Holistic sleep support for your little one, which ensures that their bond with you is strong
No cry it out methods
Sleep solutions to support responsive parenting
Marisa Tait
Level 6 Holistic Sleep Coach
Level 2 Certificate Food and Nutrition
Diploma Mindfulness for Children
Level 2 Certificate Understanding Autism
Your gentle journey starts here
I’m Marisa, the founder of Your Gentle Journey, a safe space to learn about sleep.
Your bond with your child is incredibly important and my methods are only kind and gentle.
I do not advocate for any form of crying it out.
You will learn sleep strategies that last for life, which include naps and nighttimes.
My favourite question is ‘why?’ and I want to show you how to delve into the problems you are facing, to find real solutions in order to collaborate on a bespoke package that is kind to both baby and you.
My own journey
I have two children aged 15 and 12, and have experienced sleep challenges with both of them throughout their lives. When they were tiny babies, I felt passionately that I did not want them to be distressed at night and that is where my holistic sleep journey began.
It opened my eyes to attachment parenting, which I had never heard of until I started co-sleeping with my first baby. This led to lots of reading and research on the topic and it all made perfect sense.
It turns out that a mother’s instinct to answer cries and help their child is correct!
Not only have we done it for thousands of years, but there is now scientific research to show that love really does play a part in how a child develops both mentally and physically.
Ready to chat about your child’s sleep?
Are you wondering whether I am the right fit for your family?
Book a free 15 minute discovery call with me so that we can chat about your situation and see how we can collaborate to find some gentle sleep solutions.
Ready for help?
Babies and young toddlers
Babies and young toddlers are not designed to sleep for the whole night - sorry! Their sleep cycles are very different to adults, for good reason - survival!
But there are gentle ways to help them to optimise their sleep, and consequently yours.
Learn the scientifically proven benefits of attachment parenting, which gives children confidence and a lifelong ability to form strong relationships.
Attachment parenting is beneficial for both baby and mother, and responding to your baby is proven to reduce maternal anxiety and improve everyone’s sleep. Not only that but it improves every factor of your baby’s development, including their health, mental wellbeing and cognitive abilities.
I can help you to optimise your infant’s night time patterns so that everyone has as much rest as they can.
My methods do not allow a baby or child to be left in distress.
Older children
In the ever changing world of babies and children, they often reach developmental milestones or find themselves in situations that result in sleep challenges. These can range from normal hormonal changes to problems at school or with friends, to more serious problems, such as a bereavement or divorce, causing anxiety.
Perhaps they have recently moved into a new room on their own or you have moved house. They may want some more independence themselves and you don’t know where to start with this.
I can help to unpick any unhealthy habits and offer various ideas to make incremental changes in order to develop a successful sleep plan with you, which suits your family.
Teenagers and adults
Teenagers, by their very nature, are learning to be more independent.
Mother Nature has kindly given them a different circadian rhythm to their parents, meaning that they feel tired at a later time and therefore wake up later, if left to their own devices. This evolved to help teenagers to forge their own life away from their parents, and is a normal progression.
However, it does not work very well with our society and the demands of school and homework!
I will help you to create as calm and peaceful environment as possible for your teenager, to bring their bedtime forward and enable them to get the optimum amount of sleep. They should still be sleeping for at least 10 hours a night for maximum health benefits.
Adults have a multitude of demands on their time and tend to get into the habit of working until late and not settling early enough to maximise their sleep.
Again, I can help with some simple routines to put in place to maximise an 8 hour sleep, needed to keep you fit and healthy.
Explore sleep packages
Detailed analysis of your sleep diary followed by a half hour call.
You will complete a three day sleep diary prior to our face to face call, when you will discover easy-to-follow sleep tips. By the end of the chat, you will have a plan in place to help improve sleep.
An email will be sent to you to confirm your bespoke sleep plans.
An hour long call and extensive email summary, plus a 15 minute catch-up call, stretched over a maximum of one month.
You will complete a detailed sleep questionnaire to be analysed by me.
Discover easy-to-follow sleep tips that empower you to maximise sleep every night, delivered in a one hour face to face call.
A comprehensive, personalised written guide will be emailed to you.
Enjoy WhatsApp and email support for a fortnight, plus a final 15 minute catch-up call.
My advice is personalised to fit with your lifestyle, bringing clarity and support to your family’s journey.
Two hour long calls and extensive support every step of the way, stretched over a maximum of one month.
You will complete a detailed sleep questionnaire to be analysed by me.
Discover easy-to-follow sleep tips that empower you to maximise sleep every night. The tips will be delivered in two face to face calls over the period of a fortnight. Each call will last for one hour.
A comprehensive, personalised written guide will be emailed to you.
