Baby sleep guru's top tips

Elizabeth Sloane has been giving babies the gift of sleep for over 20 years. With a gentle, loving and soothing nature, her methods are credited with breaking cycles of sleeplessness, emotional exhaustion and frustration for babies and their parents. Her program truly is a life changing experience. Elizabeth is the co-author of The Gift Of Sleep. Here, she answers parents' most asked questions about babies and sleep.

 What’s your take on "controlled crying"?

I think when people hear the words 'controlled crying' they imagine leaving little babies to cry it out for hours on end. That's absolutely something that we do not believe in or advocate. Our baby sleep program - which is for babies over six months of age - is about going into and out of the nursery every few minutes while we teach our baby to self-settle. We ask parents to stay close so that our little ones know we are on the journey with them. We also always remind parents to go to their infants immediately if they are ever in distress.

What are your top three baby sleep tips

1. Remember that babies like quiet, dark and warmth

2. The key is to stay calm, committed and consistent

3. In the end, nobody knows your baby better than you … always trust your gut instinct as a mother.

What’s your single best piece of advice for new mothers?

From the very beginning, put your baby down into their cot or basinette awake as much as possible. Drowsy but awake. That's the key to teaching little ones how to drift off to sleep without the need for props like dummies, patting, rocking and feeds.

What are your qualifications?

I completed the "Maternal Nurses Aid" course and also has a "Newborn and Baby Health" certificate. I’ve spent 25 years working as a nanny in Australia and overseas. For the past 20 years I’ve worked for "Mothercraft and Nannies" a Sydney agency where I gained a reputation for being the sleep program expert. I’ve also observed sleep study units and done my own private research into sleep since I’m passionate about the area. I’ve worked with thousands of families both here and in the UK.

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