Drawing on her extensive psychology and child development research background, her experiences as a mother, and her training as an Infant and Family Sleep Specialist, Jessica Guy helps parents navigate the wonderful and challenging world of baby sleep and parenting. She uses a baby-led holistic approach to help you tune out the noise and tune into your and your baby’s needs to improve sleep and wellbeing without sleep training. Through Infant Sleep Scientist, she shares her passion and educates parents about normal infant sleep, the power of nurture, and optimising parent and infant mental health. Here, Jessica talks to The Natural Parent about the inspiration behind Infant Sleep Scientist, how she balances work and family, and her hopes and dreams for the future.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
As a new mum, I was given so much advice that did not align with my instincts or my values as a parent, especially when it came to sleep. At times it made me feel like an absolute failure. Why didn’t my baby fit in with these expectations? Why did following these rules feel so wrong to me on such a deep level? I also knew from my extensive child development background and previous experiences as a sleep scientist that a lot of it was questionable in terms of its accuracy or evidence base.
I could see a huge gap and need for new mums and all parents to be able to access evidence-based and intuition-informed information so they could navigate the tricky world of baby sleep without compromising on their values or doing anything that feels wrong to them.
So I made it my mission to try and fill the gap and Infant Sleep Scientist was born. I use a baby-led holistic approach to help parents improve sleep and wellbeing without sleep training.
The launch: How did you start out in the beginning?
I started by creating an Instagram account, which is still my main and preferred platform to share content, tips, and support for mums and caregivers. I really love the community I have built there with both parents and other professionals in the perinatal space. I also started out only delivering one-on-one services and sleep support, but I have now expanded that to include sleep webinars and guides for different ages and common challenges.
The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
I am not sure I have had one breakthrough. My success has been the res ult of consistent efforts underpinned by a very strong sense of my purpose and my “why”. This was a calling for me, not just a job, which is also what keeps me at it even on the harder days.
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
It’s not always easy! Working from home helps a lot and now that my 2.5-year-old daughter is in childcare 3 days a week, it is easier to have more distinct work time and family time. A big thing is that we have our routines and rituals that ensure we have connection time each day, especially on work days. Bedtime is a big deal in our house and my favourite part of the day. A connection-heavy routine helps her go to sleep easily and happily, which means my partner and I then get time together to unwind before going to bed ourselves. We also outsource grocery shopping by getting meal delivery boxes which definitely saves us time in meal planning and shopping.
