Bridging Sleep Science, Parent Education & the Foundations of Healthy Infant Sleep
Meet Maryanne Sayers, Australian baby and toddler sleep educator, Certified Maternity and Child Sleep Consultant, speaker, author, media contributor, mother of two, and graduate of the International Parenting & Health Institute’s Holistic Pregnancy & Child Sleep Consultant Certification Program.
Based on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia, Maryanne has spent more than a decade professionally educating families about infant and toddler sleep, with a particular emphasis on something she believes parents are too often missing:
Clear education before families reach the point of exhaustion.
Her current website describes her as one of Australia’s leading voices on baby sleep and documents work with hundreds of families, national media appearances, parenting publications, workshops, seminars, and international speaking.
Yet the foundation of Maryanne’s philosophy remains remarkably straightforward.
Help parents understand how babies sleep.
Help them understand their baby’s natural sleep, feed and wake patterns.
Give them consistent information.
And replace confusion with knowledge and confidence.
Building a Career in Baby & Toddler Sleep
Maryanne’s professional work in infant and child sleep stretches back more than a decade.
A 2014 Australian parenting publication introduced her as a Baby Sleep and Routine Consultant on the Central Coast and identified her as a fully Certified Child Sleep Consultant through the International Maternity Institute, the earlier name of what is now the International Parenting & Health Institute. At the time, she was already providing consultations, home visits, remote support, mothers-group education, writing a parenting column, and speaking at family and parenting events.
Today, we proudly recognize Maryanne as a graduate of IPHI’s Holistic Pregnancy & Child Sleep Consultant Certification Program.
What followed that early professional education became a sustained career devoted to helping parents understand infant and toddler sleep.
Taking Parents Back to the Foundations
One of the strongest themes throughout Maryanne’s current work is her belief that parents have become overwhelmed by conflicting information.
One person says one thing.
A parenting forum says another.
Social media offers another opinion.
A professional may offer something completely different.
For a sleep-deprived parent, that volume of competing advice can create more confusion rather than clarity.
Maryanne’s response has been to take families back to the foundations.
Her approach emphasizes understanding a baby or toddler’s sleep/feed/wake cycles, biological rhythms, sleep environment, tired cues, naps, nighttime sleep and consistent daily patterns.
The objective is not simply to hand parents instructions.
It is to help them understand the fundamentals well enough that they feel more knowledgeable and confident about their child’s sleep.
Education Before Exhaustion
Parent education sits at the center of Maryanne’s philosophy.
Her website expresses concern that many new parents enter parenthood underprepared to understand their baby’s basic sleep needs and natural sleep/feed/wake patterns.
That observation helped shape a professional model that extends beyond one-on-one consultations.
Today, Maryanne offers individualized consultations, an Essential Foundations Program, virtual Mothers Group sleep sessions, educational resources, and speaking engagements. Her individual services are designed for expectant parents as well as families with babies and toddlers through age three.
That inclusion of expectant parents is particularly noteworthy.
Families don’t necessarily have to wait until they are exhausted or struggling before learning about infant sleep.
Sleep education can begin before the baby arrives.
Understanding the Biological Foundations of Sleep
Maryanne’s educational work repeatedly returns to biological rhythms.
She teaches parents about circadian rhythms, daytime and nighttime patterns, naps, sleep environments and the relationship between sleep, feeding and wake periods. In her public educational writing, she has also discussed how light and darkness help regulate the developing 24-hour body clock.
This emphasis on foundations reflects a larger principle:
Sleep is a biological function.
And when parents understand the biology underlying sleep, they may be better equipped to make sense of what they are observing in their child.
That educational component has remained central throughout Maryanne’s professional career.
Investigating the Impact of Maternal Sleep Deprivation
Maryanne’s work has also extended into research surrounding the experience of mothers.
In 2016, she was involved in commissioning an independent Galaxy Research poll examining the effects of sleep deprivation among mothers of babies and toddlers from birth through age three.
The results documented substantial reported consequences among surveyed mothers, including exhaustion, relationship tension, anxiety and feelings of failure. The survey also found considerable confusion among mothers regarding approaches to infant sleep.
For Maryanne, the findings reinforced something she had already witnessed in her professional work:
When a baby or toddler is struggling with sleep, the consequences can extend far beyond nighttime.
