Why Hire A Sleep Consultant?

So you have decided it is the time to sleep train. You have decided it is the right time for you to go for it but how are you going to do it? Are you going to read a book, buy an online course or hire a sleep consultant?

Many parents seek sleep help in hiring a paediatric sleep consultant and others are just not sure about it due to cost and what others may think, perhaps they feel they will be judged or not supported. Perhaps you or they feel you can learn it all from a book or Dr. Google! 

In this week’s blog, spoken words come to "paper"  by real Mums I had the pleasure to work with.  We hear their “why” they chose to hire a sleep consultant, what drove them to making that decision to help their child and in turn the family sleep better and reach those sleep goals they aspired to. 

They spoke about the journey itself and how they felt at the end after reaching their sleep goals. 

I am extremely grateful for these mum's who took part in today's podcast, they know who they are and I hope you all enjoy reading their stories! 
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Tanya and baby Leila, 12 months

We contacted Rachael because our daughter was turning one and for the whole year of her life she had been sleeping in the buggy or the sling or feeding to sleep or walking around the bedroom rocking her endlessly and more often than not she was co sleeping from around 1 in the morning.

She was waking about 4 times a night and feeding back to sleep. This was fine for the first year as we really enjoyed that time and being close together but then we started to feel frustrated and she was taking longer to settle back to sleep. I also had hanging over my head I was going back to work so a combination of things was our “why”.
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We wanted our daughter to sleep in her own room and settle back to sleep on her own and wake less in the night and we did not know how to tackle it.  So we contacted Rachael and asked her for help as we had bad experiences and results from sleep training our son Max  few years ago with a harsher method which he did not respond well to and we wanted a very gentle approach. 

"It was incredible.
In 3 nights she started to go to sleep on her own and in 5 nights she was sleeping through the night"

​Naps took a little longer but we were 2 weeks in and we saw her fall asleep on her own for naps which was incredible. I had been walking around the park trying to get her to sleep for hours on end and it was not sustainable any longer.

Now our daughter goes to sleep much earlier in the evening than she previously was which means my husband and I can spend more time with our older children and it is not a chaotic mad crazy evening! We can now get a baby sitter and know Leila will go to bed and not wake up!

The whole going back to work process is FAR less daunting.
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For us it was an amazing successful experience and very very happy with the results!

Martina and Baby Lucas 7 Months

First of all I needed my sanity back! At the time I had a baby who would not sleep in the day time unless walked in the pram and needed to feed to sleep every night at bedtime and through the night.

You can imagine the sate I was in from hours and hours walking in the park, getting nothing done and no evenings asd I was trapped in a bedroom trying to get my baby to sleep.

We needed to do something.

I felt it would be difficult to sleep train alone. I know there is a lot of information out there, on the internet on schedules and wakes windows etc. but as 1st time parents I wanted guidance and that is exactly what a sleep consultant gives you.

They know what works from experience and guide you along the way and trouble shoot along the way and they also help you to preserver to get through it as I think I would not have done so. 

"Sleep consultants give you the tools to guide your child’s sleep after your finish the training.
We still use a lot of the tools we learnt and helped us to help our baby to be a good sleeper"

​I know it is a big decision, I know it costs money but it was absolutely worth it. I could not have done it without Rachael. 

Katy and baby Rose, 16 months.

I wanted to share my experience of why and how we chose to work with the amazing Rachael. Our daughter, she is our 2nd, was still sleeping in my bed and my husband was not in our bedroom. He was kicked out around about 4 months and sleeping on a rather uncomfortable sofa bed for the best part of a year.

Rose our daughter, would only settle to sleep by co sleeping. I did enjoy it a lot, I am not anti co sleeping but it was transitioning away for it that was tricky and I wanted Rose out of our bedroom and have my husband back!

Rose would only go to sleep by feeding on the boob! We got to the point where I could get her to sleep on the boob and transfer her to the cot in our bedroom but this was variable and sometimes it did not work. The unpredictability of it all was hard and messy.

What was predictable was 4am came and she would just not settle in her cot so she would come into my bed and we would co sleep.
This was not a co sleeping situation where we both slept soundly, it was her latched on to my breast and this was uncomfortable for me.
Some nights she would wake 1-2 hours and not settle to sleep easily. It was hard.

We found Rachael and I looked at her Instagram and sent her a voice note and the ball started from there.

Our goal was to have Rose sleep in her own bed in her own bedroom. I did not mind 1one feed a night but ultimately I did want her to settle to sleep without needing to rely on me. I wanted my husband back in our bed.
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I never thought it would be possible as we were in such a state. We worked with Rachael over the course of 3 weeks.

 "I really felt she listened to and understood.
That felt amazing"

Just to be listened to as I know it is not just aspects of sleep that contributes to sleep it is everything. 
​The sleep plan worked for our family. Both day and night. 

"Within a few weeks, a couple of blips here and there, but ultimately Rose was sleeping in her own room and happy"

Still several months later she sleeps peacefully through the night for 12 hours!
Don’t wait, don’t expel your blood, sweat and tears and get the help now!
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Thank you Rachael!                   

Jo and baby Raffi, New-born

We did not know anything about new-born sleep like awake windows even. We found the knowledge and advice Rachael gave was super helpful. My toddler sleeps perfectly now and have called Rachael over the last 2 and half years to keep on top of sleep as it has changed as he has grown.

Lots of my friends still say their toddler wakes at night however Raffi is a peaceful sleeper!
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We are super keen to implement the same practices with our new baby so hopefully we have another good sleeper!

"We found Rachael super helpful, informative and what really shone though was her passion for her job and how she really wanted to help you get the sleep your family needs"

We are not a family that can survive on 5 hours we are the family that need at least 9 hours so we need to make sure that we are in a good routine to make this happen.

Rachael covered all posts including milk and nutrition and how that ties in with sleep which I did not know anything about. 

She is definitely more of a holistic sleep coach and looks at the bigger picture of sleep in your family not just your child.
Thank you Rachael
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To hear these stories from the Mums that spoke them CLICK HERE to listen to the podcast! Also available on Apple podcasts, Spotify and Anchor.fm

If you would like to have some sleep success why not book in a FREE 15 MINUTE DISCOVERY CALL to find out how I can help you be one of these Mum's you have just read about today CLICK HERE! 

Please feel free to share this blog with all your friends and let them know I am here to help you with my blogs, podcasts and more!

Peaceful nights to you all, 
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Rachael,
Your Paediatric Sleep Consultant
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