Why I Decided to Call a Sleep Consultant (And It’s The Best Thing I’ve Done)

Looking back on the 3.5 years of parenting I now have under my belt, I can easily say hiring Susie as a pediatric sleep consultant to help me get a handle on my children’s sleep is one of my best decisions I’ve made.

I am still seeing the positive results of our hard work from those early months pay off.

As a new parent, I diligently read all the baby books and fell down all the baby and sleep-related rabbit holes on the internet until I felt like I had some idea of how I was going to take care of my first son.

Flash forward to four months into the journey and I’m nursing my son to sleep on my chest and unable to transfer him to a crib successfully.

Classic mom move, right?

My Low Point Helped Me Ask For Help

After many failed attempts, my husband walked in from work one day to find me crying on the floor of our son’s nursery while he is crying in his crib.

Both of us were exhausted, exasperated and, out of ideas on how either of us could get just a tiny bit of sleep.

And that’s where a frantic call, email -and probably a text, to be honest- to Susie came in.

I was overwhelmed with the concept of sleep training, the different methods and completely unsure of which one was right for us, let alone how to implement it.

Not to mention I was really tired. I needed an experienced professional (and the fact that she was a mom herself did not hurt!).

What A Sleep Consultant Helped Me With

Susie lived nearby and came over to our house to do a full assessment of our sleep situation.

She helped me and my husband create a more relaxing and sleep-friendly nursery for August and walked us through the different sleep training methods until we narrowed one down that seemed right for us.

Not only did Susie leave us feeling more confident but she gave us a customized plan, a ton of resources and a tracker that allowed her to see how we were doing with our training.

Having her support made me and my husband feel like we might just actually pull this off and sleep again.

I can’t describe how it felt to have my evenings back and to see my son wake up from a night of rest or a nap happy and smiling.

Sure, there were phases where we’d regress and I wasn’t sleeping through the night on Day One (because that’s not always the reality) but we did eventually get there.

As a toddler, August is now great at sleeping through the night in his own bed. So when I gave birth to my second son three years later, it was a no brainer to ask for Susie’s help again.

I Hired Susie For My Second Son

Even though we had moved from Chicago to Austin, Susie and I got together on a conference call and created a new plan just for Baby Finn.

Of course, no two babies are the same and our sleep training journey with Finn definitely looked a little different.

This time, I was back at work and we had to communicate things with a caregiver. It took a little longer for things to click for our second son and we had to pivot and adjust a few strategies, but Susie stayed by our side and helped us through it all.

I Understand The Importance of Sleep

As the editor and head sleep researcher for Mattress Clarity, I know a lot about the importance of sleep at all ages.

Sleep deprivation is no joke and can have long-lasting health effects.

Sleep training is one way to help establish a foundation of good sleep habits that will hopefully continue to be beneficial far past childhood.

If there is anything I’d share with new parents who are unsure about how to help their baby sleep is that you don’t have to brave it alone.

Don’t Feel Like You Have To Figure It Out Alone

I highly recommend working with certified a sleep consultant who can help you decide if sleep training is right for you and which method will help you find the most success.

We are grateful to Susie for her help with both of our boys and every morning when I see their smiling faces I know I’m glad we gave sleep training a shot!