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MEET ASHLYN
You probably know this by now, but my name is Ashlyn Strickland. I am a certified pediatric sleep consultant, and I am the owner of The Best Rest Sleep Consulting. Wow! That still sounds so crazy to say. I never in a million years thought I’d own my own business and be doing what I’m doing. I started my business in October 2020 after completing my certification through The Cradle Coach Academy. I was thinking the other day about how I’ve never really shared my full story with you guys and how I became a sleep consultant. Buckle up, y’all.
When my daughter was born in 2019, she was what you would call a “good sleeper” meaning that she fell asleep relatively easily, stayed asleep, etc. I specifically remember we were late to a few events and appointments because she slept so much. I thought surely this was a good sign and that we had been blessed with the best sleep on Earth. LOL. When she was a newborn, I didn’t mind her waking up so much, but as time went on, she started waking up more and more. I’d see all these Facebook posts about all these babies who were around the same age sleeping for these super long stretches, and here we were waking up all night long. I had absolutely no education about what to REALLY expect with her sleep.
All I had been told were things like “Oh enjoy your sleep now while you’re pregnant because you’ll never sleep again!” and “You say you don’t want to cosleep now, but wait until that baby is up crying all night long.” Super unhelpful, right? Yep. I was at the point where I had accepted our fate. My husband and I had discussed it, and we knew that we did not want to cosleep. Linda slept in a pack n play next to our bed, and it felt she woke up every single time we moved or slightly breathed. We spent our time researching what to do about it. We read every blog possible. I watched all the videos. Nothing seemed to be helping. Finally we moved her to her own room. That seemed to help a little bit because we were waking her up, but very quickly, we were right back where we were.
We laugh now, but she did this thing where she would wake literally 30 minutes after we put her down. No lie. On the dot, 30 minutes. We had some friends babysit her one night, and we warned them that she’d wake up 30 minutes after putting her down. They laughed and thought we were kidding. We weren’t. She would wake after 30 minutes and then sleep for about 4-5 hours. Then she was up every 1-1.5 hours. It was exhausting. My breaking point was one night when she woke in the middle of the night, and I went into her room to nurse her. The kicker? I was asleep or at least not conscious enough to realize what I was doing. I woke up in the rocking chair nursing her. The next day I told my husband that something had to change.
He suggested we look into a sleep consultant because he had done some research on them during our time of scouring the internet for the magic bean to help Linda sleep. I was immediately on board. He remembered a guy from school who had a sister that was a sleep consultant, so we checked her out. Shortly after our initial phone call with her, we hired her and were on our way to sleep. Kristen walked through the whole process with us and taught us what to do with Linda. She gave us a schedule and tips for the future. I’m not gonna lie, it was tough. But what we got out of it was even better than we could have imagined.
We got our time back. We got our freedom. We could easily put her to bed and binge Netflix. I had time in the day during her naps to relax or get stuff done around the house. Overall, 10/10 would recommend.
That experience prompted me to continue my research on sleep. I started helping out friends with their sleep troubles. I mentioned to my husband that I should start charging for it because I was giving out so much free, good advice. He just said, “Well why don’t you? Ask Kristen how she got started.” I thought about it for a few months and then decided to take the leap and do it. I started my certification process with The Cradle Coach Academy.
I soon had my certification in hand, and I began the daunting task of starting up my own business. Let me just say that I never wanted to be a business owner. Never. I always wanted a nice, calm 9-5 to make some steady income. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Ha! In all seriousness, taking that leap and getting certified as a sleep consultant was one of the best decisions of my life. I have gained so many new friends and relationships. I have the best support system. The best of all? I get to work with you and your families.
The process of hiring a sleep consultant is such an intimate process. During our time together, I really do get to know you and your family. We work together and decide what our plan going forward will be. We lay out your goals and pave the way to achieve them. I will become your best friend, your supporter, your encourager, and your biggest cheerleader. When you have wins, I celebrate them with you. When you’re struggling, I’m right there with you. I don’t leave you hanging. We see it through and work together to find a solution.
I sincerely hope my story resonates with you on some level. If you’d like to talk about your little one’s sleep, let’s schedule a time to chat. I offer free 15 minute phone calls every day to get to know you.
If you are interested in becoming a sleep consultant and want to know more about The Cradle Coach Academy, shoot me an email at thebestrestsleepconsulting@gmail.com to talk more about it. I would love to answer any questions you have. I might even have a discount code for you!
