The Sweet Slumber Podcast: Baby-Centered Sleep

Episode 53- "Newborn Sleep Shaping: Insights from a Triple Certified Sleep Consultant" with Kayla Squier

• Meredith Brough • Season 3 • Episode 52

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In this episode of the Sweet Slumber podcast, host Meredith Brough interviews Kayla Squier, a seasoned nurse and sleep consultant who founded Serenity Sleep Consulting and Dream Jar Travels on Instagram.

Kayla discusses her path to becoming a sleep consultant, driven by her son's sleep challenges and her desire to empower mothers. She highlights the importance of intuition, confidence, and understanding each child's unique needs. The conversation also touches on Kayla's approach to sleep consulting, the influence of Meredith's course on her methods, and her passion for working with newborns to prevent sleep issues. She shares her favorite sleep tips for newborns and toddlers!

Kayla gives marketing advice to sleep consultants and points out what has been most enjoyable in her work. She discusses Meredith's teaching style and reflects on the friendship they built during her time in The Baby-Centered Sleep Consulting Certification Program. During the Interview, Kayla realizes that the program facilitated personal growth when she needed it most.  Her intuitive powers and confidence bloomed, blessing her family and business immensely.

As she concludes the interview, Kayla introduces her project supporting families who would like to travel with their autistic children. She invites new, exhausted parents to visit her website to learn about her programs and re-establish peaceful sleep.

Topics

  • Kayla's journey as a sleep consultant 
  • Challenges faced by Kayla as a first-time mom during the pandemic and developing proactive sleep shaping strategies
  • Kayla's success with her son's sleep struggles leading to the launch of Serenity Sleep Consulting and pursuit of certifications
  • Impact of learning and mentoring with Meredith on Kayla's personal and emotional growth
  • Kayla's perspective on building confidence in mothers and trusting their intuition
  • How temperament plays a part in sleep
  • Kayla's experiences and rewards in sleep consulting, including the importance of educating and building relationships with clients
  • Kayla's passion for working with parents of newborns and setting the foundation for baby's sleep
  • Valuable advice for sleep consultants, emphasizing the importance of honing in on a specific platform
  • Introduction of Kayla's new passion project, Dream Jar Travels, aimed at empowering parents of autistic and special needs children

Work with Kayla by connecting on Instagram @SerenitySleepConsulting or learn more about her sleep consulting programs on her website

Kayla’s Dream Jar Account

If you'd like to learn about the Baby-Centered Sleep Consultant Program or

The Baby-Centered Sleep Consultant Certification Program Launches on November 11th, 2024!

Check out the links below & add your name to our waiting list so you can join our next session.

Learn More About the Baby-Centered Sleep Consultant Certification Program HERE.

Learn about our Baby-Centered Sleep approach, methods and principles, hear from a few of our graduates, and get to know Meredith HERE.

Meredith Brough (00:00:00) - Welcome to the Sweet Slumber podcast. I'm your host, Meredith Brough. Whether you're a seasoned sleep consultant, a sleep coach, a birth world professional, or a mother aspiring to enter this fulfilling field of sleep expertise, you're in the right place. I'm here to teach you my baby centered solution so you can help exhausted, struggling parents reclaim their sleep and help children thrive along the way. I'll teach you how to find harmony in your life and avoid burnout. Build a thriving business and become a financially independent woman. My goal is to help you fall in love with sleep coaching and never look back. Let's embark on this journey together. Her dreams are sweet and the work is rewarding. Stay tuned for a show that will transform your business and the lives of those who touch. Hello and welcome to the show. Today I have my friend and past student Kayla Squire with me. I'm excited to talk to her today and introduce her to you. Hi, Kayla. Hello.

Kayla Squire (00:01:00) - How are you today?

Meredith Brough (00:01:02) - I'm good.

Meredith Brough (00:01:03) - So glad to have you.

Kayla Squire (00:01:04) - I am so excited to be here. So thank you for inviting me onto your show.

Meredith Brough (00:01:08) - You're welcome. So I there's so much to tell you about Kayla. I'm going to add a little personal note at the end here. just to start, Kayla is a toddler mom, a registered nurse with 15 years of experience, a newborn care specialist, and a triple certified sleep consultant. In 2021, she launched Serenity Sleep Consulting and has since transitioned to full time consulting. Inspired by her son's journey from hourly waking to 12 hours sleep at three months, Kayla developed a sleep shaping masterclass, empowering parents to gain peaceful nights before the age of sleep training. Having worked with parents of newborns up to age four across North America and beyond, she takes pride in earning over 105 five star reviews. What? That's amazing.

