Sleepless nights are something most parents expect when a new baby arrives. But sometimes those broken nights can stretch on for months, through into toddlerhood, or even beyond. For affected families, bedtime can become a battle every night, and soon the exhaustion can build up and take its toll. High-quality sleep is important for little ones too, of course, so solving sleep problems will benefit the entire household. For parents who have perhaps tried everything without success, a sleep consultant can step in to offer support and professional guidance.
At Little Cedars Nursery, we often hear parents sharing stories of early morning wake-ups, tricky nap times, or little ones who seem determined to party at midnight. It’s important to know that these challenges are common, and they don’t mean you’re doing anything wrong. Sometimes, though, an extra helping hand can make all the difference. So, with that in mind, welcome to today’s guide to sleep consultants.
What Exactly is a Sleep Consultant?
A sleep consultant is someone who works alongside parents to help babies and young children develop healthier sleep patterns.
Some consultants have backgrounds in health visiting, nursing, or childcare, while others have trained through specialist sleep programmes. Because there isn’t formal regulation for the specialism in the UK, approaches can vary. In view of this, it’s advisable to ask about their experience and methods, and seek any recommendations from friends and family, before choosing your child’s sleep consultant.
What Does a Sleep Consultant Do?
A sleep consultant works with families to understand a child’s sleep patterns and suggest gentle, practical ways to improve things. They spend time learning about a child’s routine, feeding habits, daily schedule, and sleep environment before creating an improvement plan that feels realistic for the child’s family. The idea isn’t about handing parents a rigid set of rules, but about working together to find an approach that feels the most suitable and fits in with the family’s values.
When Might a Family Consider Using One?
Every child has ups and downs with sleep, and many phases resolve themselves. But if night waking is relentless, naps are a constant struggle, or early mornings begin long before dawn, it can start to impact the whole household. Parents sometimes seek help when they feel they’ve tried everything themselves — advice from books, friends, or online forums — but nothing seems to have worked. A consultant offers not just ideas, but reassurance and encouragement, which can be just as valuable as the plan itself.
What to Expect
Working with a sleep consultant often begins with a thorough conversation about your child’s routine — what time they go to bed, how they fall asleep, how they feed, and what happens during the night. From there, the consultant will create a personalised plan that involves tailored changes. These might be small adjustments, such as introducing a calmer wind-down before bed, or they could involve gradually teaching your child to settle with less help. It may also include strategies for how you respond when your child wakes in the night.
Putting the plan into practice takes consistency and patience, which is why many consultants often stay in touch for several weeks, checking in by phone, video call, or messages. That ongoing support can make the process feel less daunting and also help keep families on track.
Different Approaches to Sleep
Not every consultant works in the same way. Some focus on gentle, responsive methods where parents stay close, offering comfort and reassurance as children learn to settle more independently. Others place more emphasis on the rhythm of the day, with carefully timed naps, bedtime routines, and adjustments to the sleep environment. A few use more structured behavioural strategies, for example, where parents slowly reduce how much they intervene at bedtime.
Most UK-based consultants tend to favour family-friendly, gentle approaches rather than anything that involves leaving babies to cry alone for long stretches of time. Still, it’s important for parents to ask about this in advance and choose someone whose philosophy feels like the right fit.
Practical Considerations
Costs for hiring a sleep consultant vary. Depending on the consultant contacted, a one-off initial consultation can often be an affordable first step — and one that will allow families to explore the potential of proceeding with a full plan. However, a full package with several weeks of guidance can often be several hundred pounds. In-home, overnight support is potentially at an even higher end of the scale — but, again, it varies from consultant to consultant. Many families find that online or phone-based support from a sleep consultant is more affordable, and sometimes just as effective.
There are also free options to explore, of course. Health visitors sometimes run sleep workshops or offer individual guidance, and charities such as the Lullaby Trust provide excellent advice including important resources on safe sleep. Many parents also find comfort via parenting groups, where they can share experiences and discover new ideas.
Our Perspective
At Little Cedars Nursery, we understand that sleep — or the lack of it — has a huge impact on family life. Sleep consultants may not be a quick fix, but for families who are reaching their limit, they can offer a real lifeline. Success usually comes from finding someone whose approach aligns with your parenting style, sticking with the plan for long enough to see improvements, and feeling supported along the way.
Sleep challenges can feel overwhelming, but whether you decide to invest in professional help or draw on free resources and community support, the most important thing is remembering that you’re not alone. With time, consistency, and sometimes a little outside help, things really can get better. And remember: struggles with sleep are common and don’t make you any less of a wonderful parent. And, who knows, perhaps in a year or two when you’ve come out the other side, people may come to you for advice!
