Kim West is a Moneychanger

So we are on Day 8 of sleep training.  At the end of it I’ll give a summative evaluation of our progress which should be like day 14 or so. 

But for now I am pretty pissed at Kim West or the “Sleep Lady” as she likes to call herself.  So let’s put aside that she calls herself the “Sleep Lady” and that her method is called the “Sleep Lady Shuffle”.  And let’s put aside that parents that have been sleep-deprived for over half a year have no patience for cutesy little titles, they just want their baby sleeping. 

When it comes down to it, she is a moneychanger.  You know, like the people that Jesus overturned their tables and kicked them out of the Temple.  Yeah, she’s one of those.  She exploits the desperate.  I don’t mind at all paying full price for books or whatever but she wrote her book with the express intention of making more money off of it.  She is a licensed social worker or something so I’m sure she is worth a hefty price for her private consulations.  But you can call her for private over-the-phone consultations.  For one hour it is $150, for her full services it is $450, and to join her online forum just to ask a few questions in public, it is $40.  Gimme a break.  Who can pay that?  I’m sure few can pay it but many make the sacrifice because they’re so desperate for help.

At one point we were actually desperate enough to entertain the idea of paying the $450 because the Squeaker is such a tough case and then we came to our senses and just bought her book. 

But, the thing is, she writes just enough in her book for you to get the basics of the method but not enough to actually get you through it.  All the other sleep books I’ve read definitely answer as many common questions as they can think of.  Kim West doesn’t.  And I’m not talking specific questions like:

• What do I do when my daughter has asthma and was 6 weeks premature and my husband smokes and we have a cat in an efficiency apartment? 

I want the answer to very common problems that have come up that everyone I’m sure has.  Like:

• What do we do when she wakes up from her nap and has not slept a full hour?  Do we just chalk it up as a bad nap or do we put her back down and start over?

• What happens if she starts teething in the middle of the training?  Do we have to stick to whatever routine we’re doing that day or can we back up a few days and be a little closer to her crib?

• How does the method change when you live in a one bedroom apartment and her crib is in your room?

She kinda touches on these questions but doesn’t explain the answers in enough detail to actually give you an answer.  I like to give people the benefit of the doubt but in this case I’m pretty sure she doesn’t fully answer these questions because she hopes you’ll need to pay for her private services.

I really think that the method of sleep training she figured out is good and effective but I think she is manipulating vulnerable parents.  She’s a moneychanger.