The whole family can be affected.
Taking Sleep Education Into the Media
Over the years, Maryanne has become a recognizable Australian voice on baby and toddler sleep.
Her website documents national media appearances and contributions including Kidspot, Studio 10, New Idea and Offspring Magazine, alongside regular parenting columns and appearances at community forums, workshops and seminars.
Her expertise has also been featured by parenting platforms discussing practical infant and toddler sleep education. In 2024, Care for Kids profiled Maryanne as a baby sleep consultant and highlighted her focus on helping parents understand the foundations surrounding babies’ natural sleep/feed/wake cycles.
Media and public education have therefore become another way Maryanne has taken sleep education beyond individual consultations.
From Australian Families to an International Stage
Maryanne’s professional work eventually took her beyond Australia.
In 2019, she was invited to Doha, Qatar, as a keynote speaker at a toddler health and wellness conference.
That milestone reflects the progression of a career that began with individual families on the Central Coast of New South Wales and expanded into national media and international education.
Today, technology allows that reach to continue.
Her virtual Mothers Group sessions and individual consultations can serve families regardless of whether they live nearby or elsewhere in the world.
Giving Parents Knowledge and Confidence
There is one word that appears repeatedly in Maryanne’s professional messaging:
Confidence.
Parents can become overwhelmed when they receive conflicting advice from friends, relatives, professionals, social media and online parenting communities.
Maryanne believes education can change that.
When parents understand sleep rather than simply following disconnected instructions, they can begin making decisions from a stronger foundation of knowledge.
And that shifts the professional’s role.
Rather than becoming the permanent answer to every future sleep question, education can help parents better understand the child in front of them.
An Author and Educator Beyond Consultations
Maryanne’s work has also extended into publishing.
She co-authored Navigating Motherhood, released in 2022, a book centered around self-care, advice, inspiration and support for mothers.
That project fits naturally into the broader trajectory of her career.
Although infant sleep remains central to her professional work, Maryanne has repeatedly highlighted the impact that disrupted sleep can have on mothers and the wider family.
The baby matters.
And so does the person caring for the baby.
Professional Profile
Maryanne Sayers
Baby & Toddler Sleep Educator | Certified Maternity & Child Sleep Consultant | Speaker & Author
Location: Central Coast, New South Wales, Australia
IPHI Certification
Holistic Pregnancy & Child Sleep Consultant
International Parenting & Health Institute
Maryanne’s earlier professional education is independently documented as a Certified Child Sleep Consultant through the International Maternity Institute, IPHI’s earlier organizational identity.
Professional Recognition
National Australian media contributor
International keynote speaker
Parenting columnist and educator
Co-author, Navigating Motherhood
Member, Association of Professional Sleep Consultants
Media & Speaking
Kidspot
Studio 10
New Idea
Offspring Magazine
Parenting forums and seminars
2019 International Keynote Speaker — Doha, Qatar
Professional Focus
Infant & Toddler Sleep
Sleep Science Education
Circadian Rhythms
Sleep/Feed/Wake Patterns
Sleep Environment
Naps & Daytime Sleep
Parent Education
Prenatal Sleep Education
Family Sleep & Wellbeing
Maternal Sleep Deprivation
An Inspiration in Parent Sleep Education
Maryanne’s professional journey demonstrates what can happen when education remains at the center of practice.
More than a decade after her early IPHI training, she continues to teach parents about many of the same fundamental areas that helped establish her career:
Sleep biology.
Daily rhythms.
Sleep/feed/wake patterns.
Environment.
Consistency.
And parental understanding.
She has taken those conversations from individual homes and mothers groups to magazines, television, online education, national media and an international stage.
Yet the purpose remains centered on the family.
Give parents clearer information.
Help them understand sleep.
Reduce confusion.
And build confidence.
Maryanne’s career is also part of the history of professional sleep-consultant education itself. Her work was already publicly identifying her as an International Maternity Institute Certified Child Sleep Consultant in 2014, and she has continued building on that professional foundation ever since.
💙 Congratulations, Maryanne!
We are proud to recognize you as an IPHI Holistic Pregnancy & Child Sleep Consultant graduate and celebrate the many years you have dedicated to educating parents and advancing conversations about infant, toddler and family sleep in Australia and around the world.