Little Cedars Nursery, Streatham
Little Cedars is a high-quality nursery in Streatham, near Tooting, Furzedown, Balham, Norbury, and Colliers Wood. Graded as a good provider by Ofsted, we ensure that babies and children under five have the very best start in life in a warm, caring, home-from-home environment. We also support free childcare schemes for eligible children aged from 9 months to 4 years — great for working parents!
If you would like to learn more about Little Cedars Nursery or visit in person for a guided tour, please get in touch. You can also ask any questions or start the process of enrolling your child using the options below:
Tantrums are a common part of life with toddlers and under-fives, but when they happen, they can be very challenging! Whether it’s a meltdown at dinner time or a dramatic on-the-floor outburst in the middle of the supermarket aisle, they can test even the most patient of parents and carers. However, it’s important to understand that tantrums aren’t a sign that something is wrong — they’re actually a normal, healthy stage of child development.
In their early years, children are still learning how to manage big emotions. There’s a mismatch, though; their brains are developing rapidly, but they haven’t yet mastered language, impulse control, or emotional regulation. So, when they’re tired, hungry, overstimulated, or frustrated, it can all become too much for them. 
When a tantrum starts, staying calm yourself is key. Your child will take emotional cues from you, their trusted adult. If you can remain steady, even if you’re feeling flustered inside, you send the message that you’re in control—and that they’re safe.
Avoid reasoning or explaining too much during a tantrum. When a child is overwhelmed, they’re unlikely to take much in. It’s often best to wait it out and stay close so they know they’re not alone. For some children, a gentle touch or hug might be helpful. Others may need a bit of space before they’re ready for comfort.
Offering limited choices — like “Would you like to wear the red jumper or the blue one?” — can also give them a sense of control without overwhelming them.
In today’s world, electronic screens are everywhere — from TVs and smartphones to tablets and games consoles. Even our youngest children are growing up in increasingly digital environments. While technology brings many conveniences, intentionally unplugging can offer profound benefits for little ones and their families. Whether it’s for a day, a weekend, a holiday, or even longer, the value gained from a ‘digital detox’ may surprise even the most dubious amongst us. Today’s post investigates.
Research consistently shows the positive effects of stepping away from our screens. Studies report that a digital detox can lead to decreased stress and anxiety, improved mood and well-being, and even better physical health through healthier, less sedentary, lifestyles. Pausing the use of electronic screens can even help reset our perception of time, making days feel longer, fuller, and more engaged.
When families go screen-free, the benefits extend well beyond the individual. Removing screens often rekindles face-to-face interactions and facilitates more laughter and unfiltered conversations within the family. Parents who’ve tried it report a renewed sense of connection and deeper engagement with their children. Even short periods of unplugging can turn into lasting changes—more shared stories, more creative play, and more real presence.
Better sleep for everyone with children tending to drop off more easily and adults feeling more rested.
Begin by designating screen-free boundaries, such as bedrooms or mealtimes, and/or set a daily screen-free hour in the evening.
The evidence clearly shows: families who have periods free of electronic screens will benefit. A digital detox enriches and elongates days. It enhances sleep quality for children and adults by facilitating their natural rhythms. Days feel more spacious and calm without digital distractions and imaginative play soon steps in and thrives. In the absence of screens, children are also likely to get outdoors more often — and benefit from everything nature and outdoor play have to offer. Mental health and even academic grades are also likely to improve when this happens.
At first glance, this devotion to a single story might seem puzzling. As adults, we crave novelty and variation, and it’s tempting to encourage children to explore new titles or gently steer them towards something ‘different’. But this desire for repetition is not only entirely normal for infants, toddlers and preschoolers — it’s actually a sign of healthy development. In fact, there’s a great deal happening beneath the surface every time your child requests a beloved book for the umpteenth time.
There is also an emotional component to repeated reading. When a child hears a favourite story in the voice of a parent or trusted adult, it creates a strong sense of connection. The warmth, tone and rhythm of familiar words spoken by someone they love reinforce a feeling of safety and belonging. For many children, this shared experience becomes part of their routine, and returning to a much-loved story can offer comfort in moments of transition, tiredness or uncertainty.
One of the clearest benefits of repeated reading is vocabulary development. Hearing the same words and phrases over time helps children internalise them. This is especially important when books introduce new or more complex language than a child might hear in everyday conversation. By encountering those words again and again in a familiar context, children begin to understand them more deeply and even start to use them in their own speech. The rhythm and rhyme found in many favourite books further support this by making the language more memorable and easier to imitate.
At home, parents or carers can support this by continuing to follow a child’s lead. If your child keeps choosing the same book, that’s a good thing — it means they’re connecting with it. You can enhance the experience by reading with enthusiasm, pausing to let your child fill in familiar lines, or asking gentle questions like “What happens next?” or “How do you think they feel here?” If your child wants to tell you the story instead, even better — this kind of role reversal strengthens memory, language, and storytelling abilities.
