Meredith Brough (00:00)
Hi, thanks for being here with me guys. So happy to have you. I like to come in live every week and just say hello and help you get to know me, talk a little bit about my work. So thanks for joining. You guys feel free to drop a comment and just tell me a little bit about yourselves. It'll be fun to hear from you. So,
Today I just want to talk really quickly about what's different about my Sleep Consultant Certification Program. And I wanted to start by saying that if you're already a sleep consultant that's certified, you know, a lot of times you're either thinking you don't need another training because you're already certified or you think, "am I going to just learn the same old thing? What's the point?" I actually had a student who was a nurse and had taken two other certifications that took mine.
And she said that she found value in all of hers. And I think that's really great to know. But I think there's more to it than that. So there's a few different sleep approaches out there that I'm aware of. One would be just traditional sleep training. And the good thing about that is there's a movement now to have more solutions that are gentle, which is good, because parents are looking for those. And then there's...
more of a baby led or holistic style where there's a lot of nature involved and a lot of bed sharing. I think that there's really, really great tools and information and ideas in both programs or both types. And the baby led, what I love about that style is that they're very focused on mom and baby's needs and listening to intuition.
Not shutting that off, because there's so much value in a mother's intuition and connection, right? But it's just really hard to mesh the two worlds together, right? How do we take the good things from the traditional approach? And how do we work with this other one when there's a lot of moms out there who, they still have to go to work when their baby's one or two months old. They don't get to just bed share or have a whole village around them to help, which is really common in other countries.
which is what everyone should have. So there's still a need for solutions. You know, people can't just wait or they don't want to. And there's a lot of people out there who just won't do sleep training because it just doesn't feel right to them or they just feel like it's not a good fit for their child, which I hear a lot. But there's, you know, there's a need for.
fostering independence. How do we get these little ones to sleep better? How do we get them to sleep in a bed? How do we get them to sleep in another room? I can't sleep with them in my bed. I can't sleep with them in my room. You know, there's just a lot of different scenarios where people decide that they want help. And what I love is that there is a middle ground approach. There's something in the middle. We don't have to just wait it out forever. We don't have to...
compromise what's important to us. There's a better way. So that's the main thing that's different about my sleep consultant certification program is that I take this middle ground approach and I embrace all the good of all the programs that are out there and I teach sleep consultants how to foster independence and that might be a perfect fit for the type of client that wants, you know, gentle, responsive, very nurturing methods, but...
The reason I designed all these methods, not only because they felt good and I was following my intuition, but also because a lot of the kids that are out there need something different. They can't really move forward with sleep smoothly or easily.
When we try to do sleep training, these are the kids where, you know, you might see this in a Facebook group or your clients or maybe even your experiences that your child will just cry for hours and be resistant and.
You know, if I look in a Facebook group and people are talking about this type of scenario, the trouble or the struggles that they're having when they're trying to sleep train, the advice is usually, just keep going, just keep going, it's gonna work, or you need to be more consistent, or, they're just telling you to keep going, keep trying. But I gotta tell you, from the other side, I have people come to me and say,
it never did work or it just felt wrong. It just felt terrible. I couldn't keep going or it was okay-My kid was sleeping better after I did that, but now nothing's working, you know? And so there's just, there's just some problems and you know, if a mom doesn't feel right or a child's responding really badly to the method, then a lot of people just give up. They're like, Hey, that sucked. I guess we're just not going to sleep well, you know? So.
I have these solutions that are geared towards temperament. I found that my methods didn't work for all children, all babies. So I started creating methods that were very different, very, very different. And I had to work really closely with parents. I had to do a lot of research on temperament. I had to dive deep into all the things.
Honestly, back when I was researching, there weren't that many resources available on temperament. So it was really, really hard. And I worked with parents, parents would try different things. We would come up with ideas together. And so my methods were created out of need and there's a lot that went into them. But now I have six methods that are unique. I have a couple, maybe actually a few that are converted methods. So I.
I like to talk about those a little bit. My version of Pick Up Put Down is about taking your time. It's about not changing things overnight. My version of Pick Up Put Down is an example of what's different about my methods. Because that gives you a window into what some babies need to move forward.
I would only use this method with a younger baby because you can actually lay them down. A little older child is going to be trying to sit up or move, right? So a younger, like four or five month old. This is for trying to help a child learn how to fall asleep on their own, which can be really, really tricky when you're working with a sensitive baby or a spirited baby.
They need so much more support in falling asleep. So all of the traditional ideas that are out there actually discourage and frustrate parents. Like, drowsy but awake, that's impossible. If I lay my child down, they're just gonna freak out. They're just gonna be wide awake. They're gonna be mad at me, right? And then with sensitive kids, when they're tired, they just cry. They just get worked up and mad. And so, how could you get them to fall asleep on their own?
