FAQ
How much sleep do children need?
There are a lot of debates and estimates around how much sleep do babies and toddlers need, depending on age, temperament and other holistic factors. In my opinion, we should take this data only as reference and watch our baby more than the clock.
If they have a restorative sleep, less fragmented, have a good mood, strong immune system and good weight gain, we should just be happy about it.
Write me a message here so I can send you some guidelines for baby & toddler sleeping time.
What are circadian rhythms and biological clocks?
Circadian rhythms are physical, mental and behavioural changes that follow a roughly 24-hour cycle, responding primarily to light and darkness, food and social interaction.
The biological clock is a group of nerve cells located in the primitive area of our brain (hypothalamus), which keeps our sleep-wake cycle running on a 24h rhythm. Our biological clocks drive our circadian rhythms.
Circadian rhythms are important in determining human sleep patterns. The body’s master clock or the pituitary gland from the brain controls the production of melatonin, a hormone that makes you sleepy. Since it is located just above the optic nerves, which sends information from the eyes to the brain, the master clock receives information about incoming light.
When there is less light, like at night, the master clock tells the brain to make more melatonin so you get drowsy. At the same time, when there is more natural light, like during the day, our master clock produces serotonin, which under darkness, is converted into melatonin.
Will the sleep training involve crying?
Yes, sleep training could involve some crying, but if we look at crying as a way of communication for our baby and we try to listen to it instead of shutting it down, it could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Moreover, babies need to cry to release emotions, tensions, frustrations and nervous energy. Without this release, they keep it inside which could harm their nervous system.
How will we communicate during our collaboration?
We can successfully have a virtual communication, via email and messages, as well as via phone conversations if chosen. Parents can very well be the teacher of their babies, carefully guided by the sleep consultant.
Can I use music as white noise?
Yes, you could have music as white noise for your baby, but it has to be very boring sounds like monoton nature sounds (wind, rain etc.). However, white noise machines are more practical and quite affordable any time.
When can I move my baby into his own room?
The American Academy of Pediatrics as well as WHO recommend sleeping in the same room with the child, but not in the same bed, until the age of 12 months, for safety reasons.
When will my baby sleep through the night?
It depends on each baby but mostly when a child is well established on solid food, meaning 3 meals per day wiith protein and carbs, they could be ready to sleep through the night. This usually occurs around 10 month of age.
Do I really have to wake my baby up?
Yes, a flexible routine is very beneficial to a child and it encourages good eating and sleeping, thus following baby’s circadian rhythms. That sometimes meanswe need to wake our baby up in order to feed him or not let him nap too long during the day and steal from his overnight sleep.
How can I get rid of the dummy?
This depends very much on the child’s age and how much it interferes with his sleep. Whereas for a newborn the dummy has a calming soothing effect and it is recommended in SIDS prevention, after 8 months old, there are special techniques to help the baby find and replace his dummy so that he becomes more independent.
How can I make the difference between a mantra cry and a cry for help?
There is not a clear line between a mantra cry and a desperate cry for help. However, we could say that an intermittent cry with pauses longer than 15 sec. means that the baby is not suffering but rather struggles to fall asleep by himself.
Will sleep training have any damage on my baby's brain?
No, sleep training is a short term method to support your baby fall asleep more automously and stay asleep for longer stretches. Many studies have proved that only long term cronic stress (like child abuse or maternal depression) is toxic for a child and could affect brain circuit and disrupt the normal development of a child.
We can highly recommend Carmen to anyone who struggles with their babies sleep and is tired of endless breastfeeding during the night. She has supported us greatly and we are more than happy with how our baby sleep has improved within only a couple of weeks where Carmen has supported us daily. Many thanks ♥️
We are very satisfied and did not expect that the sleep training would work so well after such a short time. Our 7 month old baby slept through the night for 11 hours during the first few days of training.Carmen is very committed and the material that she tailors to you and makes available to you as a PDF gives you a lot of knowledge that you can then put into practice. Through the daily protocol and Carmen's daily feedback, you can refine the knowledge and apply it correctly.Carmen makes a lot of effort to answer all the questions and guide you correctly and never gets tired of repeating everything until you understand it and implement it correctly. The final document also gives you important information on all relevant topics in the future so that you feel in good hands.We've heard from other moms about other sleep coaches, and it doesn't seem to be nearly as detailed as Carmen's. We recommend them without reservation.Thank you, Carmen!
