hello, my name is nalani
Most days you can find me spending majority of my day outside and if I’m not outside I’m folding the 2748th load of laundry for the day. My days are spent sandy and wet as I play with my kids at our lake, trying to get in a good workout, cooking up nourishing meals for (and with!) my family, making messy art with my kids, listening to records, tending to our garden, reading (mostly to my kids but to myself after they go to sleep!), and connecting with friends and family.
Just for fun, my interests and hobbies include (but are not limited to!) first and foremost being a mother and wife, practicing yoga, paddle boarding, cooking and baking, painting and drawing, taking photographs, home making, reading, being in nature, running, traveling, hiking, swimming, advocating for the earth and all of its inhabitants, drinking plenty of black coffee, thrifting, home birthing and breastfeeding.
When it comes to photography...I started my photography business in 2016, during my first year as an art teacher. Similar to my career in education, for me, photography has always served as a creative outlet and a way to connect with, serve, and help others. Because at my core those are some of my deepest passions in life.
And as with goes with teaching, providing sleep support, and photography, I strongly feel that there isn’t a “one size fits all” approach. Each client and their photography session is unique, and I strive to have that reflected in my work. To provide you with not just great photos on a technical level, but photos that truly capture your essence, that bring you back to a moment in time and remember if fondly, to allow you to feel seen and heard.
As far as my fascination with infant and toddler sleep…After becoming a mom I was instantly bombarded with information, suggestions, guidelines, and advice that just didn’t sit well with me. It seemed like my baby never, ever fit the normal baby description put out by so many. She didn’t follow any schedules, she didn’t fall asleep independently, she needed to be held for every single nap, she never slept more than a couple hours at a time, she almost always nursed to sleep, she wanted to be held nonstop.
I was lucky to have sisters go before me in this motherhood gig that often reminded me to trust my gut and that most of what I would read online was bogus. I also found a couple social media accounts that made me feel normal, supported, and empowered as a mother.
There came a point though, when Ruth, at 7 months old, was waking up every 20-45 minutes at night and we reached rock bottom as a family. We sought our a sleep consultation from a Baby-Led Sleep and Well-Being Specialist and it changed everything for us. We identified and resolved some major underlying health issues that were impacting her (and our) sleep! Sleep improved, but more than that, our mental health as parents improved.
After that experience, I found myself starting to share this sort of information on my social media- reasons why I didn’t agree with sleep training Ruth, responsive & attachment parenting sorts of things, what normal really looked like. It soon became clear to me that I wanted to provide the same support we had gotten to other families.
I’m now a certified Pediatric Sleep Specialist and have found my passion helping families get sleep without sleep training.
Read about my approach below!
MY APPROACH TO INFANT & TODDLER SLEEP.
I firmly believe as parents we should be encouraged to trust our instincts. To do what feels right to us and to listen when our gut is telling us something is off. But, as a first time mom myself, I also know it can be hard sometimes to even know what your instincts are, let alone trust and rely on them. Before I had Ruth I assumed my instincts would be all I needed - which was true to a certain extent but there’s so much more to our little ones and in my case, sometimes my instincts were missing.
When it comes to how I approach infant & toddler sleep and well-being, I always keep attachment, responsiveness, and biological needs at the forefront of my practice. My goal is to have your values and concerns heard and acknowledged, make you feel empowered and educated in your options, and confident in yourself moving forward.
I do not recommend sleep training or any variation of cry it out.
Buuuuut I also completely understand the sheer exhaustion it takes to get there. As a mama with a six month old who was waking every 20-45 minutes night after night week after week, I get it. And while we never attempted any sleep training with Ruth (luckily we found a baby-led sleep specialist who helped us out!!) I understand how exhausting and desperate abnormal infant sleep can be.
And while you can always “wait it out” (because believe it or not babies and toddlers actually will eventually sleep through the night with zero interventions *unless there is an underlying health condition) there are also lots of baby and parent led changes you can make to optimize sleep WITHOUT any form of sleep training,
In an age where sleep training is normalized and we’re meant to believe our babies and toddlers are manipulating us or have behavior problems that need to be “fixed”, I’m here to help you find an alternative solution. One that helps you trust your instincts and find them along the way.
I’m also here to help flip the script on what is and isn’t normal. Because if you’re anything like me, whenever you’ve googled something about infant sleep your baby always seems to be abnormal by societal standards, when in reality their sleep patterns are very very normal.
Night wakings well beyond a year, short cat naps, nursing to sleep, safer bedsharing, breast / chest feeding well beyond a year, home birthing, contact naps, not having a strict schedule, and so on are all very very normal concepts that have somehow been pushed to the wayside in our culture and I’m here to show you just how normal they are.
I make no promises or guarantees other than to help you trust your intuition.
All babies and families are different and therefore there isn’t a one size fits all when it comes to parenting. You know your baby best and are the best parent for them.
Education
I have a Bachelor’s Degree in k-12 Art Education and a Baby-Led Sleep and Well-Being Certification. Before becoming a mother, I worked as a preschool teacher and a high school art teacher for four years. I’ve always been passionate about meeting the needs of our youth, advocating for social justice and environmental sustainability.