Today, an undercover BBC report showed unsafe and dangerous sleep advice being given to families from two extremely well known and popular sleep consultants. The fall-out has been huge across social media with many now calling for regulation of the sleep industry. But who really loses out and how can parents know who to trust?
When I first read this news article, my initial reaction was shock and disbelief. How could a trusted sleep professional advise the most unsafe sleep practice to families and believe they were practising in a safe way? The second reaction, embarrassment that the profession I am deeply passionate about, shows such huge discrepancies in the care towards parents and children.
As a registered paediatric nurse, I am accountable to the Nursing and Midwifery Council, ensuring I uphold standards, safe care and best practice at all times. I honestly transfer these standards when I am working as a sleep consultant. Is my advice evidence based? I am the best professional for this family? Am I making recommendations that are in the best interests for the child and family? It’s incredibly important to me that when I work with families, I meet these own self imposed standards from nursing. But sadly these standards are not the case for everyone.
Here in the UK, anyone can call themselves a sleep expert. With the sleep industry growing at a rapid rate and parents needing sleep support that simply isn’t available on the NHS, Google ‘sleep consultant’ and you will be inundated.
But there is no regulation. No body ensuring advice is evidence based and up to date. No governing council where professionals can be held accountable to, and therein lies the problem.
There has been talk of regulation in this industry for some time, with little in the way of actually shifting the sleep landscape. But hopefully the momentum is now building.
Working as a sleep consultant, you work with families at their most exhausted, their most vulnerable, and with that comes huge responsibility.
When I first read this article, after feeling horrified for the families given such damaging advice, I felt some embarrassment. I always knew the sleep industry wasn’t regulated, but to be put in a category with others that give such shameful advice is definitely not why I qualified. It’s also not the reason I have trained for years to obtain my medical qualifications.
So where does this leave families? Who can they actually trust when it comes to sleep?
I am incredibly passionate about sleep support. There is a gap in the provision for families who struggle, and I see this everyday when my inbox is full. But I also felt it personally as a parent with severe deprivation. And when I worked as a health visitor, my sleep advice was generalised and quick, not at all like the very intensive support I provide to families today.
In terms of knowing who to trust, it can feel hard. I would say to any parent do your own research, and make sure a sleep consultants views and values align with your own as a parent. And if something feels wrong, if advice doesn’t seem safe, always, always trust your parental instinct.
Regulation may be on the horizon, but it isn’t here yet. It’s important any practice we see that is unsafe or dangerous is called out. Because ultimately its families and children who are at risk.
