My name is Kim West, and I’m the mother of two beautiful girls, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has been a practicing child and family therapist for more than 21 years, and the creator of the original gentle, proven method to get a good night’s sleep for you and your child.
My sleep journey began when I started experimenting with gently shaping my daughter’s sleep by not following the conventional wisdom at the time. After having success (and then more success with my second daughter!), I began helping family and friends and my step-by-step method spread like wildfire, exactly like an excellent night of sleep for a tired parent should!
I’m often referred to as The Sleep Lady® by my clients, and over the past seventeen years I have helped tens of thousands of tired parents (just like you!) all over the world learn to listen to their intuition, recognize their child’s important cues and behaviors, and gently create changes that promote and preserve his or her healthy sleep habits.
I understand that no two children are alike, nor are any two parenting styles or techniques. I developed my more gradual gentle method because I found so many parents had difficulty following through with a cry it out program that they fear will damage their child emotionally or fill them with so much guilt they couldn’t follow through. Who wants to listen to their baby cry for hours on end? This is why for more than 20 years, I have been on a mission to provide proven, achievable, gentle sleep solutions to parents everywhere.
My approach is NOT a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all method. Rather, it’s an achievable, step-by-step method that has a 95% success rate when the child is healthy and parents are consistent. I encourage parents to be loving and responsive but to allow the child the room to learn this vital life skill of putting themselves to sleep. If you’re tired of being up all night, and you’re ready for a change, see what these parents have to say:
I’ve helped literally tens of thousands of parents over the years, which has made me something of a media expert, and have appeared on the Dr. Phil, Today Show, NBC Nightly News, Good Morning America, TLC’s Bringing Home Baby and CNN, and have been written about in a number of publications including The Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Baby Talk, Parenting, The Baltimore Sun, USA Today, The Telegraph, The Irish Independent and the Washington Post. I also host the sleep section of The Newborn Channel, played in maternity wards in hospitals across the country. I’ve been doing this a long time, and my gentle, proven sleep method works.
I am passionate about YOUR child’s sleep (can you tell?) and consistently travel to numerous parenting groups across the country to speak about the importance of children’s sleep and how to gently teach your child to go to sleep and sleep through the night.
I have authored “GOOD NIGHT, SLEEP TIGHT: The Sleep Lady’s Gentle Guide to Helping Your Child Go to Sleep, Stay Asleep and Wake Up Happy” with co-author Joanne Kenen. Published by Vanguard Press in 2004. This book was been updated and expanded in 2010. I am also the author of “52 Sleep Secrets for Babies” (2008) and “The Good Night, Sleep Tight WORKBOOK: Gentle Proven Solutions to Help Your Child Sleep Well and Wake Up Happy” (2010). Both published by Easton Studio Press.
And I know what I’m talking about. I’ve been doing this for a long time. I received my master’s degree in Clinical Social Work from Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts, and currently live with my family in Annapolis, Maryland.
I look forward to helping your entire family sleep better TONIGHT.
