How we understand infant sleep varies according to our vantage point as parents, practitioners, and observers, and the same is true for researchers from different disciplines. Consequently, the science of infant sleep has been shaped by history, culture, politics, religion and economics, with relatively little input from biology. The view of infant sleep from anthropology encompasses both the role of evolutionary biology in shaping babies’ sleep needs, and the cultural context in which babies' and parents' biological sleep needs come into conflict. In this presentation, Helen will discuss how anthropologists have challenged popular understandings of baby sleep and used our unique vantage point to ask and answer new questions that further illuminate how babies sleep.
1 R Cerp (I, V, VII)
I Development and Nutrition
V Psychology, Sociology & Anthropology
VII Clinical Skills
A number of studies have shown positive breastfeeding outcomes associated with mothers and infants sleeping in close proximity (co-sleeping). However, less attention has been given to other factors associated with co-sleeping, including touch. In this presentation, Ingrid will cover the evolutionary context in which co-sleeping occurs, the neurobiology of mother-infant touch, and consider its role in night-time caregiving.
1 L Cerp (I, II, V)
I Development and Nutrition
II Physiology & Endocrinology
V Psychology, Sociology & Anthropology
In this presentation, motherhood studies sociologist Dr Sophie Brock examines the intersection of societal expectations, infant sleep, and maternal well-being. This presentation covers the pervasive ‘perfect mother myth’ and its connection to the concept of the ‘good baby’, examining how these cultural narratives create expectations and pressure for both maternal behaviour and infant sleep patterns. By understanding and addressing these societal factors, health professionals can play a vital role in reducing maternal guilt and anxiety and ultimately fostering better health outcomes for both mothers and babies.
1 R Cerp (V, VII)
V Psychology, Sociology & Anthropology
VII Clinical Skills
Too often, parents and professionals treat infant and toddler sleep troubles as being only behavioural in nature. This allows them to focus on behavioural interventions like sleep training, including controlled crying, feed-play-sleep, and more, many of which either don’t work for families or are not in line with their values. However, there are many physical reasons why babies may struggle with sleep and it’s imperative that these issues are explored. This presentation will focus on the main physical reasons why babies can struggle with sleep and how families and professionals can identify these reasons and ways to improve things, so everyone gets more sleep.
1 L Cerp (I, III, V, VII)
I Development and Nutrition
III Pathology
V Psychology, Sociology & Anthropology
VII Clinical Skills
This presentation will help you understand how our sensory systems can affect all areas of our lives, sleep included. We've all had those clients who are so active during the day and before bed and just can't seem to calm down, nurse for hours at night, need mom or dad's body right next to them or they wake up, or just seem so restless during the night that you wonder if they are getting restorative sleep. These things might be due to sensory processing differences and understanding why these might happen and how to support our clients is very important. Or perhaps you are working with clients on the autism spectrum, and want to better understand their sensory and sleep needs. This training will give you some additional 'tools in your sleep toolbox' that you can pass on to families to better support them and their babies.
1 R Cerp (V, VII)
V Psychology, Sociology & Anthropology
VII Clinical Skills
This presentation analyses the introduction of wearable infant monitors that use biometric data to give parents "peace of mind" that their infant is sleeping safely. The original Owlet Smart Sock provided this reassurance through a wearable monitor (the “sock”) that transmits an infant’s biometric data such as heart rate and pulse to the caregiver’s cell phone via Bluetooth technology. This assurance proved deeply compelling to many parents, with the Smart Sock selling over a million units since its introduction in 2015. However, on October 5, 2021, the Food and Drug Administration sent a warning letter to Kurt Workman, the chief executive officer of Owlet Baby Care, Inc. In it, the FDA announced its categorisation of the company’s Owlet Smart Sock as a medical device and declared that the Smart Sock was being improperly sold without the appropriate authorisation. As a result, in November 2021 Owlet "discontinued" the Smart Sock, but has since released a revised product called the Dream Sock, which was recently approved as a medical device by the FDA. This presentation analyses Owlet's discontinuation of the Smart Sock and its rebranding of the Dream Sock in the broader context of the medicalisation and privatisation of infant sleep safety and infant mortality as an intersectional feminist issue. Laura argues that the problem of sleep-related infant death in the United States must be addressed through initiatives that dismantle the health disparities that disproportionately impact low-income communities and communities of colour. While public health and paediatric organisations may be making strides toward recognising and responding to these disparities, the lay understanding of infant mortality and infant sleep safety is grounded in a neoliberal approach to health that does not take into account how intersecting inequalities put certain babies at higher risk. The “solution” that most parents are introduced to is a consumer one that medicalises sleep through biometric data and privatises risk. Individualised biometric monitoring offers a lucrative recognition of parental anxiety while proposing no broader, systemic relief to a problem that is deeply racialised and classed.
