What a sleep consultant does — in minutes, from $79, no appointment.
A good infant sleep consultant asks the right questions, writes a plan for your baby, and is there for the nights that follow. Lamplight does those three things online: a ten-minute questionnaire, a plan in your inbox before the next nap, and a coach that has read it. This page explains how it compares, honestly, and who should hire a person instead.
A traditional consultant, and Lamplight
Typical US prices for a baby sleep consultant in 2026 run from a few hundred dollars for a plan with a week or two of support to well over a thousand for longer packages, and the first call is usually days away. Where those numbers come from →
| Traditional sleep consultant | Lamplight | |
|---|---|---|
| Intake | A 45–60 minute call, booked days or weeks out | A ten-minute questionnaire, whenever you have ten minutes — including at 3am |
| The plan | Written after the call; usually a few pages | Written in minutes: strategy first, then routine, naps, the settling approach step by step, a 14-night guide, troubleshooting and a one-page quick reference. Web, PDF and Word |
| Support afterwards | One to two weeks of email or text, in the consultant’s working hours | 90 days of a coach that has read your plan, any hour, on the site and by email |
| Approach | Depends on the consultant’s training and philosophy | Matched to your answers about crying and closeness, from a library of published research; no sleep training under six months, ever |
| Price | Roughly $300–$600 for a plan with basic support; $500–$2,000+ for longer packages | $79 for the plan, $129 with 90 days of the coach. One payment, nothing renews |
| A person | Yes — a human who can sit with you, watch a bedtime, or stay overnight | No. That is the honest trade-off, and for some families it is the wrong one — see below |
Families who want a plan tonight, not an appointment next week
Lamplight was built for the parent who has read a dozen contradictory articles, does not want to spend several hundred dollars to be told to “try a routine”, and would rather have something specific to follow than someone to call. If you want to know what the research actually supports, what is normal at your baby’s age, and exactly what to do at bedtime and at 2am for the next two weeks, it does that well.
It also suits families who are far from any consultant, on a night shift, or simply private. Nobody comes to your house. Nothing is judged.
Hire a person instead if…
- You want someone in the room — to watch a bedtime, coach you live, or stay overnight
- You are dealing with twins or triplets with very different needs, or a child with a medical condition that shapes sleep (start with your pediatrician either way)
- You know from experience that you follow through better with a human checking in
- You want to talk it through out loud. Lamplight’s coach is text, on the site and by email
If that is you, look for a consultant who follows the AAP safe-sleep policy without exception, does not offer sleep training under six months, and asks about your baby’s feeding and growth before proposing anything.
The same questions, the same kind of plan, faster
1. The intake
Ten minutes on your baby’s age, where and how they sleep, what is in the sleep space, how nights actually go, feeding and growth, a short safety screen, how you are holding up, and what you are and aren’t willing to do. The questions a good consultant asks in the first call.
2. The plan
Opens with a one-page fridge sheet — start night, bedtime, wake time, naps, the routine with times, tonight’s exact response, the night-feed windows — then the detail: why this approach, bedtime and 2 a.m. step by step, a 14-night table with the exact intervals or chair position for every night, days and naps, decision points on nights 3, 5, 7 and 14, safe sleep, your own sleep, troubleshooting. Section by section →
3. The coach
A coach that knows which night you are on. At 2 a.m. it gives you the next step with the clock; in the morning it reads your four numbers against the plan and sends tonight’s row; when the numbers call for a change, it makes the change and writes it into your plan. On your account page and by email, any hour. About the coach →
Built on the research, with lines we will not cross
Every plan and every coach conversation draws on a library of several hundred published sources on infant sleep and safe sleep, with the corrections logged and the weak evidence labelled as weak. A few rules sit above everything else:
- Safe sleep exactly as the AAP 2022 policy states it — back, firm flat surface, own surface in your room, nothing else in the space — every sleep, by every caregiver.
- No sleep training under six months, because it has never been tested that young. Foundations only, then we revisit.
- No dropping night feeds if there is any concern about growth, and never without your pediatrician being happy.
- No promises the evidence doesn’t support. Behavioural approaches reliably improve settling and how much you are up at night; they do not add hours of sleep, and we will not tell you they do.
- Your pediatrician comes first. Snoring, breathing pauses, poor weight gain, unusual movements — the plan says so plainly and waits.
An Illinois company, serving families everywhere
Lamplight Baby Sleep is based in Bloomington, Illinois, and works with families across the United States. Because the questionnaire, the plan and the coach are all online, your time zone, your town and your schedule make no difference — parents in Chicago, Peoria, Champaign and Springfield use the same plan as parents in Seattle or Miami. If you searched for a “sleep consultant near me” and found nobody within an hour’s drive, this is the version that comes to you.
Sleep consultant questions, answered
Is Lamplight a sleep consultant?
It does the work a sleep consultant does — asks about your baby, your nights, your set-up and your limits, then writes a plan for your family and supports you while you follow it — but it does it online and automatically, in minutes, for a fraction of the usual price. There is no person on a call. For most families with an ordinary sleep problem that is the right trade; for some it is not, and we say so on this page.
How much does an infant sleep consultant usually cost?
Published 2026 price guides put a single consultation call at roughly $100–$300, a written plan with a week or two of support at about $300–$600, and longer packages at $500–$2,000 or more; overnight in-home help runs higher still. Lamplight is $79 for the plan and $129 for the plan plus 90 days of the coach, paid once. We keep a plain-English guide to consultant pricing in the Journal.
Do you offer in-home or overnight support?
No. Everything is online: the questionnaire, the plan, and the coach on your account page and by email. If you want someone physically present, hire a local consultant — and look for one who follows the AAP safe-sleep policy without exception and does not offer sleep training under six months.
Do you work with families outside Illinois?
Yes — across the United States. Lamplight Baby Sleep is based in Bloomington, Illinois, but nothing about the service depends on where you live. The plan is written for your baby and your home, wherever that is.
What age range do you cover?
From newborn to about two years, using corrected age for babies born early. Under six months the plan is foundations only — routine, light and dark, feeding check, safe sleep and your own rest — because settling methods have never been tested that young. From six months, the plan matches an approach to your baby and to how you feel about crying.
Is the plan really personalized, or is it a template?
It is written from your answers, and it reads that way: your baby's name and age, your actual bedtime and wake time, the approach you chose, the things you told us you will not do, and the specific safety changes for your set-up. It opens with the strategy — the three to six moves we are making and why each one fits your family — rather than a recap of what you typed. Two families with different answers get materially different plans.
A little light for the long nights.
A written plan for your baby, your home and your limits from $79 — or $129 with 90 days of the AI Sleep Coach included.