Response from the owner 20:48 10 Apr 25
Liebe Michael und Julia, vielen herzlichen Dank für diese wundervolle Bewertung! Es freut mich sehr zu hören, dass ihr zufrieden mit den Ergebnissen dieser Schlafreise seid! Trotz aller Schwierigkeiten mit der Gewichtszunahme und dem Füttern habt ihr es geschafft, beim Schlaf eures Babys viele Fortschritte zu machen. Gut gemacht!Eure Worte über mein Engagement und die maßgeschneiderten Materialien bedeuten mir sehr viel. Es ist mein Anliegen, nicht nur Anleitungen zu geben, sondern euch mit fundiertem Wissen auszustatten, damit ihr selbstbewusst und kompetent handeln könnt.Die täglichen Protokolle und unser regelmäßiger Austausch sind tatsächlich zentrale Elemente meiner Methode, und ich freue mich, dass ihr diese als hilfreich empfunden habt. Es ist mir wichtig, jede Familie individuell zu begleiten und alle Fragen geduldig zu beantworten, bis wirklich Klarheit besteht.Dass ihr meine Arbeit als besonders ausführlich im Vergleich zu anderen Schlaftrainern beschreibt, ist ein wunderbares Kompliment. Jedes Kind und jede Familie verdient diese umfassende Betreuung.Eure Weiterempfehlung ehrt mich sehr. Ich wünsche euch und eurem kleinen Schatz weiterhin erholsame Nächte und eine wundervolle gemeinsame Zeit!Herzliche Grüße Carmen Carmen helped us go from waking up every 2 hrs at night, to only 2 wake ups (within 1 week). We also went from having the baby only fall asleep on my breasts to falling asleep independently. I am so happy with our progress, and I'm convinced that this isn't only better for us, but also for the baby. He is finally getting the deep, restorative sleep he needs to develop. Carmen provided us with a detailed personalized sleep plan ahead of our 2 week sleep training program, and was by our side via google doc dring the entire process. It felt great being taken by the hand by a compassionate expert like Carmen. Thank you, Carmen!
Response from the owner 20:51 10 Apr 25
Dear Else, thanks so much for your lovely words! I'm so happy to hear about the amazing progress you and your little one have made! Going from waking every 2 hours to just 2 wake-ups in a week is fantastic, and having your baby fall asleep independently is such a wonderful milestone!You're absolutely right that good sleep benefits everyone in the family - especially your little one who's now getting that deep, restorative sleep that's so crucial for development. It makes my heart happy to know he's thriving!It was truly a joy to support you through this journey with the personalized sleep plan and our daily check-ins. I love being there every step of the way for families like yours!Thank you for your trust and for sharing your success story! Here's to many more peaceful nights for all of you! 😊Warmly,Carmen Many thanks to Carmen as our sleeping coach. We participated in a training program as our daughter was not sleeping through the night and we really had some struggles such as temper, being tired during the day etc.. She was doing an intensive pre analyises about our current situation and we have received a long document about our situation at home and what would be the key drivers. During the progam Carmen and we as partents worked closely together by filling in a document on a regular basis. We have received feedback everyday, which we could implement in our daily life. Addtional calls gave us the opportunity to appraoch Carmen with our topics. The program was chaning our life and even though people told us, they could have done it for less, it was not true in our case - otherwise they would! We have contacted Carmen twice during our journey and are absolutly satisfied with the outcome. She answered all of our questions in a written form e.g. traveling with a baby, moving into the kids room...which at the time was not the topic, but we already knew we would face them anyways at a later point in life.Hence, again many thanks and we wish you all the best Carmen!Alex, Tanja and Emma
Response from the owner 20:54 10 Apr 25
Dear Alex, Tanja, and little Emma,Thank you so much for your kind words! It makes me incredibly happy to hear how much your journey has changed and how confidently you now handle all the new challenges that come with it. You put so much care and consistency into the process — it was truly a team effort, and I loved supporting you along the way.It was especially wonderful to see how you stayed connected and thought ahead, even beyond the immediate sleep goals. I’m so glad you felt supported with all your questions, big and small!Wishing you continued peaceful nights, lots of laughter-filled days, and beautiful memories together as a family. Keep nurturing that special connection with Emma every day — it’s the heart of maintaining her healthy sleep habits and your beautiful bond. 💛Take care,Carmen At 10 months, our son used to wake up every 45 hours and there were endless night feeds. He would only sleep through rocking and we are sharing our family bed with him. Nothing was going right as far as sleep was concerned and all three of us were sleep deprived. After we contacted Carmen, we did a 15 minutes call where I shared all the challenges and important details. Then we filled a quiz. Afterwords we received a personalized sleep plan, soothing technique and an age specific routine. As we followed the plan Carmen provided us step by step guidance. We didn't feel that we were doing it alone. Unfortunately our son got sick 10 days into the coaching and we had to pause. But we resumed after he was ready again. Now our son is able sleep with much less effort and he settles himself back to sleep at night. He sleeps in his own cot and he needs one night feed. I highly recommend sleep coaching.
