Online parenting course
Solving Bedtime Battles
For parents of children ages 2 to 8, when bedtime has turned into the longest, hardest part of the day, and you start dreading it before dinner.
If any of these sound familiar, you're in the right place.
Bedtime swallows your whole evening.
What should take twenty minutes takes two hours. One more story, one more drink, one more trip out of the room. By the time they finally fall asleep you are too wrung out to do anything but go to bed yourself, and you can already feel the dread building before dinner the next night.
They will only fall asleep with you.
You lie on the floor, or perch on the edge of the bed, waiting for the breathing to slow so you can sneak out, and then the floor creaks and you are back to the start. You feel like you are always on call, and you quietly wonder if you will ever get your evenings, or your own bed, back.
You tried letting them cry, and it broke your heart.
Everyone told you to be consistent and let them cry it out. You tried, the crying only got bigger, and it felt wrong the whole time. Now you are stuck between the advice you were handed and the gut feeling that your child needs something else.
Get started today
Solving Bedtime Battles
US$84.89
- 34 short video lessons across 6 modules, about 6 hours in total
- The Bedtime Ladder, the change plan you build around your own child
- Word-for-word scripts for the stalling, the fears, and the "don't leave"
- Self-paced, on any device
What You'll Learn
Understand Why Bedtime Is Hard
The real reasons behind the struggle. Learn the 5 S's, the five things that make sleep hard for a child: Separation, Scared, Sleep Pressure, Sensory, and Situational. Instead of guessing, you finally see why your child cannot settle.
What your sensitive child actually needs. Understand why a one-size-fits-all sleep plan backfires for sensory-seeking and sensory-avoidant kids, and what works instead.
Why nightmares and night terrors happen. Tell the two apart, and learn what is going on in your child's body when fear takes over in the dark.
Make Gentle Changes That Last
Make changes that actually hold. Shift the bedtime patterns that are not working in a way your child can accept, so the progress lasts instead of fading the moment the routine slips.
Calm a body that will not settle. Teach your child practical, body-based tools to wind down, and find your own calm on the nights it is hardest to hold.
Move away from co-sleeping or rocking. Transition to independent sleep one small step at a time, while your child still feels safe and close to you.
Night wean with care. A gentle approach to night weaning from bottle or breast, on a timeline that respects your child.
Solve the Battles You Are Facing Tonight
The child who keeps coming out of bed. Clear techniques for the stalling, the clinging, and the tenth trip down the hallway.
The "only mommy" or "only daddy" bedtime. A practical plan for parental preference, so the whole routine stops resting on one exhausted parent.
Separation that peaks at night. Use the Connected Hearts plan for the child whose worry about being apart gets loudest once the lights go out.
The rest of real life. Handle nap transitions, early-morning wake-ups, sibling room-sharing, travel, a new baby, and the regressions that arrive with every new stage.
See What's Included
34 short video lessons across 6 modules, about 6 hours in total, built in small pieces on purpose so you can learn one idea while the kettle boils and use it that night. Open any module to see every lesson.
Discover the responsive approach and the science behind your child’s sleep needs. You learn the 5 S’s to understand the why behind your child’s behavior, and start building your Bedtime Ladder, the step-by-step framework for gentle, lasting change.
Welcome & Navigation
Video
Understanding Sleep Foundations
Video
Wake Window Chart
Getting Curious About Sleep Struggles
Video
5 S's Checklist
The Bedtime Ladder Approach
Video
The Bedtime Ladder Worksheet
Solving Bedtime Battles PDF Guide
Set up your child’s sleep space for their sensory needs, build a predictable and connecting bedtime routine, and steady your own emotions so you can be the calm, confident presence your child needs.
Creating the Optimal Sleep Environment
Video
Building Your Bedtime Routine
Video
The Parent's Mindset
Video
Connection Before Sleep
Video
Sleep Environment Assessment Tool
Visual Schedule Template
Bedtime Connection Ideas
Body-based calming strategies for an anxious child, the Connected Hearts system to ease separation, and the PAUSE method for responding to nighttime fears and nightmares with confidence.