Eventually, children do move on. When they’ve had their fill of a particular book, they’re often ready to explore new stories with a richer set of skills in place. The comfort and confidence gained from repeated readings help them approach unfamiliar books with greater interest and less frustration. So rather than seeing repetition as a rut, it’s helpful to view it as a bridge — a way for children to move steadily from the familiar to the new.
Our practitioners are skilled at making repeated reading feel fresh and interactive, even when the story is already very familiar. By using expressive voices, gestures, and encouraging children to join in with key words or sounds, we help bring the story to life each time. Children are often invited to take on the role of storyteller themselves, turning pages, pointing to pictures, and even “reading” aloud from memory. These small but powerful moments help build confidence and strengthen communication skills in a way that feels natural and joyful.
Summer is in full swing from late June until late September*. It’s a wonderful season that brings with it many amazing things for children and families to look out for in nature. Indeed, that’s what today’s suggested activity is all about. We’ve created a free-to-download poster that highlights 20 things from nature that children, including under-fives, can look out for when they’re outdoors†. Whether it’s in gardens, on walks with family members, at the park, or out in the countryside, summer’s natural wonders are incredibly abundant when you take time to look.
Concepts involving numbers and counting can sometimes be tricky for some preschoolers to grasp. Making sense of such concepts is important, though, because many aspects of children’s day-to-day lives will require an increasing understanding of numbers as time passes. Whether it’s knowing if a quantity of something is more or less than something else, how much of an ingredient is required in a mixture, or what change to expect from a purchase, children will need to grasp number-based concepts — and understand their real-world applications. What’s more, they’ll need to do this sooner rather than later if they’re to thrive, not least when they leave early years settings to begin school.
Making ‘number cards’ with your child will be a fun and useful first step. These could be as simple as small pieces of paper or card, each having a single large number written clearly on them. Alternatively, your child could take the opportunity to get more creative. For example, you and your child could make the numbers bright and colourful, have patterned in-fills, or even be made to look like animals or number ‘characters’ that have eyes. For the very young, start with numbers up to 5, or go to 10 or even 20 for older and more advanced children. Size-wise, perhaps aim for cards sized at about A6 (a quarter of an A4 sheet) or even A7 (A4 divided into 8).
A more advanced form of the number cards could depict the correct number of dots (or other drawn objects) instead of — or as well as — the actual written number. So, for example, the ‘3’ card could show a column or row of 3 round dots or squares or even something like 3 drawn strawberries — whatever your child likes! In a way, it’s a bit like traditional playing cards where each has both a number and the right amount of hearts, diamonds, clubs or spades on it, to match the number.
This next game will require a set of dominoes or, if you don’t have a set, they’re also easy enough to make in a similar way to the number cards. As you may know, each half of every domino has a number of dots, most commonly from 1 to 6. So, for example, there might be two dots on one end and five on the other, with the dot formations being rather like those you’d see on dice.
Understanding whether a quantity of something is more or less than something else is an important concept for children to grasp. Similarly, being able to estimate a quantity is a useful and practical skill for little ones to master. Such concepts can easily be highlighted, and the skills mastered, using simple estimating games. Some examples follow.
Pretending to be a shopkeeper or a shopper buying from one is a great next step for children. What’s more, they’ll naturally love playing shops having, no doubt, accompanied parents to real shops. This is where they can put all the things they’ve learned from the games above into practice. They can check they have the right quantities, weights or volumes or products, check they’re giving the shopkeeper the right amount of money, ensure that any change is correct — and so on! Playing shops is such a great way to master numbers, counting, estimating, weighing, addition, subtraction and more!
With warmer weather and plants and trees flourishing wherever we look, it got us thinking about some creative children’s activities, inspired by nature. One simple starting point is the humble leaf, which can lend itself to a surprisingly wide range of creative activities for children to enjoy. Such activities will not only draw children’s attention to 
The first thing children will need is, of course, a selection of suitable leaves. To give them enough scope for a wide range of creative activities, we suggest families forage a variety of different sizes and shapes. We suggest focusing primarily on tree leaves as these are likely to be fairly robust, come in lots of different forms, and often have well-defined ‘vein’ structures. Oak leaves, sycamore, beech, hawthorn, horse chestnut, lime, sweet chestnut and silver birch would represent a nicely varied selection, for example. Download our 
One of the most straightforward activities using leaves is for children to simply paint them. The youngest will love painting one side of each leaf in a different colour — or even adorn them with patterns like spots, zigzags, hearts, and stripes. Once the paint is dry, the leaves can be used in a variety of different ways. For example, they could be glued into an attractive design on a sheet of paper/card and displayed in a frame, made into a garland for the wall, bunched together to form an attractive hand-held fan, glued to a circle of paper or card to form an attractive crown, or glued to an upturned stick or tree sprig to represent a colourful tree. These are just a few ways they can be used once painted and, indeed, coming up with ideas is all part of the fun and creativity for children!
