My Journey to Becoming a Sleep Consultant
Wondering how I came to be a certified pediatric sleep consultant?
I'm pretty sure it actually started back when I was a kid. I learned all I knew about being a great babysitter from the Babysitters Club books (who else was obsessed with those?). That the core of the job was helping the parents feel peace of mind and support.
At 9 years old I wanted to be a midwife when I grew up. By 12 I was babysitting kids for a couple bucks here and there whenever I could; by 13 I was running my own version of a “babysitter club” and later went on to being a mother's helper. At 18 I was a private nanny and did that off and on until opening my practice as a certified doula in 2013.
I've now been in the private birth and postpartum care industry for almost 10 years as an experienced doula, childbirth educator, and advanced newborn care specialist and own both a doula agency and a night nurse agency. Being a certified pediatric sleep consultant is actually a bit of a newer thing for me, as I graduated from The Center for Pediatric Sleep Management in autumn 2021!
I've been pretty open about my journey from being anti-sleep-training to becoming a certified pediatric sleep consultant – you can read that post if you're interested, but to summarize, I came perilously close to losing my life from the extreme mental and physical effects to my health from sleep deprivation when my son did not sleep more than a catnap's worth of consecutive time for over his entire first year. As a pretty stubborn person (just ask my husband) that's what it took for me to come into full realization of how important it is to let go of dogmatic anti-sleep-training messaging and all of its insidious anti-woman messaging that comes along with it.
I deserved better than that. I deserved better than being fed lies that setting boundaries with my child around sleep would somehow “harm” him. I believe other parents deserve better than that too.
I actually talked about this as a guest on an episode of the Becoming a Sleep Consultant podcast – listen to my interview here.
As a postpartum doula and advanced newborn care specialist I have always enjoyed supporting parents through the process of getting better sleep – utilizing doable daily routines, observing a baby's wake windows and sleepy cues, and things like that. However, when it came to actually sleep training an older baby 6 months + or a toddler, I realized that that timeframe was way outside of my time under contract with them, and they were seeking sleep help elsewhere. Hey, wait a second!! I wanted “my” families to stick with me from pregnancy, birth class, labor support, postpartum support, all the way through to sleep support with their older babies or toddlers.
Attending births is also pretty physically draining for me. I am doing my utmost to recover my health and strength after having my son, but I'm not sure if my health will ever be the same. I am only able to attend two deliveries a month, whereas most full time doulas are able to do at least 4-6. I strongly desired to keep attending two deliveries per month, while also adding in some less strenuous virtual work where I could do what I do best – provide nonjudgmental support and guidance to overwhelmed new parents.
Sleep consulting was the perfect answer! I've been there myself. I know what it's like to just do whatever it takes to get one more moment of sleep when your baby is up every 20 minutes. I know what it's like to desperately read books and blog posts about sleep but yet still feel like I'm looking through a cloudy glass when it comes to actually implementing a plan of action. Whatever you've been doing to survive thus far, you'll get no judgment from me – only understanding, compassion, and real support and help to make a change.
I knew I wanted to provide ethical sleep consulting services that take into account the baby's appropriate developmental abilities and the fact that sleep training isn't one-size-fits-all. I wanted to be well versed in all sleep education methods so I could meet parents where they are and come up with a plan that they felt completely comfortable with.
That's what led me to The Center for Pediatric Sleep Management, an online sleep consultant certification program. I really liked that it taught all known sleep methods for all ages, giving me a foundation that was perfectly matched to my belief in nonjudgmental support, providing all options and choices, and meeting parents where they are. I can highly recommend this program for anyone interested in becoming a sleep consultant.
I can honestly say I feel more satisfied and fulfilled in my new-parent-support career than I have at any time. Can you imagine waking up every morning to texts and voice messages that say things like “you saved my life” “you saved my marriage” “we don't know what we would have done without you”? Sometimes I can hardly believe this is my life. I'm still attending births, teaching childbirth classes, and taking care of newborns – plus having a great time changing the world one family at a time through virtual sleep consulting.
Warmly,
Sara