Support for Exhausted Parents

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Sleep can become complicated long after the toddler years.

Your child may need you in the room to fall asleep. Bedtime stretches on for hours. They may leave their room repeatedly, become anxious as soon as bedtime approaches, wake during the night, or seem genuinely unable to settle their body even when they are exhausted.

And if your child is neurodivergent, the usual sleep advice may not fit very well.

Sensory differences, anxiety, ADHD, autism, executive functioning challenges, separation worries, rigid routines, interoception, and difficulty shifting from one state to another can all affect sleep.

That means the solution usually isn’t simply, “Be more consistent.”

Sleep makes sense, too

Just like daytime behavior, sleep behavior has a reason.

Before trying to change it, we look carefully at what is keeping the current pattern going.

Is your child anxious about being alone?

Does their body need more sensory input before it can settle?

Are transitions particularly difficult?

Has bedtime become the only quiet connection time they get with a parent?

Are they exhausted but unable to shift gears?

Have months or years of difficult nights created patterns that now feel impossible to change?

Understanding the why helps us develop a plan your child can actually tolerate.

A gentle, practical approach

My approach is relationship-based, nervous-system-informed, and tailored to your child.

We are not aiming to force independence overnight or leave a distressed child to “figure it out.”

Instead, we work toward sustainable change gradually.

That might mean changing the bedtime routine, building new regulation skills, slowly reducing parent involvement, addressing fears, adjusting sensory supports, creating clearer expectations, or helping your child practice falling asleep in a new way.

The goal is not a perfect bedtime.

The goal is helping your child develop the skills and sense of safety they need to sleep more independently, while helping the whole family get more rest.

This may be a good fit if your child...

  • needs a parent present to fall asleep

  • struggles to stay in their own bed or room

  • has prolonged or highly emotional bedtimes

  • wakes frequently during the night

  • becomes anxious as bedtime approaches

  • has difficulty settling their body or brain

  • has sleep difficulties related to ADHD, autism, anxiety, or sensory differences

  • is an older child whose sleep challenges have persisted beyond the years when most sleep advice is written for

Not another one-size-fits-all sleep plan

Your seven-, ten-, or thirteen-year-old is not a baby who missed the sleep-training window.

Older children can learn new sleep skills.

They may simply need an approach that takes their development, nervous system, relationships, and individual needs seriously.

Sleep support is behavioral and relational in nature and is not a substitute for medical evaluation or treatment. When sleep difficulties may be connected to an underlying medical condition, I may recommend consultation with your child’s pediatrician or a sleep specialist.

View the Sleep Training Options.