Koala And Joe Sleep Coach 30 Minute Session Review

Reviewed by Helen O

Being a mum of two young children, including a very strong-willed 17 month old, there’s often a battle to get the little cherubs to sleep. So I was delighted to be allocated a 30 minute sleep coach session with one of Koala and Joe’s expert coaches.

Booking the session couldn’t have been easier, I created an account on the Koala & Joe website, found the coach that I had been allocated to help me and then selected a time and date that was convenient to me. One of the things I really liked was that the coaching sessions on offer were outside of the usual 9-5 time slots, so I was able to choose a time that was really convenient to me, rather than one which would just make do. I opted for a Sunday evening at 8.30pm (in the hope that my daughter would play ball and actually be asleep by this time!)

Once I had selected my session, I waited for it to be confirmed and received messages via my personal dashboard, where my coach Sally Anysz asked for information upfront about the sleep challenges I had been experiencing, which I found really useful, as you don’t want to be wasting your 30 minutes actually detailing what the problem is, you want to be getting helpful advice. I also then received a message containing the Zoom meeting link, so I felt completely prepared in advance.

When the time for the session arrived, I had mild panic as I thought the Zoom link I had been sent would allow me to click on it and take me directly into the meeting, but it didn’t so I had to open the Zoom app on my phone and manually input the meeting ID and passcode. Fortunately I had allowed a couple of minutes spare to log onto the meeting, although I would have preferred to have had the session on my laptop.

The session itself went really well and was definitely aided by having the messages beforehand to describe the sleep challenges I was facing. My expert was really friendly and empathetic, not at all condescending or judgmental and I was immediately at ease having a chat with her. We discussed briefly the main issue I face with my daughter; getting her to sleep in the evening and then Sally set about giving me some useful information about sleep pressure and how we all fall asleep and advice of things to try with my daughter. The session was insightful and I am looking forward to giving some of her suggestions a try. At the time of writing my review I had started to implement the advice, but not for long enough for me to determine it’s success, but I have everything crossed, as I understand the rationale behind it!

Although 30 minutes doesn’t sound long, for such an in depth topic, we actually discussed a lot of information and ideas. I had been worried beforehand that we might not get an opportunity to discuss everything, but I was pleasantly surprised with how much ground we covered. I also got to ask all of the questions I had.

The session cost is £50 for a 30 minute session, which I think is reasonable, particularly when the advice you receive can change your life for the better. I would definitely recommend the session for anyone else experiencing sleep challenges with their little ones. There are other sleep package options, via lots of different sleep coaches, all of who are listed on the Koala & Joe website, with their different price ranges clearly detailed. Some even offer face to face sessions, depending on location.

Whilst I was awaiting my session, I was intrigued to find out more about Koala & Joe, as as company. I learned that the company was founded by three mums, Antonia, Sophie and Issy, who have created a trusted community marketplace for connecting parents and carers with experts who can enable families to get the help they need, when they need it. The name Koala & Joe comes from the idea that koalas have a completely chilled out parenting style with their Joeys and that’s a great thing to aspire to.

Sleep coaches aren’t the only thing on offer from Koala & Joe, they have a plethora of specially chosen experts covering a diverse range of topics that families might come up against, including:
• acupuncture
• allergies
• counselling
• hypnobirthing
• maternity nurse
• osteopathy
• speech and language therapists

In the main, these services cover all age ranges and helpfully, their website subcategorises the age ranges from parents to be, babies, toddlers, pre-schoolers, school age, teens and then a section for parents and carers too, because as they rightly highlight, you can’t pour from an empty cup.

Koala & Joe have a strict vetting criteria, developed in consultation with professional associations to ensure that only qualified experts can join their suite of consultants. So you can rest assured that you are being connected to someone who can actually help you.

I like the fact that there is very little emphasis on the mother-baby relationship, rather a more holistic approach taking into account all of the different parenting/ caring relationships reflecting current times.

I love the ethos of the company with their mission to help families live happy, healthy stress-free lives. This is something that we can all benefit from these days. Koala and Joe have also committed to giving back 1% of its revenues to support the most vulnerable families in the UK.

Rating: 5 out of 5

RRP: £50 for 30 minute sleep coach session

This product can be purchased from Koala & Joe here.

To check out all services covered by Koala & Joe’s experts, visit here.