1 R Cerp (III, V, VII)
III Pathology
V Psychology, Sociology & Anthropology
VII Clinical Skills
Infant sleep is one of the biggest concerns for parents of babies 0-3 years. The education they receive from professionals is of utmost importance. This session will educate professionals on up to date science of infant sleep. This will equip professionals to educate parents on infant sleep while promoting infant mental health.
1 R Cerp (I, V, VII)
I Development and Nutrition
V Psychology, Sociology & Anthropology
VII Clinical Skills
This presentation will focus on how to answer questions about infant sleep by beginning with developmental knowledge of what infants need and then shaping around that knowledge discussion of how to support parents to create safe, developmentally centred sleep practices. Within this framework, we will introduce gist-based approaches to education about sleep practices, examine the debate related to crying it out and responsive sleep routines, and create safe sleep spaces by encouraging parents to build on what they know about what babies need to breathe at night.
1 R Cerp (I, V, VII)
I Development and Nutrition
V Psychology, Sociology & Anthropology
VII Clinical Skills
In this presentation, bestselling parenting author Sarah Ockwell-Smith shares her top tips for helping children from eighteen months through to age five with their sleep. Sarah has worked with thousands of parents over the last two decades, helping them to understand their child’s sleep and ways to make small changes that result in big differences for the whole family. Sarah is profoundly anti-sleep training and argues for an approach to sleep that is supportive, nurturing and kind for the whole family, especially the children.
1 R Cerp (I, V, VII)
I Development and Nutrition
V Psychology, Sociology & Anthropology
VII Clinical Skills
In many industrialized countries, one in six babies develops deformational or “positional“ plagiocephaly i.e. posterior flattening of the skull. It is commonly held that the deformation of the posterior cranium occurs as a consequence of the supine sleep position, now advocated as the safest sleep position for babies by medical experts. This explanation, however, does not fare well in the light of evolutionary theory: why should safe sleep come at the cost of a social handicap? After all, the well rounded cranium is part of the ‘Kindchenschema’ evolved to secure care for the infant. This presentation gives an overview of the current research on risk factors and development of positional plagiocephaly. It also shows how this deformity can be seen as a prime example of an evolutionary mismatch – i.e. how modern care influences conspire to cause developmental disadvantage.
1 R Cerp (I, III, V)
I Development and Nutrition
III Pathology
V Psychology, Sociology & Anthropology
Colic is a diagnosis of exclusion. Babies don't choose to be upset, but their limited ability to communicate puts the ownership on the practitioner and families to try to figure out the root cause diagnosis. Colic can be caused by reflux, food sensitivity, birth trauma, oral ties, fast milk flow from bottle or breast, poor latch, body tension, cranial nerve dysfunction, torticollis, and the list goes on. Having the correct tools to be able to decipher babies' cries can help to get to the root cause and true diagnosis. This talk gives the listener detective skills to try to put together the pieces of the puzzle to provide reasonable differential diagnoses that are contributing to colic symptoms.
1 L Cerp (I, III, V, VII)
I Development and Nutrition
III Pathology
V Psychology, Sociology & Anthropology
VII Clinical Skill
The tongue is a muscular hydrostat and when properly functioning at rest, is passively suctioned up against the palate. Assisting with optimized craniofacial and respiratory growth, habitual nasal breathing, and attainment of quality, recuperative, deep sleep. Unfortunately, when a tongue tie is present, another domino effect of varying consequences can take place, which may include: sub-optimal growth, feeding difficulties, palatal collapse, habitual mouth breathing, sleep disordered breathing, OSA, behavioural challenges, and more. This presentation covers the essential airway centric elements for optimizing cranio-facial growth, development, and function from birth onwards. Scientific and evidence-based with an emphasis on anatomical and physiological changes occurring from birth. Learn the signs and symptoms to be aware of, what can be provided (e.g. orofacial myofunctional therapy, breathing re-education, frenotomy (tongue/lip tie) - functional scissor surgical approach, and how a multi-disciplinary philosophy is essential for best care. Dr Sigal presents current research from her own multi-disciplinary practice highlighting her comprehensive airway centric patient assessments, treatment protocols and outcomes throughout paediatrics.
