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“We can’t just take a nap during the middle of the day,” McKee, a certified sleep coach, said of parents who lose sleep at night and are unproductive during the day.
McKee, founder of Sleepy Time Solutions, knows the value of a sleep coach: She used one to get her second daughter to sleep. But that was not before trying different strategies from books -- none of which helped her, her husband or her daughter sleep through the night.
“All the books make everything sound so easy: ‘All you have to do is this, that or the other thing and your child will sleep through the night.’ Well none of them worked for me,” McKee said.
Her pediatrician suggested a pediatric sleep coach, and McKee hired one, who immediately found a solution to train her daughter to sleep. That same sleep coach suggested that McKee become one about two years ago. McKee, who has a master's degree in psychology, previously worked for a human resources firm in New York City before retiring to raise her kids.
She does not subscribe to one method of sleep training over others, although she stays away from letting a baby cry itself to sleep. She describes that as a form of abuse and believes that other than an underlying medical condition, each baby is an individual with a sleep problem based on temperament, living situation and other factors.
McKee gets to know families through a lengthy questionnaire, then has follow-up interviews and meetings at the home. She offers two possible methods for parents to choose from.
“At 2 a.m. if you don’t have a plan in place you feel good about, then you are not going to be consistent,” she said. McKee said she instructs parents to keep a log so they can review what happened at night and how to proceed.
Ideally, babies should be 5 to 8 months old when McKee begins working with parents, although she will help parents before a problem occurs and with older children as well. She also offers free 15-minute phone consultations for prospective clients.
To learn more about Cate McKee and how to contact her, visit her website.
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