Dr Fallon Cook, PhD.
Dr Fallon helps exhausted parents find their feet.
Dr Fallon Cook, B.Sci (Honours, Psychology & Psychophysiology), PhD (Psychophysiology)
Honorary Fellow, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
Honorary Senior Fellow, Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne
Meet Fallon
Fallon is a Sleep Practitioner, Psychophysiologist, and Director and Founder of Infant Sleep Australia and Melbourne Infant Sleep. She consults with families, on the topic of sleep. She loves seeing the change in families when their child starts to sleep well - when parents go from dragging themselves through each day, to genuinely enjoying parenting. When tired babies become happy babies.
Fallon has a PhD in Psychophysiology, so she isn't a medical doctor. Rather, her entire career has been dedicated specifically to understanding the complexities of infant and child sleep, and mental health. She also has three young children and understands how tiring parenting can be. With Fallon, you’re in safe hands.
Working with children from 0 to 5 years of age, Fallon can help you with:
Settling difficulties
Frequent night waking
Bedtime refusal
Early morning wake ups
Circadian rhythm disruption
Other behavioural sleep difficulties
Training and expertise
Fallon has a Bachelor of Science (Honours) and PhD in Psychology and Psychophysiology from Swinburne University of Technology. She has completed additional training including Newborn Behavioural Observation training at Harvard Medical School (Boston), has observed paediatric sleep clinics at the Boston Children’s Hospital, and maintains international collaborations with leading infant sleep experts and researchers in the USA, Canada and the UK. She has delivered sleep interventions to hundreds of infants and their parents who have taken part in her research programs.
Research and academia
Fallon has been leading infant regulation (sleeping, crying and feeding) research in Australia for twelve years and is a member of the International Pediatric Sleep Association as well as other professional organisations. With honorary positions at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute & Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Royal Children’s Hospital, she ensures the latest research evidence is embedded in the advice and support she provides to families.
Fallon carries out expert review of content on the Raising Children Network and her infant sleep interventions have been tested in large research trials, and embedded into standard care provided through the Maternal and Child Health service.
Recently, Fallon was honoured to deliver the Infant Sleep and Settling webinar on behalf of the Raising Children Network. Her expertise is highly sought after, and she frequently appear sin podcasts including BabyTalk with Penny Johnston and Parental as Anything with Maggie Dent.
Media
You may have seen Dr Cook discussing her research findings in the media. Collectively reaching over 250 million people, she has appeared in two front page stories in The Age, an article in the Herald Sun, coverage on major national and international news programs (CNN, Fox News, ABC news, Channel Ten, Channel 7 and Sky News), 16 online news stories, coverage on national ABC news radio and several live radio interviews. Fallon’s research uncovered the link between persistent infant sleep problems and later mental health and language development.
Publications, awards and recognition
Dr Cook has published in major scientific journals including Pediatrics, Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, and Archives of Disease in Childhood. She speaks regularly at international conferences and has received numerous prestigious awards in recognition of her contribution to paediatric sleep research. These include the 2018 Professor Avi Sadeh Young Investigator Award, presented at the International Pediatric Sleep Association Congress (Paris) and Hugh Rogers Fellowship, presented by the Melbourne Boston Sister Cities Association. She was awarded the prestigious LifeCourse Postdoctoral Fellowship by the Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation. You can view a list of Fallon’s publications and conference presentations here.
Need help?
Fallon sees families in our sleep clinic on Tuesdays, and on all other weekdays she sees families from the Sombelle Online Sleep Clinic Programs for one-on-one coaching calls. The fastest way to see Fallon is to join Sombelle and book a coaching call, as the wait time to see Fallon in the clinic is usually very long. You can also listen to Dr Fallon discussing sleep and settling with Dr Laura in the Brand New Little People podcast.