The questions Canadian parents actually ask, answered honestly.

Sleep training is appropriate from 4 months onward — adjusted age for premature babies, not chronological age. Before 4 months, the developmental architecture for self-regulated sleep isn’t in place yet, and active sleep training isn’t supported by Canadian Paediatric Society guidance.

That doesn’t mean nothing helps before 4 months. Foundational sleep support — predictable rhythm, day-night signals, safe sleep environment, appropriate wake windows — does most of the work in the newborn period and sets up the sleep training that comes later. The Sleep Readiness Checklist walks through the seven markers I look for before recommending active training.

Sleep Ready uses the method that fits your family — including parent-presence approaches, gradual fading, and modified extinction. Pure cry-it-out is rarely the right answer and is never used with neurodivergent or anxious children.

The most common reason families come to a consultant is that a book taught them one method, the method didn’t work, and now they’re not sure if the problem is the method or them. The honest answer is usually neither — the method was probably wrong for that specific child, family, and situation. Every plan I build is individualized to the variables that actually matter for your household.

For typically-developing babies who are developmentally ready: most families see meaningful improvement within 1–3 weeks, with sustainable independence around the 2–3 week mark. Some families need 4 weeks. A small minority — usually with regression triggers like illness, travel, or major transitions during the work — take longer.

Special Needs Sleep engagements typically run 4–8 weeks because the work involves coordinating with medical teams, gradually adjusting medications with the prescribing physician, and pacing changes around sensory regulation needs.

Five reasons cover almost every case: (1) the baby wasn’t actually ready when you started — readiness is the single biggest predictor of success; (2) caregivers aren’t aligned on the plan, so the baby is getting different responses on different nights; (3) there’s an undiagnosed medical contributor (reflux, sleep-disordered breathing, low iron, ear infection); (4) the wake windows or schedule don’t match the baby’s actual age; or (5) a regression-triggering event (illness, travel, daycare start, teething peak) is happening during the work.

The full piece is on the blog: Why your sleep training plan isn’t working.

It’s not really a regression — it’s a permanent developmental change. Around 4 months, your baby’s sleep architecture matures from the newborn pattern (lots of REM, easily cycled) into adult-like sleep with distinct stages and lighter cycles between them. Babies who used to drift back to sleep on their own start fully waking between cycles — every 45 minutes for naps, every 90–120 minutes at night.

The fix is helping them learn to consolidate the new sleep architecture rather than waiting for a regression to “pass.” The full piece: The 4-month sleep regression — what’s actually happening.

Specialized. The Special Needs Sleep certification from the Institute of Pediatric Sleep and Parenting is a distinct credential beyond general paediatric sleep certification — different curriculum, different methodology, different assumptions.

The framework is regulation-first, sensory-aware, and medication-timing-aware. It’s not generic sleep training applied to a different population. The full breakdown of what’s different — and the seven specific reasons generic sleep training fails neurodivergent kids — is in Sleep training autistic children and the free Special Needs Sleep Starter Guide.

Yes — and for medically complex children, this is usually the right call. Sleep Ready coordinates with your existing care team (paediatrician, neurologist, developmental paediatrician, ENT, psychiatrist, complex care nurse) when you’d like that.

A release-of-information form is part of the welcome bundle for Special Needs engagements. You decide which providers to loop in, when, and how much. The sleep plan is built to align with — not override — your medical team’s input.

It can — but only when coordinated with your neurology team. Nighttime safety is foundational, not an afterthought. Sleep Ready specifically supports families in this category, and the Special Needs Complete Programme includes Life Safe paediatric CPR and seizure-response training as part of the engagement.

Before booking a discovery call, the right step is usually a conversation with your child’s neurologist about whether sleep optimization is appropriate at this stage of their epilepsy management. The full piece on the blog: Sleep support for children with epilepsy.

It changes the work, not whether the work can happen. Medication timing — especially stimulants, melatonin, anti-seizure meds, and certain antihistamines — is one of the most important variables in a Special Needs sleep plan, and it’s the variable most generic sleep training advice ignores entirely.

What I will not do: change a medication timing or dose. That’s the prescribing physician’s call. What I do: build a sleep plan that accounts for the medication’s actual pharmacokinetic profile, flag patterns the prescribing physician should know about, and refer back to medical care if dose or timing seems clinically off.

Pricing is covered on the discovery call so the conversation can be honest about scope and what’s appropriate for your situation. The general structure: Foundations (a written plan with a single follow-up) for families who want a plan to execute on their own; the Standard Programme (plan + 2–3 weeks of active support) for most families; and the Complete Programme (everything plus longer support windows, in-home options, and Life Safe integration for medically complex situations).

Payment plans are available on every package. No package requires full payment up front if a payment-plan option works better for your family.

Yes, with conditions. Full refunds are available before the plan is delivered (i.e. if life intervenes between booking and the plan-delivery milestone). Partial refunds are available if we mutually agree the engagement isn’t a fit — assessed pro-rata based on what’s been delivered.

What isn’t refundable: dissatisfaction after the plan has been delivered and the implementation window has begun, because by then the work has happened. That’s why the discovery call is free and the intake is detailed — we’re trying to prevent mismatches before money changes hands, not after.

The full refund policy is in the engagement agreement and reviewed before any payment is processed.

Generally, no. Paediatric sleep consulting in Canada is not covered by OHIP and is rarely covered by extended health plans. A small number of plans cover sleep consulting under the broader category of “wellness services” — check with your benefits administrator if your plan has a Health Spending Account (HSA) or Personal Spending Account (PSA), as those can sometimes apply.

Sleep Ready provides itemized invoices on request for any reimbursement claim, but coverage is at your insurer’s discretion.

Discovery calls can be rescheduled any time — no charge, no questions. The booking confirmation email includes a reschedule link.

Engagement reschedules: if a major family event (illness, work change, family emergency) means we need to push the start date, we move it. The plan doesn’t expire. Cancellation policies are detailed in the engagement agreement and assessed based on whether the plan has been delivered and the implementation window has started — same logic as the refund policy.