The Complete Calming Toolbox
Video
The Connected Hearts System
Video
Addressing Fears & Worries
Video
Setting & Maintaining Boundaries
Video
Supporting Your Child Through Tears
Video
Connected Hearts Template
Go deeper on the most common root causes, each one a piece of the 5 S’s: separation anxiety, fears of the dark or monsters, sleep pressure when a child is over- or undertired, sensory needs, and the situational changes that throw sleep off.
Separation Anxiety Solutions (Separation)
Video
Nighttime Fears (Scared)
Video
Sleep Pressure Problems (Sleep Pressure)
Video
Understanding Sensory Avoiders (Sensory)
Video
Understanding Sensory Seekers (Sensory)
Video
Supporting Children Through Transitions (Situational)
Video
Tools for Talking About Fears
Sleep Schedule Tracker
Sensory Avoider Tools
Sensory Seeker Tools
The biggest module in the course, with scripts and step-by-step plans for today’s most common and most frustrating bedtime challenges, from leaving the room a dozen times to wanting only one parent.
Boundary Testing
Video
Preference Challenges
Video
Sibling Sleep Solutions
Video
Night Weaning
Video
Transitioning from Rocking
Video
Moving from Co-Sleeping
Video
Crib-to-Bed Transitions
Video
New Sibling Adjustments
Video
Travel and Schedule Disruptions
Video
Potty Training and Bedwetting
Video
When One Parent Is Away
Video
Co-Parenting and Consistency
Video
Nightmares vs. Night Terrors
Video
Sleep Regression Rescue
Video
Night Weaning Plan Worksheet
Crib-to-Bed Transition Checklist
New Sibling Transition Checklist
Sleep is not linear. This short closing module helps you recognize when a challenge is too complex to solve on your own, and how to ask for the right kind of help, including what to bring to your doctor or a therapist.
When To Seek Additional Help
Video
Jess VanderWier
Registered Psychotherapist and mom of three
Jess VanderWier is a Registered Psychotherapist and the founder of Nurtured First. For years she has helped exhausted families find their way back to sleep, in her private practice and through her online courses.
Her own journey with sleep began with her oldest daughter, so she knows the bone-deep exhaustion and the doubt from the inside, not just from across a therapy room. She teaches the way a good friend would, warm, honest, and full of real examples you will recognize from your own nights.
Calmer nights, and a child who feels safe enough to sleep.
Just had to tell you how amazing the Solving Bedtime Battles course is. Firstly, it is such an incredible price for a packed, full-length course with absolutely no semblance of CIO. Not saying there weren’t tears, but never left alone. Secondly, our almost 3-year-old went from co-sleeping nearly every night to going to sleep in his own bed/room with just me holding his hand and SLEEPING ALL NIGHT. It’s been truly amazing, and no more screaming/bed is lava tantrums. I will admit I was incredibly skeptical, but with time and patience over the course of about a month, it’s been an amazing difference.
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We purchased your bedtime course, and it did wonders for our highly sensitive kiddo! I couldn’t recommend it enough! After hearing for almost three years nothing but “cut the cord” and “let him cry it out on his own,” it was such a breath of fresh air to hear you advise us to stay with our child until the big feelings pass and then try again. After several attempts and sitting through and saving space for so many tears, we were finally able to leave him for 15 seconds, then 30, and so on. We now say goodnight and leave, and he is sleeping in a few minutes. I love and so appreciate you and everything you stand for! It has brought me so much confidence in my motherhood journey, knowing that my husband and I are parenting in the best way for our family! Thank you so much for what you do and who you are!
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I tried your Connect Hearts with my 7-year-old, and this is the most success I have had with helping her stay in her room! We’ve done it for seven nights now (on and off as she has been at her dad’s), and I’m starting to feel more positive and able to start switching my ears off! I have felt on constant alert since I have to be on the camp bed in her room. It got to the point where I couldn’t keep going. It’s hard, but she holds on to the hearts, and we talk about our heartstrings being connected when we are not together. I’m finally starting to feel we are making progress. Massive thank you!
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What makes this course different
No cry-it-out, and no closing the door.
Most sleep programs come down to some version of leaving your child to cry until they give up and fall asleep. This one never asks you to do that. You learn to stay close, welcome the big feelings, and still move your child toward falling asleep on their own.
It starts with the why, not a one-size-fits-all schedule.
