Caroline Jones
Infant Sleep Coach – The Sleep Remedy
Caroline shares the realities of the unregulated sleep consulting industry, busts the overtiredness myth with science, and explains why your mindset is the single most important factor in improving your baby's sleep.
What do you really wish more parents knew about your area of expertise?
The Sleep Consultant industry isn't regulated. That means anyone can call themselves a Sleep Consultant or Coach, regardless of their training. There's no qualification, no governing body, and no consistent standard to be held to account.
So while some are incredibly well-trained and up-to-date, others might be sharing outdated advice, pushing opinions as facts, or even making up their own weird and wonderful approaches without any real understanding of what they're doing.
But we're not all bad! I (and others like me) have invested a lot of time, energy, and money into my own education: multiple accredited courses, professional memberships, and a lot of self-learning and upskilling to ensure I really understand the science behind sleep and can offer appropriate advice.
In fact, I now co-run a mentorship course to upskill sleep consultants—many of whom had the passion, but were let down by sub-par training.
If you're looking for a sleep consultant, check whether they've done an OCN Level 6 course.
It's as close as you can get to a qualification in this field. Never be afraid to ask for credentials—if you get a sales pitch rather than a clear answer, that's your red flag to move along!
What topic or question do you get asked the most from your clients?
“Will this actually work for my baby?”
Most of my clients come to me at the end of their tether. They've done all they can; they've searched endlessly on Google, they've tried all of the things. They often believe their baby just won't sleep no matter what.
My answer is: every baby is different, but every case is figure-out-able.
No one-size-fits-all solution exists—not wake windows, not timings, not cookie-cutter sleep plans. That's because your baby's sleep is affected by so many things: age, development path, temperament, sleep needs, environment, levels of hunger, and more!
I'd love to have a magic fix in my pocket. But actually my job is to work out the root of the sleep issue and from there, tailor an approach based on all those variables that works for your baby and gets you to the goals you've set—like longer sleep, easier settling, naps in the cot, and so on.
Ultimately your success is also reliant on how well you follow your plan. Consider me your personal human ChatGPT—I tell you what you need to do and you need to carry out the plan. It's a leap of faith at times, but your commitment and consistency is your greatest chance of success!
Are there any common myths or misconceptions you'd love to bust?
The Overtiredness Myth
Oh my goodness yes! There's a few. But the one I really want to tackle right now is overtiredness.
Sometimes I think people look at me like I'm a conspiracy theorist when I say this. But there is actually zero research evidence that discusses a link between overtiredness (aka an upset tired baby) and an increase in night wakings or pre-6am wake ups for the day.
There is zero research evidence linking overtiredness to increased night wakings or early morning wake ups.
It's all over the internet when you Google anything to do with infant sleep. But the science just doesn't back it up. Once asleep, cortisol levels actually start to drop, not rise.
I'll concede that overtiredness leads to a dysregulated baby. They become unsettled, cranky and difficult to settle to bed. But once asleep, cortisol levels actually start to drop, not rise.
What I see playing out in my experience is that parents believe overtiredness is at play when their baby's sleep problems are more commonly down to another need not being met—like hunger, or very often undertiredness. Bedtime battles, multiple wakings, early risings: these can all happen because your baby hasn't had a chance to build up enough time to actually get tired!
And that's not your fault. It's the fault of the overtiredness narrative that's snowballed out of control.
It's not about avoiding overtiredness at all costs. It's about tuning into your baby's sleep needs, understanding their cues, and allowing yourself to get curious about what may be going on rather than assuming overtiredness. And let your baby actually get tired enough to sleep!
What's a simple tip, trick, or mindset shift that often helps your clients the most?
Your Mindset Changes Everything
Your mindset is the single most important thing when working on your baby's sleep! You've got to believe that your baby can change. Because they can. Babies are designed to adapt—it's part of their survival instinct!
They can also react to your behaviour: if you're anxious and stressed they'll pick up on that and feel like they're not secure. That means they'll be less willing to be put down and more upset if you try.
So if you're introducing changes to your baby's sleep, start with confidence. Look at it this way: we all feel much safer when we have a calm, confident leader in charge. If someone is panicking, crying and changing their mind, we don't trust them to lead us through difficulties.
When you say “I'll try my best” I hear someone that isn't fully committed. Say “I'm going to do it!” and give your baby the sense of security they need when handling change.
And I say this with your baby's best interests at heart: if you're not 100% sure then it's best not to start.
Why is your work so important to you and how do you see it making a difference in families' lives?
Why This Work Matters
I'm a twin mum—and I've got a third child who's a full-on Tasmanian devil in human form. I know what it's like to be chronically sleep deprived. I've lived it. That foggy, snappy, I'm-not-okay feeling.
Sleep coaching isn't just a job for me. I'm genuinely obsessed with the science behind it: how sleep supports everything from heart health and immunity to memory, behaviour, and emotional resilience. It's fascinating and not given the focus and airtime it really deserves when we look at how to live healthy, happy lives.
I've done the corporate 9–5 for a long time. Now I want to do something that really matters. And for me, that's 100% without a doubt this.
70%
12 months & under
25%
Toddlers
5%
3 years +
A Note on Older Children
The role of a sleep coach varies in each case—but definitely the older the child is, the more time and patience it takes. Their minds are more mature than babies so they have more anxieties and fears, but also more understanding which can help because you can involve them—so they are working on their own sleep rather than it being “done to” them. So I don't think it's necessarily harder to get a breakthrough, but it can take longer.
With older children and neurodivergent cases I think sleep coaches need to be really careful about taking them on. Psychological issues are much more at play here and you can risk doing real harm if you don't know what you're doing. For example, studies have shown that sleep wave patterns and quantities of REM and even melatonin production differs in autistic children. Despite having had the training, I normally refer people to specialist sleep consultants if these cases come my way.