Kayla Squire (00:01:59) - I think it was.

Meredith Brough (00:01:59) - Personal experiences with hidden disabilities, and her son's autism diagnosis have fueled her recent passion project. Dream jar Travels at Dream Jar Travels on Instagram, where she inspires families of special needs children to travel and experience the joy of family adventures.

Meredith Brough (00:02:17) - This is so awesome! And one more note the way her business looks. Kayla provides one on one customized sleep consulting services worldwide with a specialty working with families in the newborn stage, which makes sense since you are a newborn care specialist as well. I love how everything meshes together and you know where we're comfortable and what we're great at, right? I just want to mention that,

Kayla Squire (00:02:41) - Kayla and I met.

Meredith Brough (00:02:42) - Has it been a couple years now?

Kayla Squire (00:02:44) - I want to say about at least two.

Meredith Brough (00:02:47) - Yeah, yeah, I was writing this down. I was like. Where did time go? That's crazy. So Caleb was my student a couple years ago, or, you know, around that time frame. And she came to me looking for more tools and gentle methods that she could use in her business. Since she's finished the course, she's become a trusted resource for me. We help each other solve challenging cases, share resources with one another, and we've developed a friendship. I think the world of her.

Meredith Brough (00:03:16) - She's a very talented sleep consultant, so I'm really excited again to share her with you. So, Kayla, can you tell us more about your story? We want to hear the scoop. Like how did you get to this point? Tell us more about your family.

Kayla Squire (00:03:28) - Yeah, absolutely. my husband and I had been together for quite some time. We were living our very best life. And then finally kind of decided that, you know, we do want to have a family. We do want to go down that road of parenthood. And we did. And relatively, you know, for the most part, things were pretty easy for us, going into having our first. But he was born on March 19th, 2020. So that's literally when the world was shutting down. So, yeah. anytime I think that, I say, you know, he was born in 2020, most people are like, oh yeah, because everyone's right. and so at the time that he was born and we came home, it was illegal to have anybody in your home.

Kayla Squire (00:04:16) - and of course, everywhere in the world we had different, you know, guidelines and protocols. But here you were not allowed to have people in your house. And so we have our first baby, which would be the first grandchild for both sets of grandparents. and technically, nobody was allowed to really come in other than the midwife team, and even that was really limited in its resources. So needless to say, being a first time mom, it was a challenge, but was what was the most challenging was the fact that he was a fairly good sleeper during the day, but would wake up every 45 to 60 minutes all night long. Which fair? He's a newborn, but it just got to the point where, you know, I knew that he could sleep at least 2 or 3 or four hours at night. and we weren't even getting that. And that's kind of what sparked the. I can't go on like this. I can't wait until he's x age to sleep train. And to be honest, I was really naive and I didn't really know what sleep training was.

Kayla Squire (00:05:22) - I thought it was the only method out there of the extinction method. I didn't know anything more. I know someone who did that, so that's all I ever knew of sleep training, and I didn't want to do that. So I thought, what can I do to be proactive? What can I do to kind of beat the, you know, four month sleep regression? And that's kind of what came forward with sleep shaping strategies. And then we got two hours, four hours, six hours, eight hours. And literally he was either 11 or 11.5 weeks and he slept 12 hours straight. Yeah.

Meredith Brough (00:05:56) - Beautiful. Like, I.

Kayla Squire (00:05:57) - Think I have something I think that's kind of how that started.

Meredith Brough (00:06:03) - that's so perfect. And what a great experience with your first child. Did his good sleep habits last?

Kayla Squire (00:06:10) - You know what they did. And you know, he's autistic. And so what? Many people who are raising children who are on the spectrum know is that sleep can be a huge challenge. But, you know, I can confidently say that he is in his sleep space for 11 to 12 hours at night.

Kayla Squire (00:06:29) - you know, whether he's sleeping soundly that entire time, he might be waking up a little bit, but he's putting himself back to sleep. and he's very content in his sleep space, so. Absolutely, it's lasted.

Meredith Brough (00:06:39) - Well, that's pretty cool. Well, what happened with your second child?

Kayla Squire (00:06:42) - And then my second. So when Eli was six months old, found out we were going to have another baby, so they'd be, you know, 15 months apart. oddly enough. Right. Like another Covid baby. Another baby born during Covid. And vena had better stretches of sleep. Kind of off the hop, right? Like when she was born. And, you know, is that her temperament? Maybe. Is it just the fact that I knew more maybe kind of luck of the draw? Like, who really knows? but one thing Veda dealt with was pretty severe reflux. and so it took her longer to get to 12 hours of sleep. But in the grand scheme of things, we got there.

