Become a Certified Child Sleep Consultant with the World's Leading Program
The Family Sleep Institute's Child Sleep Consultant Certification program is designed to educate students on all aspects of sleep training for children, from newborns to school-age children. We believe it is essential for graduates to provide support to families facing sleep challenges, regardless of the children's ages or parenting styles. Since every family is unique, well-trained Child Sleep Consultants must tailor their advice and support to align with each family's preferences and needs.
Our certification program stands out for several reasons: it includes 11 months of live training and support, with certification that must be earned rather than guaranteed. Graduates typically complete over 320 hours of learning during the 16-week class period, followed by an additional 160 hours in an 8-week practicum, an unparalleled commitment compared to other programs.
In addition to hands-on training, the program features a post-graduate five weeks of Business Seeds and an additional 16 weeks of mentorship. Furthermore, we are the only program that can actually demonstrate its positive impact on families through ongoing in-house research.
The First Few Months of Life
This foundational week introduces students to the critical role sleep plays in a baby's earliest months. Students learn the essentials of safe sleep, including current guidelines on sleep environments, SIDS prevention, and the important distinctions between room sharing, co-sleeping, and bed sharing.
From there, the class walks through the key biological sleep milestones that occur in the first four months of life, helping future consultants understand why babies sleep the way they do and when families can realistically begin building healthy sleep habits. Students learn how to guide parents in establishing a consistent sleep environment, recognizing their baby's sleepy cues, and introducing a soothing routine that sets the stage for independent sleep.
The class closes with a look at the sleep consultant's role: educating and supporting families, normalizing the challenges of early infant sleep, and connecting with trusted community organizations and resources.
Day/Night Sleep Organization
Building on the foundation of the first week, this class takes a deeper dive into the science behind why babies and children sleep the way they do. Students explore how circadian rhythms and the body's natural sleep drive work together to create optimal windows for rest and what happens when those windows are missed.
A key focus of this class is understanding sleep debt, one of the most common and overlooked challenges families face, and how chronic overtiredness can derail even the best sleep efforts. Students also learn about sleep associations, sleep cycles, and the important developmental shift that occurs around four months of age.
From there, the class moves into the practical skill of building an age-appropriate, cue-based sleep schedule, one that works with a child's biology rather than against it. Students learn how to time naps strategically, establish a consistent wake time, and determine the right bedtime based on a child's unique needs rather than a one-size-fits-all formula.
Transitions: Navigating Every Nap Change with Confidence
Every child goes through several important sleep transitions as they grow, and knowing how to handle each one is a critical skill for any sleep consultant. This class walks students through each major transition from the timing and telltale signs to practical, step-by-step strategies for making the shift as smooth as possible for the whole family.
Students learn how to recognize when a baby is ready to move from three naps to two, and later from two naps to one, and just as importantly, how not to rush these transitions. The class emphasizes reading the child's cues, making gradual timing adjustments, and understanding how nap changes ripple into bedtime and overnight sleep.
The class also covers one of the most queried milestone: the move from the crib to a big kid’s bed. Students learn why waiting as long as possible is almost always the better choice, how to handle common triggers that lead parents to transition too early, and how to set clear sleep expectations, including family sleep rules that help children thrive in their new sleep environment.
Sleep Training Approaches: Finding the Right Fit for Every Family
One of the most valuable skills an FSI Certified sleep consultant brings to families is the ability to offer more than one path forward. This class introduces students to the full spectrum of sleep training approaches and, more importantly, teaches them how to match the right method to the right family.
Students learn that successful sleep training goes far beyond simply choosing a technique. It begins with a solid sleep foundation, an understanding of a child's biology, and a thorough assessment of the family's comfort level, parenting style, and unique circumstances.
The class covers three categories of approaches from no parental involvement to moderate involvement to high involvement, breaking down how each method works in practice, who it's best suited for, and what it takes to make it successful. Students learn to guide families through bedtime, night wakings, naps, and early morning risings using whichever approach fits best, while staying flexible and ready to adjust when needed.
Equally important, students learn how to support parents through the emotional challenges that often come with sleep training, helping them stay consistent, setting realistic expectations, and reminding them why the process is worth it.
Child Behavior and Communication: The Heart Behind the Work
Being an effective sleep consultant means understanding far more than sleep. This class equips students with the communication skills and behavioral tools needed to truly connect with and support the families they serve.
