The Toddler Sleep Challenge Starts This Wednesday – All Welcome

Media Release February 15th 2016

Dr Nicole Weeks, child sleep expert from Practical Research Parenting, is inviting parents to support each other as they strive for a common goal: unbroken sleep.

Dr Nicole Weeks will provide step-by-step guidance, while sharing her real experiences trying to get her 19 month old to sleep through the night. Parents can follow Nicole’s lead, while sharing their own troubles and successes, and supporting each other along the way.

Sleep issues can be persistent. For example, one study found that almost half (42%) the 8 month olds with sleep problems still had sleep problems at 3 years of age (Ref 1). 60-70% of parents do not want to do controlled crying (Ref 2), and so they wait, thinking that there are no other options.

Dr Nicole Weeks says “There are many sleep interventions, lots of them are gentle and supported by research, so there is no need for parents to feel trapped”.

Nicole, a highly qualified psychologist and mother of two, has been researching the psychological and paediatric literature on child sleep since her son was 6 months, and a “bad sleeper”, 3 years ago now. “Initially I thought he’d grow out of it, but after 6 months of bad sleep, I decided to intervene. The impact was amazing. I realised then that there is a middle ground between attachment ‘wait it out’ approaches, and hard-line ‘cry it out’ approaches, and I started researching and collating all the options so I would never have to feel trapped again.”

“I’ve now combined all these options in the Sleep Options Wizard (for 0-5 year olds) so parents can easily find the options that are most likely to work for them.”

Nicole’s second child, Liz, is 19 months old. She has not slept more than 7 hours at a time since birth, and nor has Nicole. Nicole has decided to put her Sleep Options Wizard to the test. All sleep-deprived parents of toddlers ready for a change are welcome to join her for free by joining the Toddler Sleep Challenge on www.practicalresearchparenting.com/toddlersleepchallenge.

On Wednesday the 17th of February, Nicole will reveal her first step, and provide all the resources parents will need to join her on the Toddler Sleep Challenge.

Participants need to be ready to give up their night-time cuddles, and invest sleep to get sleep. The suggestions will be tailored to Nicole Weeks’ 19 month old, but are likely to apply to any Toddlers from 12 months of age sleeping in a cot.

“I haven’t wanted to give up my night-feeds until now. They are just so easy and pleasant. But now that I am getting more work, and I haven’t slept a solid 8 hours in over 18 months, I feel it is the right time for me.” said Toddler Sleep Challenge organiser, Dr Nicole Weeks.

“As Mothers we need to remember that our needs count as much as our toddler’s needs” says Dr Nicole Weeks, founder of Practical Research Parenting. “Now that many Mums are back at work, or have another child on the way, we can’t afford to keep running on broken sleep.”

To learn more about the Toddler Sleep Challenge visit www.practicalresearchparenting.com/toddlersleepchallenge.

Nicole Weeks has a PhD and Masters in Psychology from Macquarie University.

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References
1. Zuckerman, B., Stevenson, J., & Bailey, V. (1987). Sleep problems in early childhood: continuities, predictive factors, and behavioral correlates. Pediatrics, 80(5), 664-671.
2. Blunden, S., Rainbird, S., Etherton, H., & Hauck, Y. (2014). To cry or not to cry: The need for increased choice in behavioural sleep interventions for parents of infants. InPsych: The Bulletin of the Australian Psychological Society Ltd, 36(2), 16.

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