Guys, the key is being very patient, being very creative. I often introduce a method just for naps and bedtime, and we're using this method for a limited time, and then we go back to what's familiar and comfortable. So I'm not doing this quick cutoff, no more sleep crutches, no more helping baby go to sleep. It's just not a good fit for these little ones. When they get stressed out, they get resistant. And...
So I was talking about pick up, put down, and the way it would be different is that we would be doing that for five or 10 minutes for a few days. And then the next day, maybe we do it a little bit longer. Maybe we're going up to six or seven minutes. And what's interesting is that when you don't push a baby too hard, they seem to relax. And when you get to go back to what's familiar to them, like rocking or feeding to sleep, again, they relax. And over time, you just keep on making these changes in subtle ways.
and then at some point that works. Subtle change is probably my biggest key to success with my methods. But like I said, I have six others and I converted the chair method too, and the main thing about that is that any time you follow a method and there's strict rules, that's not a good fit for a mom staying in tune, listening to their intuition.
paying attention to baby's responses. Okay, so all methods, all sleep methods should include being able to stay in tune, being able to make those calls, this is too stressful or it's time to stop or I want my baby to go to sleep right now because they're not going to if I don't. I think that's the biggest thing that I am trying to change about working with babies and improving sleep is just that there's ways to do it where we don't have to disconnect and we don't have to.
feel wrong or bad about what we do. So taking my sleep consultant course, for sleep consultants gives them a lot more insight and a lot more tools that are more empowering to moms. They're healthier for little ones. And I mean, just being able to get six, seven, eight more tools in your tool belt is huge. Now the things that I like to talk about for moms who are either wanting to
change a career to stay home with their child or they're already staying home and they want to work but stay home. This is just a really, really good fit. This work where you can create your own schedule and you can take on as many clients as you want or maybe only work with one or two people a month or maybe only do one -hour consultations or you come up with digital products that you can sell. It's such a flexible job and it's, I mean, the sky's the limit.
I've always known since I first started my work that there's no cap to what I could do and that there's a whole world of people out there. How many babies are born every single day? This job is in constant demand and I've been doing this for seven years and it's really cool to see how many more people are aware that there's such a thing as sleep consultants. There's still a lot of people who don't know, which is funny to me, but compared to seven years ago.
A lot of people know now and even some like in the US medical insurance is starting to cover our services. So it's a really great time to be part of this work. It's a really great time to jump in and make a difference. And I think for a stay home mom who's looking to work from home and you know have that type of flexibility and a job that fits their life and doesn't suck up all their energy and it's really...
Cool also to be able to have a job that's meaningful, it's rewarding. How many jobs are there where you put in some energy and you get back a whole bunch more? I get an email from a client and they're reporting about how things are going and they're saying how grateful they are and how life changing this has been and it just lights me up and gives me more energy.
Moms who are wanting to shift careers.
being able to mesh the whole thing together, you know, working where I can be with my child, working where I can do something meaningful, where I can be challenged and I can grow and I can have opportunities to meet people and to make new friends. I could go on and on. So I just added in my highlights different categories where you can find some of the reels and some of the
stories and things like that where I'm talking to specific audiences. So like there's a one that says certified SC for certified sleep consultants. There's one that says birth and health. There's one that says career mom. There's one that says stay home mom. So those are in there for you to see that I've been making reels to talk to you about your specific needs and how this job is a good fit for you and why and
I'm being very transparent. This is offering right now my sleep consultant certification course. I'm doing it much lower price than I will in the fall or in other times. And there's 20 weeks of mentoring, group mentoring and small groups.
Hi! Kristen just entered the Live. Kristen actually just signed up this week, right, Kristen? Woohoo! And she's a doula and a sleep consultant who wants to do more of her sleep consultant work. And she took a course and she's certified, but she was looking for something more heart centered. She wants an approach that fits herself, but also her clients. And there's a lot of people out there.
who are looking for something gentle, something that feels right, something where they don't have to turn off their intuition or feel bad about what they've done. And that's what I do, guys. That's my approach. It's called Baby-Centered because I focus on babies' needs, which is very, very unique. And I still believe in trying some of the independent sleep methods, but I have my own, and I think it's
something to try. I don't think it's the cure -all for all babies, but I think it's something that parents should try. And when people work with me, my students will learn this too, we spend a couple weeks, one or two weeks preparing a child. And part of that time might just be your holistic principles where, you know, we're working on the schedule, but there's other things. I have parents prepare their babies so that the sleep method will work well. And often,
just in this first week or two before you've even done a sleep method, their sleep's improving. And that's really, really exciting. I actually interviewed one of my students just recently, it's episode 55 if you look up my podcast in the bio, but she had had taken another certification. She's a doula, she actually runs a doula agency and she's my first [official] student. And she came to me looking for gentle methods because this was becoming more and more of a demand.
