[ARTICLE] Baby Sleep Consultants- The Courier Mail, November 12th 2017

AUSTRALIAN taxpayers are subsidising parents who can’t get their children to sleep by over $5 million per year.

A surge in sleep-deprived parents seeking professional baby sleep experts has meant a doubling in Medicare rebates for the services in the last 10 years.

Up to 40 per cent of babies and children struggle with sleep, which means that in Queensland each year 140,000 sets of parents are living with exhaustion.

But not all sleep experts are the same. Baby sleep trainers are not the same as qualified sleep specialists.

Ms Bude is adamant that there is no place for closing a door and letting the child cry it out.

“Baby sleep trainers may try and ‘fix’ a child with a one size fits all approach like controlled crying and responsive settling. There is a perception that the child is ‘broken’.

“A sleep specialist will assess the environmental, physical, emotional, social, developmental, psychological and medical areas of the family to see what might be underlying reasons for sleep and circadian rhythm disturbances,” said Ms Bude, who is also a midwife.

Read More Here: http://www.couriermail.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/baby-sleep-consultant-taxpayers-subsidising-to-tune-of-5m/news-story/9ed66e6b53898f407766e2e441418b67