About Joan

Being the baby of my family, I didn’t have the opportunity to care for children younger than me. However, I discovered my true love of working with children in 1999 when I began my work as a nanny in San Francisco.

I became passionate about brain development, individual temperaments, child psychology, and the unique needs of children when I began studying Early Childhood Development at San Francisco City College. I loved working with a variety of families. I enjoyed learning about each individual family’s dynamics, communication styles, and how they built connections. The variety of children and families taught me so much about being a flexible and adaptive caregiver. Working with families of multiples has always held a special place in my heart.

I became a Certified Postpartum Doula (DONA, Int) in 2007 and then a Certified Lactation Educator (UCSD) in 2009.  During that time, I supported families as a night doula all around the San Francisco Bay Area.

In 2011, my first son was born and I continued supporting families as a night doula. I was lucky that he was such a good sleeper right off the bat.

In 2017 my family moved to the Central Valley of California and settled in the Fresno/Clovis area. After a long period of hoping for a sibling for our son, my husband and I welcomed our boy and girl twins in 2017. They arrived after 31 weeks gestation, and we were thrown into the stressful world of having preemies in the NICU for seven weeks.  

When they were 8 months old, sleep deprivation hit hard. They were not sleeping as well as their older brother had done so naturally and easily. My energy stores were depleted, and I was exhausted physically, mentally, and emotionally. I had tried all of the tricks in my toolbox to help them sleep better, but it was a difficult thing with such fog brain and without being able to see things from an objective point of view. There wasn’t a service locally that was able to help, so I set out to find information about sleep consulting as quickly as I could. I wanted to not only be able to help myself but to help other families as well.

When I decided I wanted to be a sleep consultant and eventually run Sleepytime Support, I chose to get trained with the Gentle Sleep Coach Program because the GSC is the most comprehensive training around. The methods used are in line with what I use on a personal and professional level. As the Sleep Lady herself says: ” {The} approach is NOT a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all method. Rather, it’s an achievable, step-by-step method that has a 95% success rate when the child is healthy and {the} parents are consistent. ”

I graduated from my GSC training in May 2019 and progressed to the Advanced Program a month later where I continue to maintain my certification and fine tune my skills and techniques through ongoing specialized training and education.

I am ready and willing to help you get through this difficult time.

I am here to offer support and education. The Sleepytime Support goal is that you can bring peaceful sleep back to your home and family!  

As a sleep coach, I fully understand how difficult it can be for you.  

As a night doula, I supported moms out of the depths of exhaustion, overwhelm and guilt.

As a mom, I totally get it.  I’ve been there.  I know how hard it feels.

I can help you find sustainable strategies to get better sleep for you and your child using gentle methods that work. 

 Connect with me NOW via One-Touch Calling!

Or send me an email. I promise to get back to you ASAP!




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