Students explore how to build trust with both parents and children, understand child development through an empathetic lens, and communicate in ways that are age-appropriate, positive, and empowering. The course covers practical tools like validation, logical consequences, firm and fair parenting, and fostering intrinsic motivation in children, helping families move away from reward-based compliance toward lasting, value-driven behavior.
A standout feature of this class is the family meeting framework, a step-by-step guide to bringing the whole family together to introduce new sleep expectations in a way that is clear, engaging, and age-appropriate for young children. Students also learn how to navigate common parenting challenges like tantrums, anxiety, and major life transitions that can disrupt a child's sleep and sense of security.
This class reminds students that their role goes beyond creating a sleep plan; it's about giving families the confidence, language, and tools to raise children who feel safe, understood, and ready to thrive.
Toddler Sleep: Behaviors, Strategies, and Techniques
Toddlers are in a league of their own, and this class prepares students for exactly that. With a focus on meeting children where they are developmentally, this course gives future sleep consultants the tools and confidence to tackle the unique challenges that come with helping toddlers sleep well.
Students learn how to prepare parents for the full range of toddler sleep challenges from bedtime battles and nighttime fears to nap resistance, early waking, and the many life transitions that can disrupt sleep along the way. Just as important, students learn how to help parents set clear, consistent boundaries with warmth and confidence, understanding that how they respond matters just as much as what they do.
The class covers a practical toolkit of toddler-specific strategies, including how to run an effective sleep meeting with young children, how to use logical rewards and consequences that are tied to the real benefits of sleep, bedtime passes for those champion procrastinators, and how to use tools like gates and clocks effectively. Case studies bring these strategies to life, showing students how different approaches play out across a variety of toddler situations.
Plain Language Writing & Design: Health Literacy for Sleep Success
A beautifully crafted sleep plan is only effective if a family can truly understand it. This specialized class teaches students how to communicate their recommendations in ways that are clear, accessible, and actionable for every family they work with.
Students explore the often overlooked impact of health literacy on a parent's ability to follow through with sleep guidance, including how the demands of new parenthood can affect a person's ability to process written information. From there, the course dives into two powerful skill sets: plain language writing and plain language design.
On the writing side, students learn how to swap medical jargon for everyday language, write concisely, and explain numbers and data in ways that make sense to a tired, overwhelmed parent. On the design side, students discover how layout, typography, white space, and visual organization can make a sleep plan easier to read, skim, and follow.
This class ensures that FSI graduates don't just know what to recommend, they know how to communicate it in a way that truly reaches the families who need it most.
Parent Coaching 101: How to Get Better Results by Working Less
Knowing the science of sleep is only half the job. This class teaches students one of the most valuable skills a child sleep consultant can develop: how to coach parents, not just instruct them.
The core insight of this class is simple but powerful. The sleep plan is about the child, but the consultation is about the parents. Students learn to recognize the complex emotions parents bring to the process, including self-doubt, conflicting advice from other sources, the fear of change, and how to create an environment where parents feel empowered to take ownership of the plan rather than simply following orders.
Through the distinction between convincing and coaching, students discover that asking the right questions is often more effective than having all the answers. The class walks through a practical framework of coaching questions for every stage of the process assessment, consultation, and follow-up, designed to increase parental confidence, investment, and follow-through.
The result is a better experience for the whole family and a more sustainable, fulfilling practice for the consultant.
Mindfulness & Sleep Training: Understanding and Honoring the "Why"
Sleep training is as much an emotional journey as it is a practical one, and this class gives students the tools to guide families through that journey with intention, compassion, and confidence.
At the heart of this class is a simple but transformative idea: before a parent can commit to a sleep plan, they need to connect with why they're doing it. Students learn how to help parents identify and work through the guilt, self-doubt, and limiting beliefs that so often stand in the way of follow-through and how to replace those with a new, empowering narrative rooted in their genuine intention for their child and family.
The class explores how a parent's emotional energy directly affects the sleep training experience for themselves, their child, and the whole family. Students learn practical mindfulness tools they can weave into the consultation process and even into a child's bedtime routine, including breathing techniques, mindful check-ins, and simple affirmations tailored to each family.
From handling parents who struggle with hearing their child cry, to managing unrealistic expectations, to coaching families through resistance, this class prepares students to address the emotional side of sleep consulting with as much skill and care as the practical side.
