My job as a pediatric sleep consultant and coach is not to tell you you are doing something wrong as a parent or caregiver. My job is to help you find a better way IF something, sleep related, is no longer working for you. “It’s not a problem, until it’s a problem,” is a philosophy I live by.
Every little one is different. Every family is different. I will never claim to be an expert on what, exactly, your specific little one will need or what, exactly, will work perfectly for your specific family.
My job is to help families who are struggling. I’m a resource for parents and caregivers who are exhausted because something in their little one’s sleep is off track. I help parents who have come to dread bedtime so much that they are sick with the stress of it. I’m here to coach parents how to change a sleeping situation that is no longer comfortable for someone in the sleeping equation.
I would never barge into your life and say NO! You can’t do that! NO! That’s not correct!
Some people never sleep train their little ones, and that’s OK! If whatever you’re doing is working, meaning your little one is getting the right amount of sleep they need and YOU (and your partner) are getting the right amount of sleep you need, then that’s amazing! I’m so happy for you and your little one!
Is sleep training for everyone? No.
Is working with me, or another sleep consultant, for everyone? No, and that’s ok!
I’ve never had a personal trainer at the gym, but for some people, that’s the only way they work out and stick with it.
There’s often times that my husband sees me doing something that is causing me to exert a lot of energy, time, or patience, and he looks at me and says,
“What are you doing? You know you can do it like this…”
And then, in two seconds, he completes the task that I had been struggling with for 20 minutes. Why, no! I did NOT know that there was an easier way to do that!
And that’s where I come in for families who are struggling with something that doesn’t have to be so hard!
Maybe the time that you’re putting your little ones to bed is too late and they are in the second wind territory. For them falling asleep is basically impossible and therefore you’re pulling your hair out because bedtime is taking 2 hours when it should really only take 15 minutes!
Do you know the time that your little one should be going to bed based on their age and how much sleep they’ve already gotten for the day? I do, because that’s my job. Ask me how to wire an electric outlet or teach Spanish to a room full of high school students, and I would be completely lost! But that’s because it’s not my specialty and I didn’t go to school for that.
What if your little one can never fall asleep for nap time, and therefore, is having melt down after melt down in the late afternoon.
Are you one of those lucky people, like my husband, who can nap anywhere, with TV on, little ones jumping on the couch, full daylight streaming in the extra large sun room windows, who don’t realize that some people need the absolute ideal environment to be able to nap in? Like setting up black out shades and curtains so that the room is an absolute 10 on the darkness scale.
Or are you trying to put them down at a time of day that just isn’t when their little bodies are craving the nap that they so desperately need?
These are all really hard questions to figure out as a busy parent already juggling all the other things.
As a parent or a caregiver, our unofficial “job” doesn’t come with a lot of training. No one goes to school to get a graduate degree in order to be a parent. So we could be going about something the only way we know how, but what if there is an easier way?
Would you be open minded enough to try something if it was going to make your life easier?
If what you’re doing is working, then it isn’t a problem and you don’t need me to come in and problem-solve for you.
If your car engine is working perfectly and the check engine light is off, would you bring it in to see the mechanic? No.
And you might not even bring it in to see the mechanic if your engine light is on, but you can still get it to turn over…
IF you twist the key extra hard…
then ever so slightly turn it the opposite way…
and then hit the brake three times…
followed by turning the wheel to the left…
Because you’re fine with going through that dance every time you need to run to the store to get milk…
BUT if you’re tired of jumping through all the hoops and what you’re doing is no longer working for you, then you’ll know it’s time to call your mechanic.
And the same goes for your little one’s sleep. If you’re happy with what you’re doing and how your little one is sleeping, then no need to call. But if you’re not happy or your little one is not sleeping, please know that you can reach out! Think of me as your pediatric sleep mechanic. 💜🧸