Kayla Squire (00:07:27) - But definitely her temperament was quite different from my first. and then Q like, what more can I learn and who can be my support system outside of, you know, the one course I had taken at the time?

Meredith Brough (00:07:42) - Yeah. So tell us more about that course journey. Yes. And your, your original occupation like that's so important.

Kayla Squire (00:07:52) - And so, you know, in 2008, I want to say it was I graduated, with my background in nursing, and I started working right away. I worked right up until basically having my first and then rolled from one maternity leave into the other. But my background in nursing always was in primary and preventative health care. So, eating healthy lifestyle, wellness, baby checks, everything to kind of prevent disease from occurring, right? Like, what can we do now to prevent the diabetes and high blood pressure, to prevent the disease and getting up to date with, let's say, immunizations or whatever it may be. And so I think that's why with sleep shaping, it was such a, a proactive thought on my end because of the background as a nurse.

Kayla Squire (00:08:39) - Yeah. And when Veda came with her reflux and the fact that her temperament was just different, I knew that I, I needed more and I wanted to know more. So after Eli, I did my first certification because I thought, well, if I'm pregnant and I have another baby, what if all that I know doesn't work? What if I want to be as prepared as possible? So I got my first certification launched serenity. Things were going super well. I loved it so much. I did a second certification, loved it so well, and then as time went on, I was getting more clients. Definitely more popular in my local city and reaching a lot wider of an audience. My Instagram account hit 10,000 and kept skyrocketing. And with that comes more families, more babies, more toddlers, and more challenges. Yeah, and there was one particular case that I remember thinking, this could be going better, and I want it to go better for the baby, for the mom and for myself.

Kayla Squire (00:09:35) - And out of the two certification classes that I had done or courses, the tools for this particular family, weren't working as well as I would have hoped them to. And that's kind of what led me to think, what am I missing? what can I do better? and regardless if it's a one off, I always want to try to do better and to serve families as best as I could. And in that one situation, I didn't feel I was serving them the level that I would want to. And that's when I thought, what am I missing? What could I do better? What can I do different? And that's when I was able to connect with you. And I'm like, who doesn't want a third certification? I go, three, why not? Right. kind of, how it led normal. Why not? I'm a life learner, so I was excited.

Meredith Brough (00:10:29) - Yeah. That's awesome. Okay, well, you just opened a really big door there. So tell us about your experience.

Meredith Brough (00:10:39) - mostly about learning, mentoring with me, that sort of thing. Just spill your guts. Yeah.

Kayla Squire (00:10:48) - So I'm not even really sure how I found you. I know it was on Instagram. you know, whether it was a real apposed, I don't know, but I know that I. I saw your account, and, it's a kind of a funny thing. And I don't know if I've ever actually told you this before, but beyond the content that had caught my eye that I was interested in, I saw that your name was Meredith. And when we knew we were having a second, and then we were going through girl and boy names, and when we knew it was a girl, one of my top names was Meredith.

Meredith Brough (00:11:23) - Oh my goodness.

Kayla Squire (00:11:24) - I you know, I love the name Meredith. And I remember thinking, and with my daughter, we did not name her Meredith. her name ended up being Veda, but Meredith from Grey's Anatomy, like, the biggest fan ever. And in the time that I found, you know, Meredith and a couple other names, Grey's Anatomy was playing, my, the song My Girl and had a reference to the movie My Girl, which was another name on our list.

Kayla Squire (00:11:51) - So that's where we made that. But I'm very much about signs. And when I saw that content piece and I wish I remembered what it was, that's awesome. And I saw your name. I just was like, I need I need to know more. and I, I probably messaged you likely. and we connected and I think I was struggling with Vader's temperament because she was above average for wake windows and naps. and that's how we kind of originally connected. And then I learned about the fact that you were not only as sleep consultant, but you were doing a certification course. you talked about some methods that you had, and I thought, I need to know, like does. And I was I'm going to say that I was skeptical. I was definitely skeptical. And I was like, is all that she's saying, you know, going to be true or not? Or is it going to be the methods that I already know but with a different name, like, what's it really going to be like? And I thought, why not? Let's give it a go.

Kayla Squire (00:12:53) - I love learning and we'll see if it's different, if it's not. And absolutely I want to say that it was different, and a lot of value. And that's how we connected in the third certification came my way. Yeah.

Meredith Brough (00:13:08) - I'm so honored. I'm your third certification. Yeah, that's pretty cool. So I really like talking about maybe, you know, the experiences that you had as you learned from me. I mean, because you have a really great background, a lot of training already. Was there anything Eye-Opening or refreshing or something that you enjoyed learning about?

