March 24, 2026
Gentle Sleep Training with Mariana Yancik: Podcast Episode #335
Sleep struggles are one of the most common challenges new parents face – but with so much conflicting advice, how do you know what approach is right for your baby and your family?
In this episode of Ask the Doulas, we’re joined by sleep consultant Mariana Yancik of Gold Coast Doulas to break down the differences between gentle sleep training methods and the often-debated “cry it out” approach. Mariana shares expert insight on what these methods actually look like in real life, how they impact your baby’s development, and how to choose a strategy that aligns with your parenting style.
We dive into:
• What “gentle” sleep training really means
• The truth about cry it out (and common misconceptions)
• When to start sleep training
• How temperament and family dynamics play a role
• Tips for creating healthy, sustainable sleep habits
Whether you’re in the thick of sleepless nights or planning ahead, this episode will help you feel more confident and informed in your approach to infant sleep.
Perfect for expecting parents, new families, and birth and baby professionals looking to better support their clients.
This episode is sponsored by Cozy Earth. Use the code GOLDCOAST to receive a discount of up to 20 percent off.
Hello, hello! This is Kristin Revere with Ask the Doulas, and I am so excited to chat with Mariana Yancik today. She is one of our pediatric sleep consultants, and she also happens to be a certified newborn care specialist and former postpartum doula with over a decade of experience supporting families through the earliest stages of parenthood. Mariana has spent over ten years working hands on with newborns, infants, babies, and toddlers, guiding exhausted parents through those tender, overwhelming first months.
After becoming a mom herself, her passion for sleep deepened even more, and she experienced firsthand how dramatically sleep impacts a mother’s mental health, confidence, marriage, and overall well-being. Today she specializes in helping families with newborns and older kids to create predictable routines and achieve restorative, independent sleep. Her approach is structured yet deeply compassionate and responsive. She believes sleep is not about rigidity or extremes. It is about clarity, consistency, and giving parents the support they were never meant to navigate alone. Her goal is simple, peaceful nights and thriving families.
Welcome, Mariana!
Thanks, Kristin! So glad to be here! Thanks for this opportunity. I’m really excited about this.
I’m excited that you are passionate about sleep shaping for newborns, and that is our topic today. So let’s dive into it! I’ll bring my first question to you: can you train a newborn to sleep well?
Yes and no. I would say I don’t believe in training, like fully sleep training, a newborn. But there are a lot of things that we can do. The sleep shaping, we call it, establishes healthy sleep foundations from day one so that this baby has those foundations as he grows. Then it’s not training, but sometimes when you have those healthy sleep foundations in place, you don’t even need to sleep train. It goes very smooth, the process.
I agree. And being a former postpartum doula, you understand that that’s basically what in-home overnight postpartum doula or a daytime doula with the napping can do, is that general sleep shaping. But not everyone can afford or has a doula in their area that can help them implement some techniques. So the fact that you offer virtual sleep shaping newborn consultations is amazing, not only for the budget, but also to be able to give the family and caregivers a plan moving forward.
Right. I talk to the family. I teach them everything that they need. And then they have a plan for them to follow, so they can always go back to the plan if they have any questions. And then everything is going to be there. It’s just tips and things that you can do to make your life easier in the first four months because it is a roller coaster. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. But there are a lot of tips and little things that you can do to make your life better and then your baby sleep better, and a lot of things that take part of it and then sometimes you don’t even realize that just one little something could help. With the swaddle, it’s huge for newborns. Having proper nutrition, a routine, and a sleep safe environment – all those things come into play and make everything easier.
100%. And even knowing some of those tips and customizing, there are of course different programs that you can purchase online for sleep foundations, but it’s not customized to the family. And you get on the phone with them, help them create a plan that works for their schedule, their environment, the caregivers involved. So it’s truly customized, even at that newborn stage.
Right. All my plans are personalized for the family because you need to adapt, and then it’s not one size fits all. So I always try to adapt for that family. Sometimes they have an older child that comes home from soccer later on a Wednesday, or sometimes families have nannies twice a week or the grandma – all those things that can change. As long as everyone is on the same page. Sometimes on the call, I have a grandma on the call. Sometimes I have the nanny. Sometimes mom and dad. It kind of all depends. But they all have the same plan or something to go back to if they have questions or if it gets confusing. And nowadays, I love that there’s so much information, but at the same time, you get so much information all the time. So much information that you don’t need or it’s not even true. So it’s really hard as a newborn mom. You get really confused about everything, and if you try to get tips from everybody, you’ll do everything and nothing will work. So when you have a plan specific for your family and for your baby, then you’re doing the right thing, and then you have something to follow. You’re not jumping on a lot of different things. And then you’re consistent, and then it works!
You mentioned giving them some tools, like swaddling, for example, and relying on consistency. Sometimes there can be bathing as part of the go-to-sleep ritual. What are some of your tips for our listeners and some sleep shaping tools for infants?
I like to think about some of the sleep foundations. One of the first ones, the biggest one for me, is nutrition, because a well-fed baby sleeps better. So I try to encourage full feedings during the day instead of constant snacking, which means making sure the baby is gaining appropriately and taking satisfying feeds so that nights are not just full of hunger every hour. So it’s never about not feeding that baby overnight. It’s just that whenever he feeds, you are offering full feeds. So nutrition is huge.