Response from the owner 20:23 18 Feb 25
Dear Mariam,Thank you for sharing your experience! I'm so glad to hear about your baby's sleep progress - going from waking every 45 minutes to being able to settle himself back to sleep is a remarkable step forward. Thank you for highlighting that even when we hit a bump in the road with illness, we were able to pause and successfully resume the sleep coaching once your son was feeling better.I really appreciate you mentioning the detailed process of our work together, from the initial call to the personalized plan and ongoing support. It's wonderful to see how your little boy has adapted to his own cot and developed good & healthy sleep skills.Your family's success means so much to me, and I'm delighted to have been part of your journey to more restful nights!Take care and sleep well,Carmen We were struggling with the sleep of our 14 months baby who used to co-sleep in our bed. Carmen helped us get her to sleep in her own bed in two weeks (amazing I know). We reached out to her again after travel and helped us to get the sleep back on track. We are very grateful for Carmen’s help and dedication. She went above and beyond to help and support us through the process. Highly recommended 🙂
Response from the owner 20:26 18 Feb 25
Dear Rachida,Thank you for your wonderful feedback! It's great to hear about your sweet daughter's successful transition to her own bed - and in just two weeks! I'm particularly glad that you reached out again after traveling, as schedule disruptions are so common, and it's important for families to know they can get back on track.Your trust in coming back for support means a lot to me. It's been a pleasure helping your family achieve better sleep not once, but twice!Thank you for your kind words and recommendation. Wishing your family many more peaceful nights ahead!Take care and keep your confidence,Carmen We are so happy we chose to do sleep coaching with Carmen! We can absolutely recommend it to anyone who is struggling with their baby's sleep.We contacted Carmen when our little girl was 9 month old. We actually thought about contacting her before but then the sleep of our baby got a little better and we thought, hey we don't really need it. We should have definitely done it before! From birth on our baby was not a great sleeper, there were a few good weeks every now and again but in total me and my husband and also our baby were sleep deprived. Once we contacted Carmen and we had a call as well as a quiz and some further questions that we answered, Carmen made our personalized sleep plan for our daughter. The whole process was very straight forward and Carmen was there to answer all our questions and give us motivating feedback. Of course the 2 weeks were not always easy but soo worth it. We would have never been able to go through this process without the knowledge and support of Carmen.Now our baby girl sleeps through the night and has a good lunch nap! We get enough time for ourselves and enough sleep now. I would have never imagined that it was possible at this age - but it is. We feel like we got our lives back on track. The day itself is quite planned and the routine has to be followed which doesn't always leave time to be spontaneous. That's the only slight downside but it is so worth it.Thanks Carmen!
Response from the owner 20:17 18 Feb 25
Dear Mara,Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a detailed and heartfelt review! It brings me so much joy to hear how well your little girl is sleeping now. Your journey is exactly why I love what I do - helping families move from sleep deprivation to restful nights is incredibly rewarding.I especially appreciate you sharing your initial hesitation and how you wished you'd reached out sooner. This is such a common experience, and your story will help other parents know it's okay to ask for support.You're absolutely right about the routine requiring some dedication - that structure is key to success, even if it means being less spontaneous sometimes. But as you've discovered, the trade-off of having well-rested, happier family members is worth it!Thank you again for trusting me with your family's sleep journey. Wishing you all many more peaceful nights ahead!Take care and stay the course,Carmen Carmen's sleep solution has been a true game changer for us. We learned so many things (not only about sleep, also about food/milk feeds, activities etc.) and now are able to help our little one with confidence. I didn't think that it was possible to sleep through the night by 10 months as our baby has been waking up very frequently before. Also our days were challenging as the naps only lasted for 30 minutes and all of us were constantly overtired.Carmen guided us skillfully, giving actionable and understanble feedback and motivating us to keep going. We saw big steps forward every day and are so happy and grateful now that we took the decision to invest our time and energy to apply the holistic, personalized sleep solution.Thanks to Carmen, we are now truly able to enjoy our time with our little one. The only thing I would do differently if I had another chance would be to reach out to Carmen sooner 🙂
Response from the owner 20:30 18 Feb 25
