From Sleepless Nights to Supporting hundreds of Families - By Baby Sleep Consultant

December 05, 2025

From Sleepless Nights to Supporting hundreds of Families

By Liadhán Collins, Baby Sleep Consultant & Founder of CulaBaby 

I’m so grateful to Sinann Fetherston and the team at RTÉ Lifestyle for inviting me to share my story — and for capturing the heart of my journey so beautifully. 💛
This article is deeply personal for me because it reflects the reality so many parents quietly live every day.

“Sleep was literally ripped from me overnight.”

That sentence sums up the beginning of my journey into this work. Like so many parents, I entered motherhood completely unprepared for the profound impact that broken sleep, constant alertness and exhaustion would have on my body, my mental health, and my entire family life.

What began as my own fight for rest as a mum of three became my path into becoming a qualified baby sleep consultant and child sleep coach supporting families through bedtime battles, night wakings, false starts, early rising, self soothing and the emotional toll that chronic sleep deprivation brings.

Every day, I work with parents who are:

• Feeding to sleep multiple times overnight

• Walking or rocking their baby to sleep for every nap and bedtime

• Struggling to move away from contact naps

• Exhausted from frequent night wakings

• Stuck in ongoing bedtime battles

Many families come to me feeling overwhelmed, unsure whether sleep training is right for them, and unclear on how to support self-soothing in a way that still feels responsive and loving.

Over time, my work has evolved even further as I began to see a deeper pattern beneath most sleep challenges — the state of the nervous system of both parent and child. Whether a baby is relying on feeding, rocking, walking or contact to fall asleep, or a toddler is resisting bedtime with big emotions, there is always a nervous system story underneath.

Today, my work is not just about helping children sleep — it’s about supporting the whole family system. Through a combination of evidence-based sleep support and breathwork tool all backed by science, I now help parents regulate their nervous systems, reduce stress, anxiety and overwhelm, and find calm in a world where we are constantly “on.”

Even when children begin sleeping better, the mental load, hormonal shifts and emotional demands — especially for women — continue to take their toll. That’s why my approach always supports the parent as much as the child.

As I shared with RTÉ:

“I think it’s really important for parents to know that support is available and that they don’t have to navigate sleep struggles alone.”

This piece isn’t just about my story — it’s about the thousands of families silently carrying exhaustion, overwhelm and the emotional weight of broken sleep. My mission is to guide families through this together:
from babies learning to self-soothe,
to toddlers navigating big emotions and bedtime battles,
to parents juggling work, home life and sleep deprivation while running on empty.

Calm is possible — for your child, and for you too.

You can read the  full article on RTÉ Lifestyle here:

And if you or someone you love is currently struggling with bedtime battles, feeding to sleep, rocking to sleep, frequent night wakings, or feeling completely exhausted, please know you don’t have to do it alone. You can book a Free 15 minute call on my website here www.culababy.com

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