Podcast ¦ Market Pulse: Pros & Pioneers: She Left Banking to Save Families Shani Avidar

Key Take Aways

1. The importance of early education in sleep health, highlighting a gap in prenatal and postnatal guidance especially within corporate and healthcare sectors.
2. Personal experience plays a crucial role in developing effective sleep coaching approaches, exemplified by Shani Avidar’s transition from high-level finance to sleep coaching.
3. The ‘baby-led sleep approach’ emphasises nurturing the parent-child bond while establishing routines, challenging traditional sleep training methods that rely on crying it out.
4. Setting structured schedules and routines is vital for parental well-being and effective child sleep management.
5. Lack of sleep education contributes significantly to parental exhaustion and feelings of inadequacy, necessitating more accessible professional support.
6. The narrative underscores the need to normalise seeking help and combat shame around sleep challenges to improve mental health outcomes for families.
7. Work-life balance shifts post-parenthood influence career trajectories, with many women leaving demanding corporate roles for personal fulfilment.
8. The realisation that entrepreneurship and career change are viable options often emerges during periods of personal upheaval or exhaustion.
9. Parental fatigue is compounded by conflicting advice, cultural differences, and medical controversies such as tongue-tie procedures and sleep training methods.
10. The importance of personalised, adaptable sleep strategies that recognise unique family dynamics and cultural contexts.
11. The value of professional networks and referrals, including collaborations with paediatricians, physical therapists, and other healthcare professionals.
12. Embracing ongoing education and community support as key components in addressing sleep deprivation and parenting stress.

Key Statistics

• Nearly two decades of Sharnee Avidar’s finance career involved roles in regulatory compliance and data governance.
• She has three boys, all approximately one year apart.
• Sharnee’s children, aged 3, 4, and 5, are taught sleep routines that facilitate sleeping at 7:15 pm and waking at 7:30 am.
• A typical transition to a one-up schedule in sleep occurs between 10 to 18 months.
• The first six weeks postpartum are described as relatively manageable compared to later phases of sleep deprivation.

Key Discussion Points

• The significance of prenatal sleep education and preparation for new parents.
• The personal journey of transitioning from a corporate career to founding a sleep coaching business.
• Challenges faced by parents when navigating conflicting advice on infant and toddler sleep.
• The psychological and emotional impact of sleep deprivation on parental mental health.
• The role of education versus expensive solutions or products in establishing healthy sleep habits.
• The controversy surrounding sleep training methods such as cry it out, and alternative baby-led approaches.
• The influence of early routines, nutrition, and psychological factors on sleep quality.
• The social pressures and shame associated with needing help for sleep-related issues.
• The effect of parenthood on career progression, particularly for women in male-dominated sectors like banking.
• The importance of customising sleep strategies based on family, cultural, and environmental factors.
• The potential for technology and AI in future parental support, alongside the enduring need for personal, humanised guidance.
• The necessity of normalising help-seeking behaviour to improve overall parental and familial wellbeing.

Podcast Description

This podcast features an in-depth conversation with Shani Avidar, a certified paediatric sleep coach and founder of My Little Dreamer, who shares her journey from high-level finance to mental health and family wellbeing. The discussion explores the critical importance of early sleep education, personalised parenting approaches, and overcoming societal shame around seeking help with infant and toddler sleep challenges. Emphasising personal experience, professional expertise, and innovative strategies, the podcast aims to empower parents, healthcare professionals, and industry leaders to better understand and support family sleep health, while also touching on career transitions and the importance of balancing personal fulfilment with family life.