Warwickshire News Mine

Can’t Sleep, Won’t Eat will give over 70 delegates the theory and reasons behind why their children won’t or can’t eat or sleep and suggest practical strategies for managing and dealing with these issues.

The conference, taking place at the Coventry Hilton Hotel, has been organised by the county council’s Integrated Disability Service (IDS) and funded by the local authority’s Family and Parent Support Team enabling families to attend for free.

The morning session will feature presentations from keynote speakers Professor Gillian Harris, Consultant Paediatric Psychologist from The Children’s Hospital Birmingham, a specialist in food preference development, and sleep expert Dr David Bramble, Consultant Child and Adolescent Learning Disability Psychiatrist from Telford and Wrekin NHS.

During the afternoon, delegates will take part in practical workshops facilitated by professionals from a range of family support agencies on topics such as stress management and parenting skills.

The IDS decided to hold the event as they had noticed a large number of parents reporting stress due to children who can’t or won’t sleep or eat for a variety of reasons and decided they needed to do something to offer more support.

The next step involved discussions with health colleagues to plan how they might do this, and identify what services needed to be involved. A conference format with opportunities for smaller group activities was proposed to give the parents a chance to seek advice from experts and each other.

Gill Henderson from Warwickshire County Council’s Integrated Disability Service co-ordinated the event. She said: “I’m really pleased that the event had attracted such a positive interest from parents and extremely grateful to all the professionals who have agreed to attend, help and support the conference.

“Community paediatricians, educational psychologists, clinical psychologists, speech therapists, dieticians, occupational therapists, as well as staff from IDS will all be supporting the event. Voluntary organisations such as Cerebra, Contact a Family, will also be lending a hand in the workshops or providing information for parents to take away.”

Warwickshire County Councillor Heather Timms, portfolio holder for children, young people and families added: “This conference demonstrates partnership working at its best.

"The Integrated Disability Service has brought together all our partners to deliver joined up information to parents ensuring they get appropriate support to meet their needs.”

Link to WCC