Collages made from leaves can also be very easy for children to accomplish; they just need a base card or paper, child-safe glue, some leaves and perhaps some flowers too. Ideally, leaves should be flat and, even better, dried. This can be achieved through pressing, which is explained later. For added beauty, add fresh or pressed flowers of different colours too — perhaps even other items like stars and glitter. Children can then gradually build up an attractive design (rather like organic wallpaper) or a simple picture like our example. It will result in a fascinating piece of leaf and flower art that can be displayed in the home — something for children to be proud of!
A freshly painted leaf can also be used to make leaf prints. When the paint is still very wet, children should simply turn their leaves over and press all areas of them against a sheet of paper or card. Doing this by hand is OK but if you have a roller, even better! In this way, the paint is transferred to the sheet and will typically show the leaf shape and all the structural veins of the donor leaf. And, by repeating the process with one or more leaves and colours, a design or picture can be gradually built up on the sheet. This might be as simple as a repeat pattern or as complex as a pictorial scene. By adding other media like painted or drawn lines, leaf prints could, for example, represent a forest on a hillside. Add little figures of people and perhaps little dogs underneath each ‘tree’ and it’ll start to come to life!
A leaf-rubbing activity is also fun and intriguing for little ones. Find a flat surface like a table or rigid sketch pad and place a thin sheet of paper over one or more leaves. By rubbing a thick wax crayon, charcoal stick, or soft-leaded pencil repeatedly over the sheet where there is an underlying leaf, the leaf’s form will gradually reveal itself. Children will be able to see the structural veins that form the leaf, along with leaf edges as they scribble. Children can experiment with different media, colours, and types of leaves to get different creative results.
eaves and small, non-bulky flowers can be dried and flattened through the process of pressing. All that’s needed is the leaves and flowers and a thick book of paper sheets — a large sketch pad is perfect or, alternatively, sheets of unprinted newsprint or blotting paper. Manually place single flowers and leaves between the leaves of the paper and then place something large, flat, and heavy over the entire thing and leave it for anything from a couple of days to a couple of weeks. How long will depend on the type of leaves and flowers involved (and how dry and flat they were to begin with). Once ready, the flowers and leaves will be thin and dry, ready to use. They could, for example, be used individually as mementoes or bookmarks, or assembled with glue into ‘pictures’ via a collage, as explained earlier.
Another creative activity involving leaves is simply to represent them in pencil, paint, or other media of a child’s choice. Encourage them to look carefully at the leaf’s shape and detail, so they can try to mimic them in drawn or painted form. Drawing and painting are highly useful skills for children to develop and mastering such skills will prove useful throughout their educational years. If you, as a parent, are good at drawing or painting, perhaps join in the activity too. By doing so, you can show your child what is possible with some close attention to detail and carefully placed lines and strokes. As you build up your own picture, perhaps explain how you are achieving the results, so they can learn from your approach. And — who knows — perhaps you’ll discover that you have a budding artist in the family!
Whether dried, painted, or simply picked as they are, leaves can also be made into other objects, characters, and so on. Some leaves can look like other items, for example, a particular type of tree (the Tulip Tree a.k.a. Yellow-Poplar) has individual leaves shaped rather like t-shirts! Children could look out for these and perhaps paint them in their favourite football team’s colours, draw in legs, arms and a head to make people and — hey presto — they’ve created a person! Similarly, there are several leaves shaped like hearts which, once painted in a suitable colour, can be useful when making greetings cards for birthdays or Valentine’s Day.
Another example of how leaves can represent other things can be illustrated by simple leaves like beech leaves. Each of these looks rather like the shape of a classic flower petal. So, perhaps a child can be encouraged to fan several around in a circle, almost tip to tip, to look like a big flower head. Children can paint the circle in the middle or glue a circle of coloured paper or wool there to represent the centre of the flower. And, if they start with a paper large enough, they could create several of these and make a picture of multiple flowers made of leaves. Use thin twigs, wool, or drawn crayon lines for stems and perhaps longer, thinner leaves to make the flowers’ leaves.
The activity ideas above are just a starting point and there are plenty more that are possible with leaves. Whether it’s dried leaves painted, glued and varnished onto pebbles to form paperweights, dried leaves gently sprayed with perfume to form pot-pourri, or suspended leaves that form a mobile, the possibilities for leaf art are almost endless! We hope our ideas today inspire children to use their imaginations and make some beautiful creations — all with simple, humble leaves.
In addition to being fun and creative, these activities all support the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum for under-fives. EYFS areas supported by the activities include:
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