Sleep Training Multiples: How to Work with Families with Multiples
Working with a family of multiples is one of the most rewarding and uniquely challenging situations a sleep consultant can encounter. This prepares students to approach these families with creativity, confidence, and a clear game plan.
Students learn what stays the same when working with multiples versus singletons, sleep environment, safe sleep practices, and the core principles of healthy sleep, and what requires a different approach, from coordinating feeding and nap schedules to navigating the dynamics of babies who share a space and parents who are often outnumbered.
The class walks through age-by-age strategies from the newborn stage all the way through toddlerhood, covering how to keep multiples on a synchronized schedule, when and how to identify the "sensitive sleeper," and how to adapt each of the three sleep training approaches, no involvement, moderate involvement, and high involvement, to the realities of a multiple's household.
Throughout, the emphasis is on simplicity, teamwork, and empowering parents to feel capable and confident because for families with multiples, those qualities aren't just helpful, they're essential.
Sleep Consulting for Atypically Developing Children
Every child deserves restful sleep, and this class ensures that FSI graduates are equipped to serve families whose children have unique developmental, medical, or sensory needs. This class opens the door to a deeply meaningful area of sleep consulting that many practitioners never feel confident enough to enter.
Students are introduced to a wide range of conditions they may encounter in their practice, including Sensory Processing Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADD/ADHD, hearing loss, visual impairment, language and communication delays, and medically complex or fragile children. For each, students learn how the condition can affect sleep, what environmental and scheduling adjustments may be needed, and how to adapt their approach accordingly.
A key theme throughout the class is knowing how to set realistic expectations for families and for yourself while still moving forward with confidence and compassion. Students also learn when a higher level of parental involvement is warranted, how to become a collaborative part of a child's broader care team, and when it may be appropriate to refer a family to another professional.
This class reflects the Family Sleep Institute's belief that the mission to help families achieve healthy sleep belongs to every family not just the typical ones.
Using Solid Ethical Practices as Child Sleep Consultants
Being a great sleep consultant means knowing not just what to do but where the boundaries of your role begin and end. This important class gives students the practical ethical framework they need to build a trustworthy, professional, and sustainable practice.
Students explore the clearly defined scope of a sleep consultant's role and the many well-intentioned ways consultants can inadvertently stray beyond it. Through real-world scenarios covering feeding concerns, reflux, postpartum depression, safe sleep, and more, students learn exactly how to respond when clients need support that falls outside their expertise, including the language to use when redirecting families to the right professionals.
The class also addresses the ethical responsibilities that come with building a public presence from social media posts and product endorsements to sponsored content and disclaimers, ensuring students understand both the professional and legal standards that apply to their work.
The core message is one that actually strengthens a consultant's authority rather than limiting it: knowing your lane, referring with confidence, and building genuine relationships with pediatricians and other health professionals is what separates a truly trusted consultant from one who tries to do it all.
Business Logistics for Sleep Consultants
This class walks students through the essential steps to launch their child sleep consulting business, from choosing a business name and legal structure (sole proprietorship or LLC) to registering with their state and the IRS.
They will learn how to protect themselves with professional liability insurance, set up a dedicated business bank account, and build their brand with a website and social media presence.
The class also covers how to design service packages for new and returning clients, price their services competitively, accept payment, and onboard clients professionally.
Finally, students receive guidance on managing their taxes as a self-employed consultant, including why hiring an accountant is strongly recommended.
Upon earning their certification, graduates also receive access to the Business Seeds 5 Week Course, which goes in-depth on all aspects of running their business, including website design, social media, branding, and marketing.
Safe Sleep Guidelines Course: A deep dive into the research and case-specific application
Lactation Management Course: Working with the Breastfeeding Mother
These are two separate courses that students are required to complete and pass as part of their certification requirements.
Final Project Practicum
The 16 week program culminates in a Final Project Practicum. Students who have demonstrated mastery of the curriculum by completing all assignments and maintaining the required GPA will advance to the 8-week Final Project Practicum. Students will put everything they've learned into practice by conducting pro bono consultations with three real families. Students complete intake assessments, lead video and phone consultations, create fully customized sleep plans, and provide two weeks of daily follow-up support for each family. This hands-on experience is designed to build the student's confidence, sharpen their consulting skills, and ensure they are truly ready and qualified to work with families as an FSI Certified Child Sleep Consultant.
Who is an Ideal Candidate for Our Program?
