mama fans. She generally advises waiting til babies are about six months old to begin sleep training, but contact her for more personalised feedback, mama. She’s also recently started offering group consultations.
How much: Contact for more info.
Sleep Solutions for Babies, (+65) 9115 0370,
[email protected],
www.facebook.com/SleepSolutionsForBabies
With an emphasis on realtime support and feedback, this gentle approach from a registered nurse in Australia is all about tailoring a program to suit each parent and baby’s needs. With either Skype or email consultations, you can look forward to a detailed sleep plan strategy to follow, mama!
How much: Packages start with a one-hour Skype consultation. Contact for more info.
Blissful Bubbies, [email protected], www.blissfulbubbies.com.au
“The Carolines” are two Aussie mamas with nursing backgrounds who’ve developed a sleep method known as the “Dynamic Sleep Connection” with an individualised, gentle approach to ensure sleep can be improved with minimal stress (for everyone involved). They offer a range of email, phone and Skype consultation packages to help troubleshoot baby and toddler sleep issues.
How much: 75 AUD for a 30-minute, one-off phone consultation; 335 AUD for the more comprehensive Phone and Email package.
Caroline’s Angels, [email protected], www.dynamicsleepconnection.com.au
The online home of international sleep expert Gina Ford, ContentedBaby.com expands on the themes in The Contented Little Baby, the bestselling parenting book in the UK. Gina Ford is known for fairly strict routines – even from baby’s first weeks – although she doesn’t necessarily advocate Cry It Out. Personal consultations aren’t guaranteed, though parents are invited to contact Gina with their issues, and she provides lots of examples and case studies on her site.
Contented Baby, www.contentedbaby.com
Gentle truly is the operative word here, with a lovely approach “that means no controlled crying, no cry it out, no gradual withdrawal, pick up put down, spaced soothing, rapid return or reward charts”, according to the website. Sleep expert Sarah Ockwell-Smith has a background in psychology and is also a trained doula and antenatal instructor. She offers both email and Skype consultations.
How much: From £99 (about $176) for a one-hour Skype session.
Gentle Sleep Training, www.gentlesleeptraining.co.uk
Our Sassy Mama sisters in Hong Kong rave about Deborah Taylor, a UK-trained paediatric nurse and health visitor who offers a range of sleep services and packages for both babies and toddlers. She’ll tailor her methods to your parenting style, and can do consults by phone, Skype or email.
How much: Contact for more info.
Infant Sleep Resources, www.infantsleepresources.com
Tizzie Hall is internationally renowned as “The Baby Whisperer” – she’s pretty much as close as you’ll get to a sleep consultant rockstar – but she does offer one-on-one consultations. Other options include a general forum of FAQ’s, or a more affordable “Online Advice” community with a year’s worth of access. Her approach is on the firm side — she’s all about a strict schedule and feeding times.
How much: Online community is 79.95 AUD; 30-day, One-on-One consultation with Tizzie is 1089.09 AUD.
Save our Sleep, [email protected], www.saveoursleep.asia
Sarah Ong is Malaysia’s first certified child sleep consultant, and is also a certified breastfeeding counsellor. Her approach – inspired by the philosophy of “Aware Parenting” – is a gentle alternative to techniques like “Cry it Out” and “Wait it Out”.
How much: Newborn email consults start from just $31 (RM97).
Sleep Champ Baby, [email protected], www.sleepchampbaby.com
Lead image sourced via Pinterest
