Hi, I’m Kelly.
I’m a certified children’s sleep specialist, NHS paediatric nurse & Mum and founder of kelly leigh coaching. I am compassionate, understanding and well informed.
Did you know that on average each parent loses around 350 hours of sleep a night in the first year of a baby’s life? When I gave birth to my daughter, I felt I was prepared for the sleepless nights. What I wasn’t prepared for was the effect sleep deprivation would have on my body and my mental health. I was feeling increasingly irritable, anxious and unhappy, which I just assumed came with the territory of being a new parent. I carried on through as best I could, but ultimately, I felt like I was letting my daughter down. I felt vulnerable and desperate and was fed up with well meaning advice. However, I was lucky (and did a lot of research!) my daughter slept through from three months, I guess I did something ‘right’.
It wasn’t until I trained at King’s College in London as a Paediatric Nurse that I realised how strong the link is between parental sleep deprivation and symptoms of depression; the symptoms are nearly identical! I graduated with a mission to support parents that might be struggling as much as I did and joined the NHS as a Paediatric Nurse, where I fine-tuned the practical skills and knowledge that I had learned in my prior years of working as a Nursery Nurse. It was a steep learning curve – the challenge of settling a very poorly baby to sleep in a noisy, busy hospital environment is no mean feat but it turned out that I had a knack for it.
Later, I gained a degree as a Specialist Community Public Health Nurse, where I wrote my dissertation on parental sleep deprivation and mental illness – I chose to use the knowledge I gained from this research creating and running a sleep clinic with a wonderful colleague in the NHS working with many complex families in a variety of situations. I have since worked as a manager for a number of years and with some very special but complex teenagers, I found so much fulfilment in supporting families to make positive, research-based changes that I poured this expertise into establishing my specialist, independent coaching business. We are so lucky to work with such a beautifully unique blend of families, with a dynamic range of parenting styles, health requirements and family structures, including foster/adoptive, families with additional learning and medical needs. All these families have had one thing in common: that love and compassion are at the core of our work together. So, if you need a helping hand, let’s get planning.
Later, I trained as a Specialist Community Public Health Nurse, where I wrote my dissertation on parental sleep deprivation and mental illness – I chose to use the knowledge I gained from this research to begin working as a Health Visitor, specialising in sleep training. I found so much fulfilment in supporting families to make positive, research-based changes that I poured this passion into establishing my specialist independent sleep coaching business. I am so lucky to work with such a beautifully unique blend of families, with a dynamic range of parenting styles, health requirements and family structures, including foster/adoptive, LGBTQ+, & families with additional learning and medical needs. All these families have had one thing in common: that love and compassion are at the core of our work together. So, if you need a helping hand, let’s get planning.
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