About us

We are Dr Fallon Cook & Dr Laura Conway (PhD's, Sleep Practitioners)

Our paths converged during our postdoctoral fellowships at the Royal Children's Hospital campus in Melbourne. As we delved into research papers over numerous shared coffees, a shared passion emerged—to translate research findings into practical and supportive approaches that directly benefit families.

Late evenings, after our kids were settled and the tea was poured, we would connect and envision our next steps. We yearned to establish something truly exceptional, where our skills and expertise could be utilised to their fullest potential.

Through our postdoctoral fellowships at the Royal Children's Hospital, we learned firsthand that persistent sleep difficulties during infancy and beyond can have long-lasting effects on both child and parent well-being. Unfortunately, the waitlists for hospital sleep clinics were often several months or even years long, leaving families in distress.

Motivated by the desire to make a difference, we made the decision to create our own sleep clinic. Our goal was to explore innovative avenues to reach a larger number of parents, including those residing in remote communities where sleep support had never been readily available.

Infant Sleep Australia was born, and telehealth appointments soon spread throughout the country, bringing sleep support to areas that were previously underserved.

It wasn't long before we introduced Sombelle, a pioneering solution in our repertoire.

Why we do it

Sleep shouldn’t be a minefield, but it is. A lot of online advice about sleep, centres on a baby or toddler with ‘typical’ sleep needs. The problem is that babies and toddlers aren’t all made the same and advice that might suit one child can be a terrible fit for another. 

It can be very hard for tired parents to navigate all the conflicting advice and make the decisions that are right for their child and their own parenting style. 

We help parents block out all the competing noise about sleep, and look at the baby or toddler in front of them. When we are led by a child’s unique sleep needs, it's easier to find the daily rhythm and settling approaches that naturally suit their needs. 

It’s sensible.  

It protects parent and child mental health.  

It’s grounded in the science of healthy child development.  

Thousands of families love our approach but our waitlist for appointments was starting to grow. 

That’s when we started Sombelle. We wanted to put all the sleep clinics best resources and guidance in to one amazing course that parents can have instant access to when they need it. We built Sombelle in collaboration with parents to ensure it meets the needs of families. 

Sombelle guides parents to learn about their baby or toddler and make decisions around the best settling and sleep approaches for their family’s needs. It’s flexible and there are many different approaches to choose from. It’s not a one-size-fits-all program. 

Our Qualifications

Dr Fallon Cook has a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Psychology and Psychophysiology, first class honours and a PhD in Psychophysiology. She specialises in paediatric sleep, and her research has examined a range of other factors that influence sleep including child development, trauma, perinatal mental health, and parenting.

Dr Laura Conway has a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Psychology, first class honours and a PhD in Early Child Development. Like Fallon, she specialises in paediatric sleep, and her research has examined factors that influence and are influenced by sleep including language development, parent-child engagement, and mental health.

Both Fallon and Laura hold LifeCourse Postdoctoral Fellowships that were awarded by the Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation. Together they’ve published 60+ scientific papers, presented at major international conferences, and have appeared in the media to audiences of over 250 million people worldwide. They are not medical doctors or general practitioners, rather, their entire careers have focused on sleep and early child development.