1.5 L Cerp (I, III, V, VII)
I Development and Nutrition
III Pathology
V Psychology, Sociology & Anthropology
VII Clinical Skills
Behavioural infant sleep interventions are often suggested to parents reporting concerns relating to infant sleep. Research, however, has documented that these interventions are associated with high rates of participant dropout. Despite this, there is limited research exploring the experiences of parents and infants who have disengaged from these interventions. This presentation will discuss research on the experience of parent-infant breastfeeding dyads who have discontinued from behavioural sleep interventions across a range of settings (e.g. residential services, private sleep consultants). We will explore reasons for parent disengagement, including parent concerns regarding conflicts between breastfeeding goals and intervention strategies (e.g. limiting or restricting feeds, advising against feeding to sleep). We will also discuss parent feedback on how families can navigate infant sleep outside of conventional behavioural strategies.
1 L Cerp (I, V, VII)
I Development and Nutrition
V Psychology, Sociology & Anthropology
VII Clinical Skills
In this presentation, Jeanine highlights a new clinical guideline for safer infant sleep, developed in collaboration with parents. It aims to replace rigid, idealistic sleep expectations with flexible, family-centered strategies that promote safer sleep while considering individual circumstances. The guideline, created through a collaborative process involving 133 multidisciplinary, policy, and consumer members, addresses key issues such as communication, airway protection, and practical planning for safer sleep. It encourages early discussions about sleep starting by 28 weeks of pregnancy and continues after birth, emphasizing a tailored, tiered approach to support families based on specific vulnerabilities. The guideline aims to improve the implementation of safe sleep practices by offering clear, simple messaging and a structured framework to help professionals guide families more effectively. Ultimately, it seeks to improve infant health outcomes by fostering collaborative decision-making between parents and health professionals.
0.75 R Cerp (V, VII)
V Psychology, Sociology & Anthropology
VII Clinical Skills
Helen Ball
Dr Helen Ball is professor of anthropology and director of the Infancy & Sleep Centre (DISC) at Durham University. She founded Basis, the Baby Sleep Information Source in 2012 as an outreach project of DISC, for which she was awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Further & Higher Education in 2018. Her research examines the sleep ecology of infants and their parents including attitudes and practices regarding infant sleep and sleep safety, behavioural and physiological interactions of infants and their parents during sleep, infant sleep development, and the discordance between cultural and biological sleep needs. Much of her research has focussed on bed-sharing and breastfeeding. She has conducted research in hospitals, the community, and her lab, and she contributes to national and international policy and practice guidelines on infant care. Helen served as a board member of ISPID (International Society for the Study and Prevention of Infant Deaths) from 2018 to 2022, is chair of the grants/research committee, and a member of the scientific advisory group for the Lullaby Trust, and serves on the qualifications board for Unicef UK Baby Friendly Initiative. She was also an associate editor for Sleep Health, journal of the US National Sleep Foundation 2020-2024 (all voluntary positions). In 2025 her popular science book How Babies Sleep will be published by Penguin Random House.
Jeanine Young
Professor Jeanine Young commenced in the School of Nursing and Midwifery in August 2013. Jeanine is a Registered Nurse, Registered Midwife and qualified neonatal nurse. She completed her PhD in infant care practices and their relationship with risk factors for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in 1999 through the University of Bristol’s Faculty of Medicine. Jeanine has established a research program to investigate Queensland’s relatively high infant mortality rate, with a particular focus on developing evidencebased strategies and educational resources to assist health professionals in delivering Safe Sleeping messages to parents with young infants and to address Close the Gap targets to reduce Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander infant mortality. Jeanine has a special interest in infant care practices and in particular, breastfeeding and parent-infant bed-sharing issues. Jeanine authored the Queensland Health Safe Infant Sleeping guidelines, Safe Infant Sleep and Indigenous Safe Infant Sleep eLearning programs; and developed bedsharing information/position statements for SIDS and Kids, Australian College of Midwives, and Australian Breastfeeding Association. She chaired the SIDS and Kids National Scientific Advisory Committee 2008-2015 (current member) which works to ensure that safe sleeping public health recommendations are evidencebased and authored the consensus paper underpinning the 2012 Safe Sleep, My Baby public health campaign which reintroduced breastfeeding back into the Safe Sleep recommendations. Jeanine is also a member of the Australian College of Midwives Scientific Review and Advisory Committee which provides the ACM Board with advice on scientific matters, and prepares discussion papers and position statements to support midwifery practice.
