Sarah Carpenter/The Sleep Mums

[stuntbubbles]

Has anyone used Sarah’s remote service to sort out their baby’s sleep? Considering it but it’s an eye-watering amount of money.

Any other sleep consultant recommendations? Someone quite hands on/at your side (remotely/via text) rather than writing you instructions to pack them full of solids and leave them to cry. I can get plenty of advice and plans for free online but I need the handhold through it as I’m so tired I can’t think.

Sorry to hear you're in the thick of it OP. I haven't used her but following with interest. I quite like their podcast although a lot of it is common sense stuff I already know (and no doubt you do too).
I haven't used a sleep consultant yet but another name I have heard good things about is the Millpond sleep clinic.
Hope you get it sorted soon xx

Bumping this as would be really interested too. Solidarity xx

She totally changed my life and my parenting experience. I love her and I slept 8 hours a night now too!

I used Sarah a couple of months ago after having a really negative experience with a sleep consultant and she was incredible.

The consultant I used basically didn’t get to know my baby and wanted me to just do a few techniques that didn’t work and then left me to it.

Sarah was recommended to me and completely thorough and got to know my DD and within a few nights they were sleeping through. We still keep in touch and she helps me out with loads of stuff. I honestly couldn’t recommend her enough - she is so brilliant.

this is the article that helped me pick her and I am so glad I did
https://graziadaily.co.uk/life/parenting/baby-wont-sleep-holly-bourne/

Thank you so much for these responses. I'm not the OP but would be interested to know whether and to what extent crying was involved @SharonReeder and @bigpawsjames ?

Not at all

Thanks so much ladies. It gives me hope. 1st child we had a sleep consultant and it was brilliant. 2nd child we’ve had really bad experiences with sleep consultants so feel really nervous to try something but then equally absolutely desperate for things to improve. Has anyone got an older baby (18 months) with allergies/reflux that’s successfully worked with sarah? Thank you xx

She actually diagnosed our child with both! We had no idea (reflux was silent - he was actually sick almost never, less than most babies!) and we were given bad advice by HV about milk. So yes, we sorted those and that made everything a lot better, and then she looked at the routine and taught us how to settle him (no crying) in a way that is sustainable (I.e if you do cry it out you often don't have any techniques for when they're ill or teething etc and you don't want to feed them back to sleep), which we then phased down to nothing and he settled himself now and sleeps all night (hes 9 months)

@SOSreflux my DD has allergies and reflux too. She's 8.5 months. What is sleep like for you at the mo? And has it changed over time?

Mine is a truly terrible sleeper. Awake every 45 mins to 90 mins, or sometimes split nights of 2 to 3 hours. I cosleep which helps a bit but doesn't solve it.

I've been riding it out hoping it gets better so far.

Sarah was a miracle worker for me. My DD was 18 months too and waking so often that ended up co-sleeping.
There was limited crying but Sarah checked how comfortable I was when it was happening.
After 3 nights DD slept through in their own room and I haven’t looked back since.
She is so different to the other sleep consultant I tried. She left me so upset because it didn’t work and she blamed me. Sarah is like a therapist holding your hand through it.

@SharonReeder @bigpawsjames Thanks so much for your replies. It really does give me hope, which is in short supply at the moment. After my first I just thought however bad sleep was I could always sort it but since our experience with our second it feels like there is nothing we can do and it will never end. We’ve been through so many experts.
@Purple89 sleep is still really bad for us, we cosleep because it is was the only way to survive but even doing that she wakes frequently and is in pain/uncomfortable upset. Please don’t feel like this will happen to you too. Most people we speak to had improvements much before 18 months we just seem to have quite complicated allergies/gastro stuff going on. It’s been horrendous! Are you under a gastro consultant? Xx

Thank you thank you for these replies! I’d also read the Holly Bourne article and having a few more reviews really helps – it’s such a big thing, trusting your baby’s sleep to someone. Friends have sent me various plans from sleep consultants they’ve used and they all amount to the same thing: here’s the routine, then you say night night and leave them to cry. Some advise popping back in, some don’t. But it’s all the same thing.

Solidarity to those of you in the sleep trenches!

Maybe try the free consultation and see how you feel. After speaking to Sarah for 5 minutes, I knew she was the one.
She just wants to fix it for you and be there. I cried buckets when I was speaking because I was at breaking point.
For me, HV were rubbish and just told me to suck it up. I was getting 3 hours a night and couldn’t function anymore?
There should be more Sarahs in this world helping all sleep deprived mums. We shouldn’t be told to suck it up. I was having to drive my DD and it didn’t feel safe.
I am lucky I could afford the help but I just wish we all could have this help, because sleep deprivation is really debilitating.

Hi @stuntbubbles have you spoken to Sarah yet? Which plan did you go for?
I have a 15min consultation with her tomorrow, am looking at the £500 text support one. I'd love the live camera one but not sure I can justify the cost.

I'm at desperation point too. 2nd baby 9.5mo... i tried another sleep consultant at 6mo but was the cookie cutter plan. She is self settling but still doing 30min naps and is refusing 3rd nap. Waking every 2hrs at night then up and down like a yo-yo from 4.30am, early waking... shit shit shit.
I thought my son was bad but he actually learned to self settle easily as he took to a comforter. DD2 is a whole other ball park.

Would love to know how you got on xx

Hi @Geranium1984 do you mind me asking how you got on and what you decided to go for? How it was positive x

Hi, I've had an initial call and just paid the deposit for 2 nights virtual help with 3 weeks whatsapp support.
Start at the end of next week so I'll update. Can't come soon enough, baby has just woken up after yet another 30min nap 🤯

Hi, update incase anyone is considering sarah. She was brilliant. I was apprehensive it would work as I find my little girl so stubborn and generally difficult, but Sarah had her sleeping and we did it with just some moaning, no leaving to scream.
It was brilliant having her support throughout the night and she was right there with me watching/listening to the monitor for naps which were our trouble spot.
She was very responsive (I've used another sleep consultant when DD was 6mo and you'd text to ask a question about a short nap or what to do and I'd get a reply at 6pm that evening asking how the day went 🙄)
By the end of the 3 days, DD was going down nicely for her 2 naps and sleeping through the night - which wasn't even on my wish list!
We have recently been on holiday, started nursery and have a cold so I'm having to shush next to the cot for her but hopefully once she's less anxious about nursery we will be back.
I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Sarah.

Hi, just following up on the thread above. @stuntbubbles @SOSreflux did you go with Sarah or did you use someone else? What was your experience like?

Hello, we went with sarah and it was life changing. That might sound over the top but it was. She doesn’t/can’t turn your child into a perfect sleeper but she significantly improved sleep for us and we had a lot of complex issues. Would highly recommend. Good luck xx

also just realised I never thanked @Geranium1984 thank you! Xx

Also just to add it wasn’t easy or quick but sarah is there throughout and it’s worth it xx

Oh! I’d forgotten about this thread.

Sarah was wonderful. Like a pp I just sobbed through my initial consultation; she is like a therapist as much as a sleep consultant. We did three overnights with us, and she dialled in for a random 3am freebie down the line to figure out a snag: the results aren’t magical quick, because babies wake for all sorts of reasons.

In fact my son is still waking now at 18 months but he’s teething all four final molars at once, so who can blame him. And Sarah has given me confidence in techniques, that he can and will sleep and if he doesn’t there’s a reason, so I’m OK with it and know how to troubleshoot it.

Plus night weaning without tears, in fact not really night weaning but just “he’s sleeping so he doesn’t need milk” was a game changer for my MH, for sharing the night wakes, for recharging physically mentally and spiritually.

How much was the service?