She wanted to be able to help, but she also knew that this would be a good fit for spirited and sensitive babies. And she's still offering traditional methods. She's still doing things her own way, but she's meshed in my methods. She's meshed in my approach. She's taken into consideration what I've taught her about how to help babies thrive and how to help mothers stay in tune with their intuition and their instincts. And even for her clients who want the traditional
fast approach, they're having a better experience because she's been using my approach. She just found a way that the first week can be a little bit more relaxed and it can give her a little time to work on the sleep plan because these people are doing their homework, their prep work. And she has no pushback. Everyone's always very happy with their experience and she's a true believer in meshing the two worlds together. So anyways, this is just an example.
of how this program could be a really good fit for you, whether you're a mom wanting to change careers, a stay -home mom wanting more, a sleep consultant who wants more tools and more gentle approaches, and then the birth and health workers who want to offer more tools and more services. So this is a great fit for all of you guys, please.
Follow my story because we're teaching about the benefits, what's included. And then there's a link to learn more in my bio in the stories. You can learn more about the program. So it starts on the 27th, but you can sign up through June 8th. And like I said, this is the.
best price it's going to be and there's a bonus included with a one -on -one session with me. If you sign up by Monday, that should be on my website. Thank you for reminding me, Kristen. So Kristen took her time deciding. I just told you guys that she signed up this week, but she took her time deciding because that's just the way she works. She needs time to think things through and to really learn and understand and commit, you know, and...
What she did was she went through my podcast. I don't know how many episodes she listened to, but probably a good five or 10, right? And that really helped her because she got to know me. She got to understand more about my approach. She got to understand what I'm passionate about and what you would learn in my program. And you can even learn more about my methods.
what they look like, what you can learn, what babies need to thrive. You can learn what moms need to thrive. You can learn tips on sleep consulting, on being a good mentor and coach, and making sure that you understand that there are tough cases out there. There's no simple fix for. And so some people that I connect with in my Instagram are sleep consultants and I'm just trying to open their eyes to temperament.
to differences, to the need for more creative approaches. And I think in a way, more support and kindness to moms because there's just so much pressure on them and a lot of times when things don't go well, they think it's their fault. And so you'll even find episodes that help you understand that.
I'd love to have you in my program. Super, super excited to get this launched and started soon. And one of the things I'm looking forward to most is getting to know you, connecting with you, and building friendships, and even learning from you. I learn from my students, and
I'm a firm believer in collaboration and helping one another solve our sleep cases, The challenges that we run into with our clients, how important it is for us to support one another. And so running a sleep consultant certification program has just been a huge bonus for me in my work. I've learned so much. And I've...
had some students that were just absolute naturals at this work and it just never ceases to amaze me that people cross my path and learn from me and then end up being so gifted and talented and I think the best way for you guys to get a taste of how much my students love me and love training with me is to go to my podcast. There's three episodes out there now, 51, 53, 55. the
link is in my bio. We just had really great heart -to -heart talks about the experience of taking my program and the way that \my program changed their lives or even just our friendship and our interactions really, really made a difference in their lives. One of my students who was on here earlier, I don't think she's here anymore, but one of my favorite compliments from her was that my methods are golden and she said everyone in the whole world needs these.
Why don't more people know about them? I was like, well, I sure would like your help, you know, spread the word. So my certification program for teaching sleep consultants is extremely unique, one of a kind, the best methods out there. They cater to the parents who want the responsive methods, the gentle, the loving, nurturing approach.
I'm a great mentor and instructor. One of my really good friends tells me that I need to brag more. This is so ironic, but about how warm and friendly and kind and caring I am. It makes me feel emotional saying it because I know it's true and I put my heart and soul into everything that I do in my work. So that might be supporting parents or it might be teaching students or mentoring them, but I'm authentic.
There's no hidden agenda here.
Thank you, Kristen. The person who listened to so many of my episodes can tell you. She says I'm the best, that's so sweet. Look into my Sleep Consultant Certification Program. Consider it and don't take your time because we're getting started in just a week or so. But like I said, you can sign up until June 8th. So.
Please join us, I would love to have you guys and looking forward to teaching you Kristen and others who've signed up already. Have a great weekend guys, thank you for being here.