Dear Aylin,Thank you for such a thoughtful and comprehensive review! I'm thrilled to hear how transformational this experience has been for your family - from those challenging 30-minute naps to achieving restful nights at 10 months! Your success with your little boy’s both night-time sleep and naps shows just how impactful a holistic approach to sleep can be.I really appreciate you mentioning how sleep coaching goes beyond just sleep itself, encompassing feeding patterns and daily activities. This understanding of a holistic approach is so valuable for other parents who might be wondering about the process.Your comment about wishing you'd reached out sooner is something I hear often, and it's so helpful for other parents to hear this perspective. I'm delighted that you're now able to truly enjoy your time together as a family - that's exactly what this is all about!Thank you for trusting me with your family's sleep journey. It was a pleasure to support you in achieving these wonderful changes and set the basis for a solid sleep foundation for your son!Take care and trust yourself & your boy, Carmen Hello, I would like to share with you our experience with Carmen as our sleep coach for our two year old twins, 21 months during the training. It took us long to make the decision to invest money on such thing, because everybody was telling us that sleep difficulties would go away soon, as the babies grow. This didn’t happen till their 21st month and both me and their father were exhausted. The babies would not fall asleep if we didn’t carry and rock them and they would wake up several times during the night. Tiredness and broken nerves brought us to our first online meeting with Carmen, who said it was not too late to do it. We liked her approach, which was professional and with understanding for the parents worries. She took time to prepare a customised plan for our kids, after we gave her the information she asked for. It lasted two weeks and the results were stunning. I was not able to imagine before that I could bring both kids to sleep alone, without carrying them and also that they would sleep much longer without waking up. Carmen planned with attention all steps and guided us the whole way. She knew almost exactly all the reactions of the kids when introducing the new habits. It was not easy for us, I have to say, but she warned in the beginning and reassured us that there would definitely be something positive at the end. The job that we had to do, was to follow her instructions, be consequent and give feedback to her. Despite the hard times, we felt that Carmen was there for us, supporting and giving us tips for every step and change. After two weeks, the changes were incredible. Of course there were and still are regressions, because of several factors and the kids still don’t sleep both the whole night through (the twins factor is a big challenge), but everything we did, as she asked us to do, worked great. She also made an eating plan for us, which I followed very strict and had amazing results. It seemed the whole time that Carmen knew what she was going and I have to say she is good at it. I totally recommend her if you have problems with your baby’s / toddlers sleep. The changes that can happen are very amazing. She is vey experienced and kind and will be there for you, even if sometimes the process will be hard. You just need to follow her advice. We are very pleased with the new sleep and eating habits that our kids have and this is thanks to Carmen. You will be amazed by what can happen!
Response from the owner 20:35 18 Feb 25
Dear Vicky,Thank you for sharing such a detailed and heartfelt "log" of your sleep journey with your twins! Your story will be especially valuable for other parents of multiples who might be hesitating to seek help. I particularly appreciate you sharing your initial scepticism about investing in sleep coaching, as this is a common concern many parents face.Your description of the transformation - from having to carry and rock both babies to being able to put them to sleep independently - is remarkable. I'm so glad you highlighted both the challenges and the successes of the process. You're absolutely right that the twin factor adds an extra layer of complexity, and I'm impressed with your dedication to following through with the plan despite the difficult moments.I really appreciate you mentioning the positive changes in eating habits as well. Sleep and nutrition are so closely connected, and it's wonderful to hear that my holistic approach worked well for your family too.Thank you for acknowledging that regressions are normal and still happen - this is such important information for other parents to hear. What matters is that you now have the tools and confidence to handle these situations when they arise.Your commitment to the process and willingness to trust in the changes made all the difference. It was truly a pleasure working with your family and watching your twins develop these important sleep skills.Take care and stay the course,Carmen Carmen helped us with sleep training our 2yo boy. We decided we needed professional help when his sleep regressed significantly after the summer holidays and we were no longer able to use the techniques that had worked for us earlier.Carmen was able to help us understand the science behind successful sleep training and gave us invaluable guidance on a number of aspects as part of the personalized sleep plan. In the end the results speak for themselves - after just 2 weeks, our boy is now comfortably sleeping through the night and we have broken the suck-to-sleep association, even at bedtime which seemed quite unachievable previously.Huge thanks to Carmen - highly recommended!
Response from the owner 20:38 18 Feb 25
Dear Alex,Thank you for your wonderful feedback! I'm delighted to hear about your son's progress from illness & post-holiday sleep regression to sleeping through the night. Breaking such a strong suck-to-sleep association at 2 years old is indeed a significant achievement, and I'm so proud of how well your family navigated this change.I appreciate you highlighting the importance of understanding the science behind sleep training. This knowledge really does make a difference in implementing changes successfully and maintaining them long-term.Thank you for trusting me to help your family through this transition. Your success story will definitely inspire other parents facing similar challenges with their toddlers!Take care and stay the course,Carmen 