“Sleep Consulting Sucks!”

The real truth about the Sleep Consulting industry

If you’ve ever waded into X, IG, FB, TikTok, Reddit, or Quora waters, you may have gotten sucked down a rabbit hole, only later regretting the entire experience. Sound familiar?

This is me, today, with this post. I’ve never written about this before, but I feel compelled to do so. I don’t know, maybe this will bite me in the bum. Who knows? Here goes…

Where did it all begin?

Where to begin? Well, how about 2009? Since then, much of the Western world has seen relatively easy economic times up until recently. Politically and socially, perhaps because of these easier financial and economic times, we have become more divisive and polarized. This of course impacts our health and education systems as well. I can’t pretend to understand it all and map it all out, but suffice it to say all of the above has led us to today where many of us feel frustrated, angry, vulnerable, let down, etc.. by governments and our leaders.

This has generally impacted how we relate not only to our governments, but to each other. In real life, but especially online, where it remains relatively easy to stand behind a screen and be a keyboard warrior anonymously.

Social media

So, social media. It’s hard to go onto any platform and not see hate for sleep consultants. We’ll be called – as an industry – “predatory,” “evil,” and “fraudulent,” among other things. Lack of sleep can disrupt a lot of cognitive capabilities, so when I hear these insults, I can let them roll off my back. Today, however, it just hit a little differently.

Sleep Consulting industry problems

To be clear, there are many issues within the sleep consulting arena. Let me lay as many of them out as clearly as I can:

• It’s not that old of a profession and has grown exponentially over the past 8 years;
• It is an unregulated industry (there are no approved governing bodies);
• Just because you’re a mom, teacher, caregiver, and empath doesn’t mean you’ll be a great sleep consultant;
• While there is plenty of evidence-based sleep science to pull from, there is no secret formula or silver bullet. Nothing works with 100% of clients 100% of the time. Nothing. 
• Price doesn’t always equal value. You do not always get what you pay for. Sometimes a cheap book can solve a problem, and sometimes an expensive personalized sleep consultant does not;
• # of clicks doesn’t equal level of skill, but for an industry that is largely based on social media, it sure can feel that way – especially when sleep-deprived;
• Some sleep consultants are better than others. Just like we can’t all be better drivers than 90% of all other drivers, there must be some that are better than others. Problem is that no sleep consultant should push one method to all their clients – that’s a surefire way for a parent to not feel “heard” and get the results they’re after;
• Some sleep consultants are caught up in the tsunami of frustration on the interwebs and end up contributing to the noise by throwing shade to other sleep consultants. Never a good look for anyone and definitely not a helpful one for the industry;
• There is a lot of jargon in this space, right? Regressions and wake windows are just the tip of the iceberg. None of the industry lingo helps; and
• Baby sleep mechanisms work. While the names of these may continue to change over time, the mechanisms themselves have not. Solutions also haven’t really changed, despite the way they may be packaged and presented with various lingo. The mechanism is that golden moment of a baby being able to fall asleep independently. The mechanics of how you get there is really based on caregiver preference and the child’s temperament,.. Again, no silver bullet.

My hot take

So, there you go. A dirty laundry list of many of the key issues we have within our little bubble. From my (biased) view, sleep consultants are not sharks. 

When I first began this career, I did so because of my own personal experience with a screaming, sleep deprived baby. I did so because I have a chronic illness that means that sleep is extremely important. Without sleep, I can’t function as a parent – and that isn’t an acceptable situation to me. I did so because I saw the power of knowledge, implementation and support – how getting sleep completely changed our lives as parents!

Now, this is my sole focus all day every day: helping parents get the knowledge and support they need to feel better, healthier, more well-rested, and ultimately happier to parent their little ones. I am endlessly grateful that I get to do this as my job (!).

Remember that experience, fit, and trust, are key. I encourage you to take the time to research anyone that you’re looking to work with, to ensure that you truly trust them. Without trust, it will be challenging to get the results you’re looking for.

I do know that I am thankful for the opportunity to help so many families, and I am so thankful that you are a part of my community. As always, I invite you to respond with questions or comments – or ideas for what you’d like me to write next.