Katie Fischer Sleep Consultancy

Does sound help or hinder your sleep?

What you hear or your child hears can have either a beneficial or adverse impact on initiating sleep and the quality of nightly rest. Warning signals, erratic or artificial sounds, like a siren, for example can be perceived as threatening, triggering flight or flight mode.

Whereas non-threatening rhythmical white & pink noise sounds found in nature – heartbeats, wind, steady rain, rustling leaves or ocean waves - tend to have a more soothing effect and are linked with the resting activity of the brain. This could be why some people find they improve sleep.

If external noise disturbs your sleep cycle or your child’s, playing masking background sound as a CONTINUOUS sleep cue from bedtime through to morning may be the answer.

👇 If you haven’t heard of PINK noise, this consists of all the frequencies we can hear, but it’s more intense at the lower frequencies, creating a deeper, softer sound than white noise.

🔍 2 research studies have found that steady pink noise reduces brain waves, which increases stable sleep, so choosing the right kind of sounds to slumber by might be helpful for noise cancelling as well as supporting deep sleep.

Does pink noise help you or your child get better sleep?

Do you struggle to sleep 8 hours most nights even if you try?

Perhaps you already get lots of exercise in your week or you limit your caffeine and alcohol.

Don’t sweat it – 6-7.5 hours might be the magic number for you.

Sleep duration isn't the only factor though - sleep quality is important too - so what's happening during those hours in bed and whether time spent sleeping is actually restorative in the morning and through our waking hours.

Check in with how your feel 30 mins after waking once you're up, moving, exposed to light, hydrated etc. Do you feel alert and refreshed?

Is your sleep satisfaction still the same in the early evening?

How much sleep does your child really need? 🔍

So many sleep programs for infants and children frustratingly promote 12 hours of sleep at night.

However, based on current research from the National Sleep Foundation for recommended sleep ranges by age, when some children reach the age of 1-2 years, their sleep need has already naturally reduced below this and is being adequately met with less.

We need to be aware too that sleep need is over 24 hours, so if your 2-year-old is still enjoying a 2-hour nap, this is likely to come off their nightly total to some degree and 9 or 10 hours at night might be all they need to top up and thrive.

Of course, there may be some children that love a long nap and still sleep a longer stretch at night. This is because sleep need is heavily individual.

Most of us are somewhere in the middle but a proportion will have either a higher or lower sleep need at either end of the spectrum. Children with lower sleep needs are the often the ones who, as babies, seemed wide-eyed, very alert and resistant to sleep against your best efforts! Children with higher sleep needs might be the ones that willingly take themselves to bed when they’re tired and often need to be woken in the morning. You may notice that siblings don't often sleep the same.

If you’re having bedtime battles, frequent waking, split nights or early rising, add up how much your child is sleeping over 24-hours.

Does it typically still fit within a healthy, normal range for their age?

If so, try these timing adjustments:

✅ If your child still naps, reduce daytime sleep to support a longer duration or better sleep quality at night

✅ Move your sleep scheduling closer to your child’s sleep need to reduce awake time in their bed – this might be with a later bedtime, earlier wake up time or combination of both

Have you felt like sleep is a failure when your child doesn't make 12 hours?

Traditional sleep training and working with a Holistic Sleep Coach look VERY different.

I champion you as a parent, build your knowledge and confidence to shape sleep and address behavioural challenges that seem daunting or overwhelming, as well as support you with manageable, gradual changes towards more independent sleep for your family, whatever your goals are.

If sleep is going awry or starting to feel unsustainable, start by exploring the easier adjustments before jumping into the BIG behavioural stuff.

Are your timings hitting your child's sweet spot?

What can be optimised in your child's daytime routine or where your child sleeps?

What obstacles can you remove to calming down for sleep at the end of the day?

What might be disturbing your child's sleep cycle at night?

Find out more about my background as a sleep coach and how I can help you or your family with better sleep.