Kayla Squire (00:13:30) - Yeah, absolutely. I think one of the biggest things is, you know, I am a lot about, you know, signs and intuition, but, you know, sometimes even trusting my, my own self. And it could be with making it any decision outside of sleep consulting, outside of nursing, like in my own personal life, that I could kind of get hung up on and really look to outside, like, you know, my mom or my best friend or my husband and always kind of almost looking for like a validation sometimes.

Kayla Squire (00:13:59) - and one of the things that I really tuned into with you is how you really focus on, like, building mom up and really getting her to trust her mama intuition. Her mama gut, because at the end of the day, right, like moms do know their children best. They really, really, really do. And then when we can tune in to that, we often have, like, all of the answers we need. And that could make everything so much easier, whether it's like feeding or sleep or, you know, their wake windows or whatever it might be, decisions for them and feeding, so much easier. So one of the things that I found so unique was that perspective of how you really work with mom beyond just sleep, right? Like it's almost like building mom's confidence. Yeah. And then through that, I felt like my own confidence with my intuition was growing. of course, with my own children, with myself, and even with clients, because there were times where like.

Kayla Squire (00:15:00) - You know, I would be gung ho like this week. Window needs to change how long a baby's awake before the nap. And then I almost started to second guess myself because I thought, well, this isn't in course one or course two. Meredith talks a lot about intuition, but. But maybe I'm wrong. Like, that would be a lot longer than the average baby could stay up a lot longer. So I'd almost be hesitant to tell the mom or I would, and the mom would be like, well, that seems so much. And I'm like, yeah, you know, there was just these moments of maybe second guessing myself and I think through the course really being like, know when my intuition, like, clicks off. It always steers me in the direction of it being right.

Meredith Brough (00:15:43) - I love that, yeah.

Kayla Squire (00:15:45) - So that was incredible.

Meredith Brough (00:15:46) - This is so fun to talk because we just chat. You know, we don't ever talk about this stuff. So I just love hearing it. I really do.

Meredith Brough (00:15:55) - Well I also think something that's significant is that when you were learning studying and we were getting to know each other, it was when you were going through some. Struggles or searches for answers with your kids, right? Or with your son? Yeah. So it was neat that I was, I guess, along for that journey. Absolutely. And I think the timing of you learning to trust yourself and, you know, as a mom was really significant too.

Kayla Squire (00:16:22) - I'm actually I'm getting as we're talking. I didn't even really expect this to go in this direction. and I'm getting emotional right now because as we're talking, I'm really realizing that, you know, yes, I had my background as a nurse, and, you know, yes, I was a mom, and yes, I had these, you know, three certifications now under my belt. But in that process, and this is how, like, autism kind of ties into all of it, is that I really had this, like, knowing that my son was on the spectrum, I really did.

Kayla Squire (00:16:51) - And, you know, there was a few struggles with his sleep and in the grand scheme of of life and what other people deal with, it was really nothing. Right. But it was things were starting to shift. and in my time with you, I think that's why I'm getting so emotional. Because I really do believe that beyond just, like, you know, the course beyond just being certified again, beyond having extra tools to help families. Like, really, for my personal world, there is a level of of that confidence in my own intuition that continued to fight and advocate and, you know, fly to different cities to do everything in my power to get someone to listen to me. Yeah. and that like, tenacity of, like, I am not giving up because something inside of me is telling me that something is different, and that different is okay, but that different needs a level of support I'm not getting. so I was getting emotional thinking, like that's what it was. It was a lot to do with his struggle in falling asleep for a period of time, and me kind of questioning a lot until I tuned into that intuition.

Kayla Squire (00:18:00) - Yeah. So I had to share that.

Meredith Brough (00:18:01) - So beautiful it is. Things happen for a reason. Absolutely. And, I mean, maybe there's a sense of gratitude. You know, if you're religious, I'm religious. Just appreciating that God has a hand in these things and leads us and gives us what we need when we need it. Right.

Kayla Squire (00:18:17) - For sure.

Meredith Brough (00:18:18) - I love that, and that's a really meaningful thing to me. I don't think I've really said this much on my podcast before, but ever since the beginning. When I was learning things that were different, you know, from my experiences with families, I always felt like God was giving me the methods or the solutions. And so I always had this sense of, this isn't mine. Okay. And so when I started teaching people and certification programs, it was like, there's this part of me and my husband that were like, oh my gosh, these are our trade secrets. This is like our bread and butter. How do we share them? But I always had that feeling inside like, I, I am just sharing what God's given me and it's not mine, you know? So why would I protect it? And then along with that came, you know, this is work that he gave me.

