Looking for a sleep consultant: anybody have info on Andrea Grace and / or Millpond?

[Maria2007]

Hi everyone,

After 7 and a half months of struggling with broken nights, we're biting the bullet & will consult a sleep consultant. We've heard very good things about Andrea Grace, and also about the Millpond clinic. Could someone please let me know, from their own experience, how they found working with either of them?

Many thanks.

bump? Anyone?

haven't heard about them, but we heard good things about the sleep lady based in Edinburgh - she does phone stuff. I met at least two people whose babies now sleep through the night. Her website is here thesleeplady.co.uk/

hi , same problem, same age. Got the millpond book - 'teach your child to sleep', what i have read makes sense and is interesting but always too tired to put it into practice. good luck

Well we went with Andrea Grace in the end; I have to say (for whoever searches for her name in the future) that she's very good, her ideas make sense & she's such a nice lady.

What do they do?? My DS sleeps quite well (7-10 and 11-6/7) but I am interested in what a sleep consultant does??

Hi ChocOrange!

I suppose they try to get children to sleep like yours does

I think it depends on the sleep consultant to be honest. The one we chose uses more gentle options, i.e. if the parents don't want to use hardcore 'crying' methods (which we didn't) she works around that. Working on the baby's sleep routine, naps, feeding during the night, all those kinds of things.

Interesting stuff - why do you think it works rather than you trying those methods?

Well lets see if it works! We're just starting now... I have to say, some of these things we were doing already, and others the sleep consultant suggested to us. They take into account the whole picture of a child's sleep pattern (I'm simplifying a bit in my description) & hopefully the fact that you're actually paying () means you'll stick to it... I guess there are no guaranteed miracles, but it's good to have someone really experienced evaluate the situation.

Good luck Maria let us know how it goes!

How much does this sort of thing cost, cause I'd love to short cut the months of trying different methods myself and get someone to help (albeit with a gental method) sort the problem asap. One site I went too cost £800 for a 2 night 3 day visit, which seems a lot, in these cruching times. I'd be interested to know what others paid for what sort of service?

Just notice this thread, we used Millpond very successfully for our then 6 month old baby - a 6 week support (by telephone) package was £295. There were cheaper options.

I just saw this thread too. We went to Andrea Grace because our DS (seven months at the time) was waking up and refusing to go back down at 4-5am every single day and it was killing us.

She warned us that early waking was the hardest problem to solve, and DS did prove to be quite a tough nut . But after a month (including one week where we gave up because he was ill) he slept till 6-6.30am and continues to do so a year on.

Lovely lady, gentle techniques, lots of support via phone. I recommend her very highly.

Cost us £180 I think (for visit to her office, sleep plan, twice-weekly updates until all solved). Best money I ever spent.

I can't recommend Andrea Grace highly enough - she had our son's sleep sorted out within a couple of days and was so kind, supportive and wise. Best money we've ever spent. I only wish we'd gone to her sooner (we waited until DS was 18 months old and was still waking every couple of hours!).

We did Millpond fairly recently with our 11 month old (she was 9 months then) and they were excellent. I think part of the reason they help is that you're paying and also keeping a sleep diary so there's an incentive not to slip but also our consultant did suggest various things we hadn't tried and probably wouldn't have. She was incredibly supportive and you don't have to do anything you're not comfortable with eg. controlled crying and they work with your lifestyle - e.g. whether you work etc. We saw enough results to keep us motivated within a few days - we did the four week package which was £225, it hasn't completely fixed things but it's a million times better than it was.