Geertje
My name is Geertje van Heeswijk. I am married to Pieter Paul and we have 3 kids: Casper born in 2015, Pleun born in 2017 and Tijn born in 2019. We live in The Hague with our dog and cat.
Switch direction!
I used to be an attorney. I didn’t find the fullfillment I was looking for, because I prefer to work at a personal level with people. So I decided to do something completely different: I became a sleep coach. Since I have a lot of experience with poor nights, I know how valuable it is to get a little more sleep. And now as a professional sleep coach, I help other families improve their sleep.
My personal “sleep story”
When Casper wasn’t able to fall asleep on his own, wanted us to lay down next to him during the night, and woke up at 5 am, I was often advised, “Just let him cry-it-out. It will pass.” I never believed that and personally I don’t want to let my kids cry for too long. I learned a gentle way of teaching Casper to fall asleep independently. At that time he was 15 months old. It also taught him how to put himself back to sleep at night when he woke up. We tackled the early rising with his “sleep sheep”. He learned that he can get up when his sheep is “awake”. Since then, our days no longer starts at 4:30 am, but at 6:30 am!
And then…
The experience of gently teach my son to put himself to sleep, made me excited and confident. I got to know the American Gentle Sleep Coach® course and did my utmost best to be trained by the Sleep Lady®. In May 2018 I completed the GSC course and since then I work as a certified sleep coach at By Sleep.
I’ve seen what (too) little sleep can do to a family and how hard it can be to break through that cycle on your own. The good news is: you are not alone! As a sleep coach, I want to help you bring peace and sleep back into your family.