Meredith Brough (00:19:07) - These are people that I want to connect with. These are people I want to help. And so it's just like, oh my gosh, it's such a deep, meaningful work. Do you, do you kind of relate? You know, you talked about why I love building women. Do you love that part of your work now too?

Kayla Squire (00:19:21) - I absolutely do like to be able. That's the one thing about nursing. And in a lot of roles within the hospital, you don't really get the opportunity to know your client, right? Like if you were going to merge, they they come and you treat it. It's all acute. And there's nurses that love that, and they're built for that and they're made for that and they thrive in that. And we need them just like we need the nurses and labor delivery and mental health. And there's like all of our different personalities and skill sets are there to do all of these different roles. And that's fantastic. And for me, I love I genuinely love like building relationships, making those connections and teaching like that's something I, I really realized, post my nursing education afterwards, working as a nurse, that I love the education part of it.

Kayla Squire (00:20:10) - so educating people on their health and well-being and what steps they can take. And that's like the world of sleep, like educating moms on wake windows and overall sleep needs and tuning into their own intuition. because it's it's really incredible to get to know them. And then to see the transformation that they can achieve and how happy it makes mom, baby, toddler, the, the husband or partner. And that in itself has been like one of my favorite things about sleep consulting.

Meredith Brough (00:20:43) - Yeah. And I was going to ask you about that. So thanks for sharing what your favorite parts are experiences and rewards. So thank you. I guess this is kind of circling back. One more thing and you may not even have an answer. So we don't have to talk about it, but is there anything that you thought you'd be learning in my course that you actually gained?

Kayla Squire (00:21:03) - You know, and there is something I wanted I'd love to share. There's something I'd love to share. So I loved the different perspective. One on sleep overall and holistically, which I absolutely agree with.

Kayla Squire (00:21:17) - But the the tools and the resources that you provided, like in the course for us as consultants to learn and like I don't want to give, right. Like all the tips and tricks away that that's your stuff. But you know, even in the sense of certain places, you know, before bed or what, buckets in our children are being filled throughout the day. you know, because because, yes, sleep is important and so is play. So was connection, so was nutrition. My main background was in nutrition for so, so long. food can impact sleep for the better and for the worse. Right. And so there were some, resources that you had provided in there that were not in other courses that really can help, especially even with the toddlers who are wound up before sleep and again tuning into the child. And what is the behavior telling us? Because I also believe right that behaviors communication. So if our toddlers are being so resistant at bedtime, yes, they might have build a sleep association or connection.

Kayla Squire (00:22:21) - And and why though like what what other puzzle pieces are we missing? so that was really cool for me. That was also cool for me to know, like long term. I mean, data is not three yet, but we know that there's usually a sleep regression, you know, coming down. So thinking, well, what am I doing with her on a physical and mental level before bedtime and filling up her cup? So that was something I wasn't necessarily expecting, but I absolutely loved and felt so valuable from your program.

Meredith Brough (00:22:51) - Thank you. I love this feedback. It's so fun and I promise it's not like stroking an ego. It's more like, oh, I did something right.

Kayla Squire (00:22:59) - I know, right because everyone's going to have their own perception of and their takeaways of what they loved. that was one of the things I absolutely loved and like to this day. obviously it depends on the family, the baby, the toddler and their age. But with certain families that I've really dived into and it can be as simple tweak as the bedtime routine that has like that is the sleep training, right? Like there's really nothing else other than.

Kayla Squire (00:23:27) - Bedtime routine has been tweaked, and now there are little ones falling asleep with ease.

Meredith Brough (00:23:32) - Yeah. Yeah. So do you find that you really look at temperament more now in your work, or is that something that you always did?

Kayla Squire (00:23:41) - It's something that I always took into consideration. It's something that was always part of my family questionnaire before I, you know, gathered all the data to to make the plans. It's something that I had always thought about and took into consideration. but I would say that the way that I like on board my clients. And before we get started, depending, of course, on the family. And that little one's temperament is different now since taking your course. So for those that are even more, you know, spirited or sensitive, there's a lot more preliminary or homework. I hate using the word homework, so it just seems so daunting. But, some exercises or activities and or sometimes like just parent education for the parent to make slight tweaks to, to how they do bedtime that we build up on before we technically get started.

Kayla Squire (00:24:38) - So it kind of it can draw it out a little bit longer for me, but at the end of the day, that's better for baby child parents. so that I have really, really liked as well.

Meredith Brough (00:24:49) - So in your work now, I mentioned that you love working with newborns. Is that your favorite? Is that your passion with sleep?

