About me.
Sleep. As soon as your pregnancy is announced, the comments start: “Get your sleep while you can” and “Sleep while the baby is sleeping”. Then once your little one arrives, it’s “Are they a good sleeper?”. It seems everyone is an expert when it comes to babies and sleep.
The truth, of course, is that many of us start our parenting journey in the dark. We haven’t done this before. What do you actually do when your baby won’t sleep? Or will only sleep in your arms? Or wakes as soon as you put them down? When you’re so tired yourself, you can barely get through the day?
This is the situation I found myself in when my first child was born.
I had been a nanny and was now an infant school teacher; I knew lots about children. But six weeks after our baby’s birth, my husband and I found ourselves part of a live-in support programme for struggling parents.
We were desperate to learn how to help our tired, wired baby get to sleep. And we did! Within a week, he had learned to put himself to sleep and stay asleep. Our lives were transformed. We went on to have two more children, and this time we actually did know what we were doing.
By the time our third child was born, we had moved from Australia to Hampshire. I began working as a childminder, a job I did for 16 years. I loved working with young children and their families, and was often asked for advice and support about issues such as sleep and behaviour.
I studied for a degree in Children’s Development and Learning along the way, and took on leadership roles within the National Childminding Association (now PACEY) and in local parenting groups. In 2022 I completed my Breastfeeding Support Training through the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers, and qualified as a Sleep Practitioner through the London School of Childcare Studies.
It feels amazing to help other families turn their lives around and become the best parents they can be, just as I did all those years ago. Our babies and young children deserve to sleep well, so they can grow and thrive. And so do you.
If lack of sleep is holding you back from being the parent you want to be, let me help you tap into the everyday joy your happy, well-rested child can bring. I will listen to your parenting goals, and work with you to achieve them. You will bring your knowledge and understanding of your child to our partnership, and I will bring expertise in a range of strategies. Together, we can find a way through.
Karen Lockett, Sleep Genie