Has anyone used a Sleep Consultant?

[Writerwannabe83]

I'm desperate enough to try anything.

What did they do?
Did it help?

Hi, I gave one a go and arranged for her to do a night stay. I filled In a sleep history form beforehand and she gave me some homework to do prior to her visit - namely to cut down my night feeds.

My six month old was waking every hour through the night. I spoke to her beforehand and said I didn't want to do cry it out, she said she didn't agree with that either but we wouldn't know what approach to take until the night she would stay.

Unfortunately my experience didn't go to plan. when she arrived she told me to put him in his cot awake (he had never gone to sleep like that beforehand) and then she switched out lights (we leave a night light on) and then she shut the door. We went downstairs and timed 3 minutes. He was screaming. I went up patted him on back and then had to come back down again. On the third time up, so 9 minutes later, he had vomited all over the cot and himself. She told me to change his sleep suit, calm him and then we would start again. At this point I was a nervous wreck, she told me it is normal for them to vomit and that he would probably do this again through the night. I felt so confused as this was going against all my instincts and so she actually went home as she said I wasn't ready.

Moral of the story is probably to do some good research and ask what approaches they might take, I felt slightly annoyed that my consultant only had this one trick and i wanted to do it in a more gentle way. Still got bad sleep issues but I can't handle the crying and vomiting so when I, feeling stronger and more determined I'm going to try some gentler methods. I do have what they describe a high needs baby and did read that sleep training is very challenging with babies of this temperament, and the consultant said in eight years she had never had one vomit so quickly!

yes I used one at 6.5m my dd was waking every 1.5-2 hours. she was brilliant, I can pm you her name

Thank you keep, I would really appreciate that x

sorry - we did gradual retreat basically, and night weaned. we saw improvements in 3 days but took about 3 weeks till she slept 11-12 hours (I hadn't expected to ever get there...). naps also improved though I didn't do anything specifically I think because she could self settle they got longer.

Gemma that is horrible, you poor things!

I'm in the middle of using Ann Caird from Naturally Nurturing, who I've seen recommended on here loads. She is a sweetie and has really helped us. Her methods are very gentle and gradual, basically just chipping away at the issues one at a time, but never leaving your baby alone to cry and supporting him throughout. I'd really recommend her, and wish I'd contacted her 6 months ago.

I have been in touch with a Specialist and we have our first phone consultation next week. I've mentioned it to my DH but I haven't told him we have to pay for it

Hi we used Sian Thomas at www.sleepbabies.co.uk just the nicest woman and should have used her earlier... Gentle approach, takes three weeks ish but we saw improvements after a couple of days. She does home visits too but it is the daily support by email that was the key for us. Good luck