Kayla Squire (00:24:57) - I think it's I think it's up my passion because it's my bread and butter, just like you said. You have all of those, you know, like the secret sauce and all these really incredible methods that, you know, you came up with, and you're like, how do I give it away? But obviously, you know, that it's going to help masses of people, right? And so I love working with parents of newborns, because I do believe that when we set the foundation to their babies sleep, to their family unit sleep, we don't need to sleep train because the baby is falling asleep. content. Because from day one, the parents really can learn awake windows when to put baby down and they're not developing.

Kayla Squire (00:25:40) - You know, a negative sleep association or connection. So that's why I love it, because I'm like, we can just bypass a whole lot of turmoil for baby and parents and have everyone feeling so much more rested if we start right away, and then to see it, because sometimes I'm still even amazed, like I'm like, okay, it worked for my son and did work for my daughter, and it's worked for all these clients. And then I get another client like, what if this time it doesn't? And but but it does, right? It keeps working. And I'm like, no, okay. It's something of course it takes a very, you know, I'm going to say special parent, determined parent to follow those instructions because they are tired and we are sleep deprived those first so many weeks. but I love it because it can be such an incredible transformation. And then, you know, my clients have a newborn who's sleeping six, eight, ten, 12 weeks, and they're not even four months yet.

Kayla Squire (00:26:35) - So that's why I love it. But now that my kids are older, they're in the toddler stage. I also love, love working with parents of toddlers. because really, it can get so fun to get creative in. What strategies to give the parents to do with their children? and small tweaks can go a long way, so I'm kind of like, I either want a toddler. Or like, let's get, you know, Mom and dad, and they have a brand new baby who's under three months old. Yeah. The two ends of the spectrum.

Meredith Brough (00:27:07) - Totally different for different reasons. Like, the newborn is so rewarding to see how that affects the family, the child, the rest of their life. But the toddler, it's like such a big change in such an important transformation that you probably just love seeing that, right? I do.

Kayla Squire (00:27:24) - Yeah. And you know, toddlers that they are, they're like vocal right. We're talking they have words. Their their job is to push boundaries.

Kayla Squire (00:27:34) - and then and then when you're able to explain again the education piece, when I can educate the parents on like why this is happening and, you know, just the things that might be leading up to a harder bedtime and they're like, oh, okay. And so let's do A, B and C and they're like, Holy moly, they finally slept again 11 hours. And they haven't done that in three months like they did. But then they stopped. so again, it's that education piece I love it.

Meredith Brough (00:27:58) - I love it, I love how it's almost like math to like, things are so predictable. One plus one equals two. And these are things that people never thought about before. And then once they learn it, they're like choir of angels singing, right? It's so exciting.

Kayla Squire (00:28:13) - Yeah, absolutely.

Meredith Brough (00:28:15) - so are there some tips that you would like to share with listeners? I want I want to have you share maybe favorite tips or something that you found is really important that parents focus on.

Kayla Squire (00:28:28) - some tips, I would say for either people that are expecting.

Kayla Squire (00:28:33) - Right. parents that are expecting a baby just by the hatch. Just do it. Okay, I, I don't get paid to say this. I don't. I don't. But just buy it because it's worth it. you know, I have one in each, room of, you know, my son, my daughter. We have one at the grandparents. They have one for the kids and the ability to, manually change the sound, the light, whatever it may be, whether at the newborn stage or older or in toddlerhood, it really is worth it, right? Like I'm using mine for four years now. It's worth it. Just just buy it. that would be one thing. the other piece of advice I would say is if you can just spend the first two weeks of your baby's life tuning in to the, the, you know, wake, when do I call it the golden ticket, the golden ticket of when to put them down without having them overtired and then needing to rock and feed them to sleep? If you can tune in to that and lay them down before they get overtired, you will see that they can drift off to sleep.

Kayla Squire (00:29:42) - I would say 90% of us parents end up with overtired newborns that need help to have their, bodies regulated, and then we revert to feeding and rocking to sleep because that is what will work. But if you can tune in for the first two weeks and nail those wake windows and every few weeks continue to make a point of what is working, you will have so much success in your little one's sleep, but you really, if you can do it right from the top, that would be the best. that's the few things I would say for newborn parents. Do you want me to give some for the toddler parents?

Meredith Brough (00:30:18) - Sure. Why not? Since you love that work too.

Kayla Squire (00:30:22) - Yeah. For for parents of toddlers that are struggling with your little one's sleep. I think the best piece of advice, I would give is. Are you rushing through the bedtime routine? recently, I had someone say, you know, the routines. You know, almost 30 minutes, like they couldn't. It's almost 30 minutes.