- Our program is designed for students who are truly ready to invest in their growth. We're looking for individuals who:
- Have made the time and space to succeed — having thoughtfully allocated the time, focus, and resources needed to complete the full program with the dedication it deserves.
- Value live, real-time learning — and understand that showing up consistently to live classes is not just encouraged, it's essential to getting the most out of this program.
- Are ready to be challenged — and come fully invested, knowing that meaningful growth requires effort, commitment, and a willingness to be pushed beyond their comfort zone.
- Take ownership of their work — completing all coursework and assignments with care and intention, understanding that each one is an opportunity to demonstrate and deepen their mastery of the material.
- Thrive with structure and accountability — respecting deadlines, holding themselves to a high standard, and taking responsibility for the work they put in throughout the program.
- Appreciate rigorous feedback and support — recognizing that written and live feedback is an essential part of their growth, and that the guidance offered throughout this program is what separates a good consultant from a truly exceptional one.
- Understand that certification is earned, not given — and embrace the GPA standards and program requirements as a reflection of the level of excellence this credential represents.
The certification program is rigorous, intensive, and time-consuming. In order to receive certification, all students must be able to:
- Be completely invested in the program and be able to complete university-level work that includes extensive reading, writing, and communication.
- Successfully complete all assignments prior to the final project practicum within the required grade point average or higher, and complete the final project practicum within the required grade point average or higher.
- All graduates after their first year are required to obtain 5 hours of continuing education every year in order to maintain their certification status.
Upon receiving your certification from the FSI, graduates have access to all member benefits:
- One year membership in FSI*
- Access to a wealth of resources and research library, educational seminars, and a supportive community of certified consultants.
- Exclusive listing for potential clients on our graduates website page
- Access to our members-only graduate forums, fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing.
- Quarterly Continuing Education Classes
*After the first year, the annual membership fee is $250.00.
Membership is not mandatory, however, maintaining 5 CECs each year is required for all graduates to keep their certification status current.
Fall 2026: Child Sleep Consultant Certification Program Begins September 1st, 2026 (Now Accepting Applications)
Class Sessions:
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- The class meets once a week, either at 1 PM or 8 PM Eastern Standard Time (New York Time). The schedule alternates weekly based on the instructor's availability.
- If the class is not offered during your preferred time slot, we will provide a recording. However, students are required to attend all classes during their selected time slot.
- 1/1.5 hours
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Weekly LIVE Office Hours:
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- Weekly session, every Thursday at 12 PM EST, for students to discuss classwork, presentations, and receive support.
- 1 hour
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Course Work: Students spend on average approximately 20 + hours per week over the course of 24 weeks.
Business Seeds Workshop:
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- Only students who have completed the certification program and earned their certification status are eligible to attend the Business Seeds Workshop.
- There will be 5 live sessions, held once a week.
- 1+ hour
- You will have lifetime access to all materials and presentations.
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Case Supervision/Mentorship:
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- Only students who have completed the certification program and earned their certification status are eligible to attend the Mentorship Program.
- 16 LIVE sessions once per week over 4 months
- 1 hour
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For more information, please scroll down to read our FAQ
What The Graduates Are Saying
"If you desire to become a Certified Sleep Consultant, look no further... This course is beyond amazing! You can read every 'sleep' book on the planet and still not come away with half the wisdom and insight you will gain from being under Deborah's tutelage. She is super fun, funny and inspiring. You're going to love this experience!"
- Jennifer Metter
www.jennijune.com
Los Angeles California
2012 FSI Child Sleep Consultant Graduate
"Not only have I learned a lot about sleep, but I have also learned about how to set up my own business. Deb has been an outstanding teacher and is so supportive of our hands-on learning. The other women in my class have also become an incredible support system that I am sure will continue into our professional careers. I feel totally prepared to start this new adventure as a successful sleep consultant."
-Dr. Debbie Sasson
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2012 FSI Child Sleep Consultant Graduate
"As a sleep consultant Deb was a savior and even more as an educator in the field of becoming a certified sleep consultant she is by far what I consider to be the “sleep guru” She is never stumped and is always available to answer whatever questions I had and continue to have! Her passion and drive for this field is infectious to all her students, and I am now thriving in this newfound career and I owe it all to Deb and The Family Sleep Institute!"
- Tracy Braunstein
www.sleeptightsolutions.com
Montreal, Quebec
2012 FSI Child Sleep Consultant Graduate