Tracy Cassels
Tracy Cassels is the director of Evolutionary Parenting, a resource she founded in 2011 after the birth of her daughter Maddy. It began whilst she was in graduate school and has continued and grown as she completed her PhD and moved towards more direct work with parents and families. She has a BA in Cognitive Science from the University of California, Berkeley, an MA in Clinical Psychology and a PhD in Developmental Psychology from the University of British Columbia. The focus of her dissertation work was on empathy and theory of mind in young children. Her academic works have been published in peer-reviewed journals, including Psychological Assessment, PLoS One, Personality and Individual Differences, Midwifery, and more. Tracy serves as an adviser to the Children’s Health & Human Rights Partnership, a non-profit agency dedicated to ending routine infant circumcision. She has previously worked in the non-profit sector in agencies focused on education and/or social and emotional development.
Sarah Ockwell-Smith
Sarah Ockwell-Smith is a well-known parenting expert and popular childcare author who writes about the psychology and science of parenting. Sarah’s background is in psychology, clinical research and antenatal education. Sarah specialises in ‘gentle parenting’ (she is often credited as being the founder of the movement) and childism (the unconscious discrimination of children in society). Sarah has authored 16 books, translated into over 30 languages, which have sold over half a million copies, including the bestselling The Gentle Sleep Book.
Greer Kirshenbaum
Greer Kirshenbaum is an author, neuroscientist, doula, infant and family sleep specialist and mother. She trained at the University of Toronto and Columbia University with additional training at New York University and Yale University. Greer has combined her academic training with her experience as a doula and mother to lead The Nurture Revolution. A movement to nurture our babies’ brains to revolutionise mental health and impact larger systems in our world. Greer wants families, professionals, and workplaces to understand how early caregiving experience can boost mental wellness and diminish depression, anxiety, and addiction in adulthood by shaping babies’ brains through simple intuitive enriching experiences in pregnancy, birth and infancy. Her book is called The Nurture Revolution: Grow Your Baby’s Brain and Transform Their Mental Health Through the Art of Nurtured Parenting.
Cara Riek
Dr Cara Riek graduated from Arizona State University with a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree. She is a board-certified family nurse practitioner in addition to having her IBCLC certification. Dr Cara is also a diplomate of the American Board of Laser Surgery, specialising in oral surgery in infants, toddlers, and adults. She has additional training as a certified specialist in orofacial myology (CSOM). In 2023, Dr Cara was accepted as a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. In addition to being a Fellow of the American Laser Study Club, in 2024 she was awarded the Kumar Patel Prize in Laser Surgery for Outstanding Contributions to Laser Frenectomy Education. Dr Cara very much enjoys helping families to reach their breastfeeding goals.
Brooke Van Zanden
Dr Brooke Van Zanden is a clinical psychologist practising in perinatal and infant mental health in the Illawarra region of NSW. Outside of clinical practice, Brooke is an early career academic with an interest in research on infant sleep, attachment theory, and exploring how the intrauterine environment and prenatal exposures to the developing foetus are associated with sleep outcomes throughout infancy and childhood.
Sophie Brock
Dr Sophie Brock is a sociologist and mother living in Sydney, Australia. Sophie's work provides a cultural analysis of motherhood, exploring the ways individual experiences of mothers are shaped by broader social constructs. She is self-employed, develops online courses for mothers and practitioners and hosts a podcast The Good Enough Mother. Sophie is passionate about teaching, supporting and mentoring professionals, business owners and creatives who work with mothers, about the social construction of motherhood.
Ingrid Boedker
Ingrid Boedker is a PhD student at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) in the UK. She is a member of the Somatosensory & Affective Neuroscience Group (SomAffect) at LJMU and the Durham Infancy and Sleep Centre (DISC) at Durham University. Ingrid’s research focuses on different infant sleeping locations, associated outcomes for mothers and infants, and how these are mediated by touch behaviours.