Kayla Squire (00:30:45) - And then they take 30 or 45 minutes or an hour to fall asleep. And when we think of it, if our children are in daycare, hypothetically, I'm going to use this as an example all day. And then we get them and we feed them and we kind of get them at the worst of the day, right? Like they're tanked out, they're depleted, and then they feed and, you know, maybe they play for a little bit or or we're tired post-work. And they ask to watch something and let's say we put something on, they watch something for 20, 30 minutes. And then you go into the bedroom time routine and you get it, try to get it done. And within 30 minutes, because you're tired and you want to shower and you need to clean up the kitchen, like we really didn't spend any time with them. Like, really like in the grand scheme of if we're using post daycare to bedtime routine, like there's really limited time and if they're so resistant to to the bed, is it because they don't feel well fulfilled in their time with you? And 30 minutes sometimes is not enough time to unwind from the craziness of like a toddler's brain and body.

Kayla Squire (00:31:47) - So sometimes actually lengthening their bedtime routine with the parent can be like the trick to have them fall asleep easier because they're going from like a heightened state to being more calm and ready to naturally fall asleep. So sometimes we're either doing it, you know, too long or too short. But if you think it's too long and it's 15 to 30 minutes, sometimes adding 15 to 20 minutes is actually what your little one needs.

Meredith Brough (00:32:16) - That is so insightful, I love it. Thank you. I love that especially because you're including that connection in there. It's so wonderful. Okay, so I love this question for you. Totally different topic, even different audience because you've taken three certification courses. What's your advice to someone who's thinking about becoming a sleep consultant?

Kayla Squire (00:32:40) - Okay, that's a great question. My advice to somebody who's thinking of becoming a sleep consultant would be think of like, your own parenting style. And think of the type of parents you would want to work with. Think of what advice you would give to a parent even without a certification behind you, whether that be on feeding or sleep, like your own idea of what that should or could look like.

Kayla Squire (00:33:13) - and then, you know, look at what courses feel most aligned with you personally and with the type of maybe clientele or families that you could envision yourself working with. Right. So given that I've done three certifications now, I can say that they're all they're all different. They are all different. And in saying that, you know, my ideal client, it isn't a client that would fit in all three of those certifications, right? and the best thing is that I've been able to take my favorites from all of them to amalgamate into, you know, my own kind of unique spin on things and then with my own experience. So I would say, think of your parenting style, think of the client that you want to work with and family, and then what course feels most aligned with your values and with how you want to have your your brand's voice and business? That would be one of my my things, to suggest to talk to the, like director, the creator of the course and like, do you connect with them? Are they giving you time? Right.

Kayla Squire (00:34:26) - If someone's not going to give you time, to ask questions or time to go over their course or do it or connect on zoom or phone call it, it's you're probably not going to get that much from them in the course. Like, this is not even my personal experience, but hearing from others. And that's I remember one thing about you and I is that I remember connecting with you and how what, how much time you were giving to me just by talking and asking and being curious about my son and and just trying to like, you know, go through some of the troubleshooting without saying, sign up for my course. Right. You were in your time. And that is what I was really connecting with. Like, wow, she's been so helpful. and I'm not paying her right. I'm not a client or a customer. We're just to sleep consultants. so those would be two of the biggest ones. Your style, alignment and then getting to know the horse creator and do you connect with them?

Meredith Brough (00:35:29) - Yeah, that is amazing advice.

Meredith Brough (00:35:32) - Look at you. Good job. Thank you.

Kayla Squire (00:35:35) - Thank you.

Meredith Brough (00:35:39) - People really love this. I really appreciate your heartfelt, thoughtful advice. That's great. Okay, so one more bit of advice I'm asking from you because I have such a varied audience. So we also have people who are sorry. Some of my listeners are sleep consultants who are just getting started. They could be brand new. They could be a year in even too. You know how that is. It can take some time to get, you know, on the right feet with your business. Do you have any advice for them? And this could be anything. It could be about work life balance. It could be about, you know, staying committed. You know, how to handle the ups and downs or could be marketing advice. What do you think?

Kayla Squire (00:36:19) - I think the first thing that's coming to mind that I would probably, you know, that I would share and suggest would be whatever way you want to promote or market or find, you know, your people and the parents that you would like to help, whatever that might look like for you.