Most programs hand you a schedule and expect every child to fit it. This one helps you find the actual reason your child cannot settle first, because the very same bedtime battle can have a completely different cause from one child to the next. The plan you build fits your child, not a chart.
You watch a therapist handle it.
Reading a sleep tip and pulling it off at eight o’clock are two different things. Here you see and hear exactly how Jess responds to the stalling and the “don’t leave,” her words and her tone, so you are not left improvising in the moment.
A ladder, not a leap.
Sleep training tends to ask you to change everything in one hard night and then hold the line. The Bedtime Ladder moves one rung at a time, at a pace your child can actually handle, so the change holds because it was never forced.
Built for the sensitive, deeply feeling child.
Most sleep methods are made for an average sleeper and quietly fail the child who feels everything more loudly. This one was designed for the sensitive, intense child from the start, with whole lessons devoted to what they need, not a paragraph tacked on at the end.
Gentle, and grounded in real training.
Responsive does not mean permissive, and it does not mean guessing. The tools here come from child development research and Jess’s clinical work, so you can hold a warm, firm boundary and trust that what you are doing is sound.
The Nurtured First Guarantee
Take 30 days to try the course. If it is not the right fit for your family and you have completed 50 percent or less of the course content, email support@nurturedfirst.com within 30 days of purchase to request a refund. See the refund policy for the full terms, including account standing and offer-specific conditions.
We can offer that because parents who use these tools tend to keep reaching for them, long after the first hard week. This was never about a perfectly quiet, solved-forever house. It is about shorter bedtimes, fewer night wakings, and a child who feels safe enough to fall asleep.
US$84.89
Frequently Asked Questions
Parents and caregivers of children ages 2 to 8 who are tired of long, hard bedtimes, night wakings, fears, or a child who will only sleep with them, and who want a gentle approach that does not rely on leaving their child to cry.
It is designed for children ages 2 to 8, from toddlers through early school age. If your child is a little younger, the core principles of the Bedtime Ladder and the responsive approach can be adapted from around 18 months, so you can build a strong foundation early.
Yes. There is a lesson on moving from a crib to a big bed, and a step-by-step plan for gently transitioning a child away from co-sleeping or being rocked to sleep, while they still feel safe and connected to you.
We are working with children, so there may be some. What sets this course apart is that you will never be told to leave your child to cry alone, ignore their tears, or hold the door shut. You learn to welcome your child’s feelings and stay with them through the hard moments, which is what builds the trust that helps them sleep.
The course holds about 6 hours of video, broken into short, bite-size lessons. If you are exhausted and need help tonight, skip ahead to the module that matches your struggle and come back to the foundations once you have had a little more rest.
Many parents notice small changes right away. Meaningful, lasting change usually takes about two to three weeks of consistent practice. Every child is different, which is exactly why there is a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Free tips and sleep-training programs can genuinely help, and plenty of parents start there. The difference is that most of them hand you one method and tell you to be consistent, usually some version of letting your child cry. This course starts a step earlier, by helping you understand why your specific child cannot settle, then shows you on camera how to make gentle changes that do not rely on tears. If a simple schedule has already worked for your family, you may not need this. If you have tried the methods and they felt wrong, or fell apart with your sensitive child, this is the part they leave out.
Yes. The course is built with all kinds of children in mind, with whole lessons for the specific needs of sensory avoiders, who are often highly sensitive, and sensory seekers, including how to set up their sleep space and routine.
The course covers all of these. You learn the difference between nightmares and night terrors and how to respond to each, the PAUSE method for nighttime fears, and how to work out whether night wakings are coming from sleep pressure, separation, or something else, so you can make a plan.
Yes. Many parents arrive feeling like they have tried everything, including methods that did not feel right. The responsive approach gives you a new framework built on connection, and a gentler way forward from wherever you are now.
Yes to both. The course is completely self-paced, with no scheduled sessions and no deadlines, and comments are turned on for the course videos, so you can ask a question right under the lesson you are watching.
No. This is parenting education. It does not diagnose anything, and it does not replace therapy, medical care, or other professional support. If you are worried about your child’s sleep, health, or development, please work with a qualified professional.
You have 30 days from purchase to request a course refund if it is not the right fit and you have completed 50 percent or less of the course content. See the refund policy for the full terms, including account standing and offer-specific conditions.
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