Enjoy whatsapp and email support for the fortnight.
My advice is personalised to fit with your lifestyle, bringing clarity and support to your family’s journey.
Four hour long calls and extensive support every step of the way, stretched over a maximum of two months.
You will complete a detailed sleep questionnaire to be analysed by me.
Your tailored step-by-step gentle sleep plan will help you achieve your goals, and I will deliver this on face to face calls once a week for four weeks. Each call will last for one hour and I will be there every step of the way to help you to progress.
A comprehensive, personalised written guide will be emailed to you.
Enjoy WhatsApp and email support for the month.
My advice is personalised to fit with your lifestyle, bringing clarity and support to your family’s journey.
Once you have taken this sleep course, there will be a 15% discount on add-ons.
Home education
I have home educated my two children for 9 years and have plenty of advice and resources to share with you.
You might want to ask some questions about how to make it work, or find out how it could be done when both parents need an income.
Or you might wish to ask for some helpful resources so that you can find out about why children can be happier learners at home (it’s definitely not about sitting at the kitchen table all day replicating school!). There are books and YouTube videos and education sites that I can recommend.
In addition, I can give you some life hacks so that you can fit it all in!
I offer a gentle tutoring service for primary aged children, using my experience with my own children and the knowledge I have gained over the years. I make it as fun as possible and bring in craft and mindfulness along the way.
To find out more about tutoring services, please send me a message.
Client testimonials
“Working with Marisa Tait was a game-changer for our family. Her modular approach to solving our child's sleep issues was exactly what we needed. Unlike other consultants, Marisa didn't offer a one-size-fits-all solution; instead, she took the time to understand our unique situation and provided tailored advice. Her holistic methods, combined with practical recommendations and insightful book suggestions, made a real difference. Thanks to Marisa's expertise and friendly demeanor, we were able to implement her strategies with confidence, and soon after, our toddler slept through the night without waking up. Marisa's support and understanding throughout the process were invaluable, and we can't thank her enough for helping us achieve a full night's sleep once again.“
J and J, London
“Our experience with Marisa was very positive and empowering. We managed to transition from one of the most difficult periods in our child's sleep development to one of the most settled periods. Although we were already quite well informed, Marisa helped to shift our understanding of the fundamental processes of infant sleep, which has led to us making better and more informed decisions. By giving us a range of tools and suggestions, we were able to implement the things that seemed to work best for our baby.
“Although, like most babies, our child's sleep can be patchy and frustrating, the principles we established with Marisa have been there to fall back on, helping us to realise that everything we're experiencing is normal. The attachment parenting model Marisa uses works well for us, as it puts the needs of the child first and appears to be most closely aligned with the realities of infant development. This approach won't be for everyone, but if you're interested in putting in the work to create a safe, gentle platform for your child, we'd recommend working with Marisa.”
Z and R, London
“It was really brilliant today. I feel quite emotional having my parenting approach validated - thanks.”
C, Essex
“Would highly recommend Your Gentle Journey. Marisa provided comprehensive advice and an action plan, tailored to the specific needs of our family. The advice has been highly effective in resolving my son’s sleep issues and I now have a clear path as to how to develop further sleep resilience as he gets older.”
C and S, Essex
“The overall experience of working with Marisa was very good. She was very kind and calming which helped to make us feel more relaxed.
“After our initial call, we put the plan into action. There were a few bumps along the way, our little boy became ill with Hand Foot and Mouth, but we stayed on the plan as much as we could and we got back into our new routine very quickly once he was better. He is sleeping so well now.
“I didn’t know what to expect from the sleep coaching, but I am so pleased with the outcome. At times, I was thinking is it going to work, but we trusted in the process and what Marisa had advised and it all paid off.
“I was surprised how small the changes were that we made, it wasn’t anything drastic, but I think we had lost our way a bit after months of bad sleep, and the changes made a big improvement.
“Before we saw Marisa, we looked at the cry it out method but neither of us wanted to do this as we wanted a much softer approach.
“We would recommend Your Gentle Journey to others - Marisa is not judgemental and makes you feel really calm and we really opened up to her. We are looking at going back to Marisa to help transition our boy into his own room.”
C and J, Essex
“Marisa’s kind support and help has been so useful through working out what was going on with our daughter’s sleep.
“The WhatsApp support was great to be able to check in at any time and adapt and evolve plans.
“We have more acceptance of what our daughter needs and we’ve ruled out that we’re not doing anything to cause her false starts. It was invaluable to have someone with a similar parenting focus, prioritising attachment and gentle parenting. I am also feeling more prepared for night weaning which I didn’t know Marisa could help with.
“Thanks very much Marisa.”
N and A, Essex
