Sleep Consultant for a 15-month old
Hi,
I'm looking for a sleep consultant who can offer advice and strategies for my 15-month old daughter who still wakes up several times during the night. We're not interested in cry it out or any "modified" CIO methods, so if you can recommend anyone who has a broader range of approaches, I'd appreciate it. Can you also give a sense of the cost, if you know it? Thanks in advance!
Sep 28, 2021
Parent Replies
Hi -- we're in the midst of a great experience with Sleep Wise (https://www.sleepwiseconsulting.com/), specifically Darrah Torres. We noticed a difference in night wakings and improved napping in a couple days with our 4.5 mo. Their basic package is $395, all remote.
They do include crying as part of the process.
If you'll forgive a little unsolicited pushback (with the strong caveat that every kid and every family is different) from a second-time mom, I've yet to meet any parent who has a successful sleeper capable of self-soothing who did not let their child cry before sleep at some point. There are alternatives to an extinction approach that reduce the quantity and intensity of crying (although usually prolonging the number of nights with more than five minutes of it). But in my experience the hardest hurdle to climb on the way to good sleep is giving your kid the space they need to teach themselves the skill of falling asleep and your kid will be *pissed* when you stop doing that soothing for them. Any time I've given in to that demand to step in and do the work for my kids, I've paid in night wakings and delayed bedtimes and resentment on both sides.
Hi,
My job covered this telehealth service for new families and I was really skeptical at first, but found their sleep consultants super helpful. I'm pretty sure you can sign up as an individual. You can browse different profiles and see which person's approach might be right for you.
https://www.mavenclinic.com/for-individuals
Good luck!
K
moorea [at] savvyparentingsupport.com
moorea is amazing - total baby whisperer!
I was in a similar situation, and also wasn't willing to use CIO. At 14 months my son had worked his way up to 4 wakings per night. It's so hard! At that point I found the book The Happy Sleeper, and just putting some of its ideas into practice helped a lot. I think it's a great book for people who are drawn to attachment parenting but feel they need to do something to help their child sleep better (not just wait for sleep to improve on its own). I didn't implement their idea of the "sleep wave," which does involve crying (in 5 min increments), but I liked that even in that section they take seriously the goal of making sure your child always knows you are there for them and doesn't feel abandoned or afraid. Using some of their other ideas and perspectives, we pretty quickly got down to a bearable 1-2 wakings per night, and eventually we used the "reverse sleep wave" (without crying) to help our kiddo fall asleep alone in his room. He didn't sleep though the night until almost 2 years 3 months, but since then sleep has been pretty easy. Good luck!