The value in hiring a sleep consultant
Parents often wonder if the cost of hiring a sleep consultant is worth it. Many feel that being sleep deprived is just a permanent state of being once you enter the realm of parenthood, and there is nothing that can be done to change this. I disagree. You don’t have to live in a fog of sleep deprivation and, in many ways, you can’t afford to wait for things to resolve on their own or for your child to “grow out of it” (which, for older children, often does not happen) due to the fact that there can be long term consequences of not sleeping, especially in the first 5 years.
Some of the consequences are:
-disrupting the natural and necessary neurological connections for your child’s development providing the foundation for all future cognitive, sensory-motor, and social emotional development
-inability to play independently and adapt to changing environments
-behavioral concerns
-creating a sleep debt for your child which could result in symptoms that look like ADD/ADHD, but really are sleep deprivation
-undiagnosed sleep disorders contributing to ongoing poor sleep
-Obesity
-Insomnia
It may sound alarmist to think that sleeplessness can cause the above problems, but these are real concerns among school age children, and they are often largely the result of long term sleep deprivation. You also can’t minimize the fact that, as parents, when we function in a perpetual state of exhaustion, it becomes harder for us to focus the effort and energy on building a quality and connected relationship with our children.
As a sleep consultant, I am not there to sleep train your child. I am, in fact, working myself out of a job. It is my job to equip you, as parents, with the tools and strategies you need to help improve your child’s sleep. This is not something to be outsourced. Your child trusts you and by helping him learn this skill, you are building on this trust. You are showing him that you respect this ability to learn a skill that he will use for the rest of his life and you are teaching him this in a supportive and nurturing way.
Following our time together, you will have a “toolbox” to use and to continue to build on throughout your parenting journey. Teaching your child how to sleep with love, understanding, compassion while being intentional and positive is the greatest gift you can give your whole family. After working with a family and helping them resolve their child’s sleep problems, I have often been told that the cost of hiring me was the best money they have spent since becoming parents. Don’t you own that to your family?