Seeking a Sleep Consultant
Parent Q&A
I’ve recommended Eileen Henry of Compassionate Sleep Solutions before and I’ll give her another enthusiastic recommendation. She is a true sleep magician and we found her to be enormously helpful with our sons sleep struggles. We have multiple friends who’ve worked with her too with great success. She helps with babies, young toddlers, older toddlers and even early school age kids. Good luck!
I highly recommend our sleep consultant, Darrah Torres. She is extremely knowledgeable, has exceptional customer service, and has worked with families with kids of all ages. Our daughter sleeps 7pm-7am with a regular nap because of her! Additionally, she herself is a mom of 2 kids + she is a pediatric speech & language pathologist. My 9th friend just hired her :) Worth every penny! https://www.sleepwiseconsulting.com/consultants/darrah-torres/
Archived Q&A and Reviews
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One year old with early wake up and poor sleep
Nov 2007
I have a one year old with sleep issues. Does anyone know a good sleep consultant? Im trying to find someone in El Cerrito/Berkeley/Albany. I live in El Cerrito and dont want to drive all the way to Oakland. Would love to know! A-
I consulted with Noelle Cochran [noellecochran [at] mac.com], who does all her consulting via phone. She is warm, goes with what you are comfortable with, but let's you know what to expect given your child and their developmental station. You contact her via email to set an appointment. She is very busy but will get to you. Good luck! kim
Sleep consultant for infant
Oct 2007
i'd like recommendations for a sleep consultant. i am considering hiring a consultant for my 3 month old. i'd really like to get him sleeping before i have to go back to work. if you've done this, what are the pros & cons. also, so far, i've heard of vivien sonnenberg, meg zweibach & noelle cochran. any thoughts? thanks! sleepless mom
Are you asking for additional names or just people's thoughts on using a sleep consultant? We consulted Meg Zweiback to help us with sleep training, as well as for help with other issues as our daughter got older. Anyone who knows me knows that I think she's a genius. The only con is that her services are not free! They were, however, well worth every cent we spent. Especially the sleep training. Good luck! It's not easy, but it sure is nice to have some professional help. Meg Z. fan
I went to Meg Zweibach and she was very good. She is realistic, flexible, patient, and wise.
I am recommending a truly gifted child development specialist who provides consultations and coaching on everything with kids - sleep, behavior, weaning...
She helped me, over the phone while I lived in AZ and she in CA, to get my very sleep challenged/challenging daughter (now 20 months) on a great routine. We had to do cry it out eventually, but at the same time she was doing no-cry with my friend who referred me to her. Later when challenges resurfaced she helped me find a completely different solution fitting for my daughter's stage of development. She also helped me wean my daughter, who actually finally weaned herself from her final regular feeding!!! I never imagined THAT could ever happen.
She's extremely knowledgeable, patient, supportive, practical and kind. She pays attention to what YOUR particular family needs and can adapt her approach as is appropriate to your situation - no cookie cutters in her tool kit. When we finally met face to face my normally shy little girl sat in her lap and hugged her...I know someone else had the title of the Baby Whisperer, but the moniker fits this woman as well:
Angelique Millette , PhDc MFTt PD/CD(DONA) CMT Postpartum & Birth Doula (DONA certified) 415.785.4180
She's a gem! ariel
Sleep specialist for 22-month-old
Sept 2007
I am posting on behalf of a friend who lives in Pleasanton. Can anyone recommend a sleep specialist for a 22 month old who has had sleep issues off and on since 5 months of age. They have Kaiser but have not had much luck there and the recommendations on the archives at BPN are a little outdated. Thanks
I've had two recent and great experiences with Meg Zweiback . She understands children and parents and I felt like she gave us appropriate, sensitive and reasonable recs to help our toddler improve her sleep. It was well worth the money and I felt like I ended up learning about my toddler in the process because of the way Meg asks questions and explains her suggestions. It also helped me to know that she has been doing this for a long time. She was welcoming and calm and seems to really know her stuff. Couldn't recommend her more highly! Anon
Sleep consultant for 6-month-old
November 2006
Our six month old daughter gets up many times per night and struggles with going back to sleep. We've read many sleep books and tried many methods and nothing seems to work. We are now interested in sleep consultants in the bay area. Does anyone have any new recommendations? sleep deprived
We love Vivian Sonnenberg - she is responsible for many happy sleep filled nights in our home! She truly is the baby whisperer - Her number is 415-383-0560 Good luck!
Sleep deprived,
We waited until our baby was 9 months old, hoping he would sleep on his own, but no luck. We read many books (too) before we called a sleep consultant, Vivian Sonnenberg. She was recommended by a friend, and has been written up in the SF Chronicle. Although her service was a little pricey, she was worth every penny! We are so happy and now everyone in the house is well-rested. Her website is www.viviansonnenberg.com Good Luck! Loving our sleep
Sleep specialist for 15 month old
August 2005
We are looking for a sleep specialist or consultant to help us address our sleep issues with our 15 month old boy. Is there anyone who has used a sleep specialist recently who they would recommend? a very tired mama
Our son is a year old and was a terrible sleeper.
We went to see Meg Zweiback (836-1450) when he was maybe 8 months old because he had to be held for a large part of the night to sleep at all, would wake as often as 20 times, never slept longer than a couple hours at a stretch. We met with her twice (and had daily phone consults in between our meetings) and he got to be a much better sleeper.
Our schedule got really out of wack for 3 weeks and the baby regressed pretty seriously. When he was 11 months old we took him back to Meg and she gave us different advice that also worked. (Initially we tried doing the same thing we did the first time around but it wasn't working. When we went back, she told us he was at a different stage developmentally so we needed to do something different.) Now he is back on track and is sleeping even better than before. He usually wakes up once around 3 or 4 to eat and otherwise sleeps about 8-6:30.
