About Rested with Grace

Hi, I’m Grace—the heart behind Rested with Grace.

When I became a first-time mom, I truly had no idea what I was doing when it came to sleep. Like so many parents, I believed the common advice: keep your baby awake longer so they’ll be extra tired at bedtime, and trust that they’ll “sleep when they’re tired.” I was convinced it would all just fall into place.

But it didn’t.

By the time my maternity leave was coming to an end, I found myself completely overwhelmed. My daughter couldn’t nap unless she was being held, nights felt unpredictable, and I was exhausted trying to figure it all out on my own. I had spent so much time preparing for pregnancy, birth, and choosing the “right” baby gear—but I never once thought about preparing for healthy sleep habits.

That experience changed everything for me.

I know what it feels like to be deep in the exhaustion, questioning what you’re doing wrong, and wondering if things will ever get easier. That’s why I’m so passionate about helping other families find rest in a way that feels gentle, supportive, and aligned with their values.

As an occupational therapist, I’ve always had a deep-rooted passion for supporting individuals and families in meaningful, lasting ways. My background has shaped how I view the whole person—understanding that routines, environments, and daily habits play a powerful role in overall well-being. Through both my professional experience and my journey into motherhood, I’ve come to truly recognize just how foundational sleep is to everything. When a family is well-rested, there is more connection, more confidence, and more capacity to thrive. Helping families establish healthy, sustainable sleep is a natural extension of my work, allowing me to support not just better nights, but fuller, more balanced days.

Rested with Grace was created so you don’t have to navigate this journey alone—and so your family can move from simply surviving to truly flourishing with the rest you deserve.

Association Fading Method

Understanding Sleep Associations & How We Gently Fade Them

One of the most important steps in helping your child sleep independently is identifying the sleep associations they currently rely on.

A sleep association is anything external that helps your child fall asleep. This might include nursing, rocking, bouncing, a pacifier, patting, or holding a parent’s hand. And here’s the important part — sleep associations are not “bad.” In fact, we all use certain comforts to help us wind down.

Where challenges arise is when your child becomes dependent on that specific support to fall asleep — and to stay asleep.

Why This Matters

After about 4 months of age, children (just like adults) move through multiple sleep cycles each night. As they transition between cycles, they briefly wake. If they fell asleep with a certain type of help, they often look for that same help when they partially wake between cycles.

If that support isn’t available, they may fully wake and cry out for you.

This can lead to:

Frequent night wakings
Short naps
Early morning wake-ups
Overtiredness for both child and parent

How Association Fading Works

In my sleep programs, we use a gentle, responsive method called Association Fading™.

Rather than removing a sleep association abruptly, we:

Identify which associations are present
Determine which ones are unsustainable or disrupting sleep
Gently reduce your child’s reliance on them
Replace them with consistent, calming routines that cue them that sleep is coming

This step-by-step approach allows your child to slowly build the habit of falling asleep and transitioning between sleep cycles without needing external support each time.

The Goal

When sleep associations are gently faded, your child can:

Connect sleep cycles more smoothly
Sleep more consolidated stretches
Wake less frequently during the night
Develop healthy, lifelong sleep habits

And you remain a responsive, supportive presence throughout the process.

This is not about removing comfort — it’s about helping your child feel secure while learning a sustainable way to sleep.