Wendy Middlemiss
Dr Wendy Middlemiss is a professor of educational psychology and teaches in the Human Development and Family Sciences concentration at the University of North Texas. Research interests focus on how to best use science to inform families - working from the perspective of understanding the family and then adapting the science to be useful for family purposes and goals. She has worked in applied and research settings and has published in the areas of applied programming. She is currently the editor of Family Relations: International Journal of Applied Family Science.
Alison Sigal
Dr Alison Sigal graduated from McMaster University with an honours degree in Kinesiology before attending the University of Toronto, Faculty of Dentistry where she earned her Doctor of Dental Surgery and Masters of Science Degree with specialty training in Paediatric Dentistry. Between programs, she completed a hospital-based residency at Mount Sinai Hospital (Toronto). Dr Sigal established Little Bird Paediatric Dentistry to provide comprehensive airway centric health care to children from birth onwards. In addition to the provision of patient care, Little Bird is focused on multidisciplinary collaboration, research, education and training. She has and continues to dedicate herself to intensive research, studies, and collaboration with global leaders in paediatric healthcare. She received additional training in orofacial myofunctional therapy (OMT), frenum assessment/care and Buteyko breathing. Based on anatomy and physiology, Dr Sigal has developed comprehensive assessment and treatment protocols to optimize the growth, development and function of children from birth onwards. One of her career goals is for the provision of airway centric paediatric assessment and treatment to become standardized with universal protocols; assisting the evolution of academic curriculums and hospital/health care models.
Laura Harrison
Laura Harrison is professor and chair in the Department of History & Gender Studies. She received her doctorate in Gender Studies from Indiana University. Her most recent book project, Losing Sleep: Risk, Responsibility, and Infant Sleep Safety (NYU Press, 2022) takes on socially constructed beliefs about infant safety, including how medicine, law, and policy reward some parents while punishing others. Her first book, Brown Bodies, White Babies: The Politics of Cross-racial Surrogacy (NYU Press, 2016) examines the implications of surrogacy arrangements for contemporary understandings of race, kinship, and gender. Professor Harrison’s work on subjects ranging from reproductive justice, surrogacy, representations of motherhood, race and public health, and gender and feminist backlash appears in journals including Signs, Frontiers, Feminist Formations, Genders, Feminist Media Studies, and Women’s Studies International Forum. Her writing on the infant formula shortage, Josh Duggar and feminist backlash, and pregnancy monitoring technology can be found in the Washington Post, and her writing on product safety as a feminist issue and felony murder reform appears in Ms. Magazine. Professor Harrison is committed to increasing access to and quality of prison education in Minnesota, and serves on the advisory board of MSU, Mankato’s Scholars Serving Time program
Kaili Ets
Kaili Ets, is a paediatric occupational therapist, infant craniosacral therapist, and holistic sleep & reflux specialist with over 17 years of experience supporting infants and young children. She specializes in sensory processing, nervous system regulation, and developmental challenges that impact sleep, feeding, and overall well-being. Kaili is known for her root-cause approach, helping families and professionals understand how body tension, sensory differences, oral-motor dysfunction, and non-integrated reflexes can contribute to sleep and regulation struggles. She combines developmentally appropriate, evidence-informed strategies with a holistic lens to create practical solutions for better sleep, self-regulation, and function. Beyond her clinical work, Kaili is an educator, speaker, and author, dedicated to bridging the gap between therapy and real-world parenting to support the well-being of both children and caregivers.
Herbert Renz-Polster
Herbert Renz-Polster was trained as a paediatrician at Maine Medical Center, USA (1995–1999), and then completed a fellowship in paediatric pulmonary medicine at Oregon Health Sciences University, USA, which included epidemiological work on the relationship between Caesarean section and allergies (published in 2005). He was staff scientist at the Mannheim Institute for Public Health, Heidelberg University, Germany (2006–2011), then affiliated with MIPH and Center for Preventive Medicine and Digital Health Baden-Württemberg, Heidelberg University. 2016–2018 development and publication of an evolutionary theory of positional plagiocephaly (together with Freia De Bock). 2022 – 2024 extensive review of the developmental causes of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, which also explored the scientific background of shared sleep of mother and infant on the same surface (together with Peter Blair, Helen Ball, Oskar Jenni and Freia De Bock). Currently affiliated with the Department of General Pediatrics, Neonatology and Pediatric Cardiology, Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, Germany. Extensive publications of translational and popular articles and books on child development from an evolutionary perspective. He also runs www.kinder-verstehen.de, one of the largest German blogs on child development and parenting.
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