Kayla Squire (00:36:39) - Hone into that and and stick with that, especially if it starts to work. Right. and and know that it takes time. There are so many different platforms when it comes to even social media, and it can get. Really hard, especially in the first 1 or 2 years, to think or to feel that you need to do it all, like you need to be on all of them to find your people. And when we do that, I think that it really depletes from the quality that we can produce on the one platform that we might align with most. And maybe it's not social media, maybe it's outreach to physicians, or maybe it's outreach to midwives that are in your community or you, you know, no health care providers, you know, not maybe in your city, but close by, whatever it is that you feel that you have the most passion or drive for it to connect. For me, it's Instagram. then go forward with that and do it for a minimum of six full months, whatever that looks like to you.

Kayla Squire (00:37:47) - and before you even consider, I would say, longer than six months before you even consider a different type of platform or different type of outreach, that would be my first piece of advice.

Meredith Brough (00:37:58) - Yeah. Such good advice. I love that, and I love that you hit on the fact that it's the only way to do it well, and it's the only way to really connect and and maybe even help people see you. Right? So if you're if you're depleted, if you're spread too thin, I'm like probably the master on that topic. Don't do what I did. So I love that. Yeah. Good advice. Thank you so much. Okay. We're going to we're going to swing back and talk to people who might want to work with you. So can you please tell my listeners how they can find you? what working with you would look like? Contact info, that sort of thing.

Kayla Squire (00:38:36) - Yeah, sure. So if anybody is interested, I don't know if you have any expecting parents that listening or someone who might be listening in that knows and expecting parents.

Kayla Squire (00:38:46) - since that's kind of my secret sauce, you can find me on Instagram is where I spend most of my time with a lot of educational content at Serenity Sleep Consulting, or by my website, Serenity Sleep Consulting comm. Those would be the two areas to find me for sleep services and support. And can I mention about the other?

Meredith Brough (00:39:09) - Yes, please.

Speaker 3 (00:39:11) - Yes.

Meredith Brough (00:39:12) - Tell them the background to like I love this. I love that you're doing some new things.

Kayla Squire (00:39:17) - I'm just, like, so excited. So in all of the the world of sleep, I love it. But my my babies are not necessarily babies. They're toddlers. And, you know, we kind of touched on how you and I connected and my struggles also with my son and that the autism, which eventually we did get a diagnosis and travel is our huge passion. And so at this point I have two kids, they're toddlers and they sleep 11 to 12 hours straight. They're taking naps. Like I'm out of the trenches, right? But I'm not out of the trenches of, toddler behavior, the meltdowns and then navigating life, raising an autistic child.

Kayla Squire (00:39:55) - So our biggest passion is travel. I have an account called @Dream Jar Travels on Instagram, and it's really about empowering parents of autistic children and special needs children to find that confidence to travel and make memories. Because the more we do experience with our children, with special needs, even if it's really, really hard, it builds their capacity. When we build their capacity, they're able to really expand their horizons. So, you know, I talk about sleep and travel and sleep, of course, but it's also just about motherhood and mothering a child on the spectrum and how travel really can fulfill us. So that's my new my newest passion project.

Meredith Brough (00:40:37) - And it lights you up. So you're doing the right thing. So.

Kayla Squire (00:40:43) - Thank you so much I appreciate that. Yeah.

Meredith Brough (00:40:45) - Yeah. Okay. So make sure you look Kayla up at Serenity Sleep Consulting. Com and follow her at Dream Jar Travels. It'll be fun to watch her and learn from her. Especially anyone, anyone out there who has a special needs or autistic child.

Meredith Brough (00:41:02) - It'll be really, really amazing to watch how you manage to travel. It's just so fascinating to me that you're you're helping other people figure that out.

Kayla Squire (00:41:12) - It's it's a it can be a journey. It can be a little rocky. but I always, always say that it's it's always worth it. Like, it's always worth it. And for myself and my child and our family and building those memories. So, yeah, excited to connect with more people.

Meredith Brough (00:41:27) - You've got another calling, another way to help, another way to bless families, which is so exciting. So thank you, Kayla, for being here. It's been a pleasure to hear more about your journey and learn more about you and what's lighting you up now. And I just love your genius. You are so natural at sleep consulting, so it's just my pleasure sharing you with my audience. I hope that they look you up, they connect with you.

Kayla Squire (00:41:56) - I appreciate it and thank you so much for taking the time and asking me to be a part of this.

Kayla Squire (00:41:59) - I, I love connecting with you so it was awesome.

Meredith Brough (00:42:02) - Thank you and thanks to my listeners for being here, spending time with us today. Until next time, we'll see you soon. Thanks for listening to the Sweet Slumber podcast. We hope you enjoyed today's show. Before you go, please leave a review and hit subscribe and have a great day!


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Meredith Brough

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