Another thing, too, the safe sleep environment. We need a safe, consistent sleep space. Back to sleep; firm surface; no loose bedding; dark room; white noise. All those little tools help with the nighttime routine. It’s huge. A bedtime routine and also a morning routine is really important. We have all of that, the routine. Something simple. You can just feed, change pajamas, and sing a song. But there is something about routine. He knows what’s going to happen. So repetition builds that security, and babies like that predictability. They like to know what’s coming. All those little things become a cue that sleep is coming. The morning routine, too, is really important. Their emotional needs being met; this is also very important, because they want to feel safe and connected during the day, as well. Babies that feel safe and connected during the day, they settle better and more easily at night.
Some of those foundations, it’s all things that we can work on during our call. I just wanted to say that newborn sleep consulting is not about forcing independence or letting your baby cry. It’s nothing about this. It’s just that support and preventing patterns that later feel overwhelming or sleeping with a parent or contact naps or rocking to sleep – all those things, those patterns, we start breaking from the beginning so that they don’t even get to that habit.
Right. Learning to wean them from contact napping, for example, yeah.
And sometimes it’s okay. I never want to ask you to deprive your baby from love. So if you want to have a contact nap, have it. As long as you’re not sleeping with them! But if Grandma comes over and she wants to hold the baby, obviously, you can do all of those things. But I also want to encourage you to build healthy sleep habits so then you guys can just develop on a good road.
So what are your favorite resources for families, other than Gold Coast Doulas’ site, which has some of your sleep packages? Obviously, you mentioned Back to Sleep, and there are a lot of videos and handouts for safe sleep practices.
Well, I always like to follow AAP, the American Academy of Pediatrics. They have great information there. I love Harvey Karp. There are a bunch of videos about him.
Happiest Baby, yes.
Right. I read all the books, and it’s just amazing. Amazing info. What else? I like Moms On Call. I like their stuff, too.
AAP is a great resource, I agree. 100% on Harvey Karp.
The AAP has all the information you need. It’s going to be there. They have great resources in their website, as well.
Anything else that we should cover about what a sleep consultation for newborns looks like when working with you?
I try to always be very mindful of your schedule and everything that goes with your lifestyle when I build your plan. As a mom, I understand the emotional side. Sometimes you hold your baby longer because you want to. Sometimes you’re going to do contact naps because it feels good, and that’s okay. I like to say the healthy sleep foundations are not about removing connection. They’re about creating balance so the entire family can thrive. So when to seek help or get support? If you feel anxious; if you’re crying more than your baby; if you feel like you’re in survival mode. You can always do newborn plans, even when you are pregnant, so you can have everything in place. Then you already know what you’re doing when the baby comes. But yeah, contact naps are okay. Holding your baby is okay. It’s about balance and supporting the whole family. It’s not about perfection. It’s about confidence. When parents understand what’s normal and have simple, healthy foundations in place, everything feels calmer, and when sleep improves, the entire home shifts. Happy mom, happy family. That’s what I believe in.
Exactly. And you mentioned safety and the focus on it, because a lot of families don’t understand all of the safe sleep guidelines, because things are changing constantly. Even as professionals, we have to keep up with it. The car seat napping, for example, and things that you can show, how to have an easy transition from car seat to bassinet, for example, and the unsafe places that a baby could be falling asleep in. Family members may not know some of those stationary pads, like a Dock-A-Tot, for example, is not meant for sleep.
Or the bouncer or the swing. All of those things. Even the sleeping in the car seat and then you take the car seat out of the car and set it on the floor because he’s still sleeping. It’s not safe because the car seat has a base in the car to make it safe, and when you place it on the floor – “oh, it’s okay, he’s sleeping. He’s going to wake up in ten minutes.” And then you’re not really watching the baby. It’s not safe. A lot of parents are like, oh, I thought the car seat was safe. Yes, the car seat is safe if it’s on the base in the car. A lot of those little things that you don’t even think about.
Even the crib: a lot of parents put a pillow in there or bumpers and stuff like that, or the monitor cord is loose. There are so many little things that sometimes you don’t even think about because everything is so new when you have a baby. Things that you don’t think about when you’re an adult with no kids.
So true! Well, thank you for sharing all of your amazing tips, Mariana. Any final words of wisdom for our audience?
I just think that the first few months are a bit crazy, but it’s going to get better. Sleep deprivation is real, but it gets better. There’s not much we can do in the first few weeks because the babies do need to eat constantly, but there is support out there, and there are tools that you can use to make the first few months not so crazy and better for you and the family and the baby. So reach out for help, and have your support so you can really thrive being a mom. Being the mom that you want to be, not being that sleep deprived mom that can’t even function.
Agreed. Sleep is essential! Thank you for your time! For our listeners and clients who want to work with Mariana, you can find her on the Gold Coast Doulas website. And she will be sharing more tips in coming months on Instagram and our social media channels, which you can find @goldcoastdoulas. Thank you, Mariana!
Thank you, Kristin!
IMPORTANT LINKS
Sleep consultations with Mariana
Birth and postpartum support from Gold Coast Doulas