It only took 2-3 nights the first time to get him sleeping well. The second time it took a little more than a week. The process was painful (lots of crying) but well worth it for all of us.
Good luck.
Sleep specialist for baby
March 2004
Hi -- I'm considering consulting with a specialist about my baby's sleep issues. He seems to be having more difficulty than is ordinary (he's certainly having more difficulty than my daughter did), and the situation is not good for him or for the rest of the family. Despite our efforts at sleep training and other methods, he is incapable of organizing his sleep. He has a great deal of trouble going to sleep and staying asleep, waking every ten minutes or so during naps and every hour or so at night. I know that Stanford has a sleep clinic that includes pediatrics. I'm wondering -- has anyone ever used the Stanford clinic? Or has anyone used a specialist closer to home and gotten good results? I'm not even sure what sort of specialist we need -- medical doctor, nurse practitioner, alternative medicine -- so any recommendations are welcome. Thanks so much. Sleep Deprived in Oakland
I have had similar sleep patterns with my 3month old dauther in the day time. Night time is getting better. We have been seeing an osteopath regularly since her birth and this is helped tremendously. The one I have been seeing is moving and I am looking for another currently. I can't say enough about the benefits of osteopathy, especially for newborns and children. It has done wonders for her digestive issues and sleep. Monica
Need help for son who can't sleep through the night
2001
We're looking for someone who can help us deal with our son's sleep issues. We've received conflicting advice from our pediatrician and other professionals, but it doesn't seem to matter anyway since he still has a tough time sleeping through the night, and he seems unable to put himself back to sleep by himself (and sometimes with our help). Does anyone have recommendations for anyone who specializes in sleep disorders? (And yes, we've read four books and tried everything from attachment style to Ferber and beyond - with no success.) Thanks in advance.
There is a sleep disorders clinic at Stanford you might contact. You could also talk to a developmental pediatrician if you haven't already. Good luck! Melissa
We engaged Meg Zweiback both when my son was a wakeful baby and for dealing with big boy bed freedom. She is great -- analyzes the issue and provides a prescription that worked well for us in both cases. I strongly recommend her. Her number is 836-1450. Kathleen
The sleep consultant we worked with is Rachel Biale. She works only by phone, which actually turned out to be preferable. She likes to work with both parents, and working by phone makes it much easier to coordinate. Her method of sleep training is similar to Ferber, except that you stay with the baby. It's helpful for those of us who just can't close the door and not go in, and the baby is not alone. But it is just heartbraking to stay with your baby while he screams, and NOT pick him up. Rachel individualizes her approach for each family, so I can only speak to what she had us do. We let Eli cry in his crib for 10 min without touching him, just talking to calm him. Then we tried patting and touching to soothe him, without picking him up, for another 10 min. If he was still crying (which he always was), then we picked him up and soothed him, and when he was calm, we put him down and started all over again. Also, my partner and I took turns. Even though this didn't ultimately work for us, we did find it helpful. Rachel worked with us within our limits, instead of saying that the method demands certain procedures, like most of the books out there do. In the end, we decided that we weren't making enough progress quickly enough to be able to continue. But this is a procedure that has worked well for many parents.
My daughter had bad sleeping problems, and in the end, I found I had to rely on my own maternal instinct. I talked to many professionals, I tried almost all suggestions and read every book I could get my hands on. My best contact was the UCSF Sleep Program. Unfortunately, no one can give you just the right answer and no particular method is guaranteed to work. After years of trying to follow other's ideas of dealing with short sleep cycles, movement and sound sensitivity I stopped listening and followed my own instincts. I have tried to make sleep/night a safe and secure place. A time of security and a positive experience. It is important to remember that the current ideas of what I child should sleep like is not only a generalization but is the in trend of thinking for our times. When you look back in history, or at other cultures, you can see that the ideas of how children should sleep and how the parents handle it vary greatly. It is also helpful to hear what other parents experience with their children. The longer I dealt with the problem the more commonly I heard about other's problem situations. You must also remember that every family has different limits on what they will handle. Some keep their children up late, others want the child asleep early. Some parents get up and sit with the child, others bring the child into their bed.Everyone sleeps differently. Some fall asleep quickly, others take time. Some people are 'light' sleepers, other's heavy. I suggest you look at your sleep style and see if it matches your child's in any way. My situation has still not completely resolved itself but it is much better. Ndevent
More reviews of sleep consultants
July 2002
RE: 8 month old standing in crib, exhausted
We worked with a very intuitive baby coach named Sarah Swales, 652-0774. If you want to get away from the one-size-fits-all formulas, I highly recommend inviting Sarah over to meet you and your child. She picked up on things about my son's sleep style that I wouldn't have noticed, and she offered me and my husband great support.
We had major sleep challenges (including standing in the crib), and we've worked through them all in gentle baby steps with Sarah's help. We met with her 3 times and spent a few hundred dollars in the process. Totally worth it.
Other people in my moms' group have consulted with Sarah, so I know for a fact that she is not giving us all the same solutions. EM
Hi! Do you have Kaiser? I had a similar issue with my daughter when she was 4. I talked to her pediatrician who referred me to a pediatric sleep specialist through KP. He explained what seemed to be going on for my daughter (night terrors causes by lack of sleep) and helped us figure out how to get her to bed earlier so she could get more sleep since she never slept in. Anyway, just my 2 cents if you happen have KP they should be able to refer you, but you might have to ask. Good luck to you / I know night terror stuff is so hard for everyone.