IT WAS a discussion my husband and I had been having since our baby was just a few months old – should we see a sleep consultant.

Sleep had gone from being part of everyday life to a scarce commodity, with demand far outstripping supply.

I read books, blogs and internet chat rooms, looking for tips on how to get our daughter to sleep for more than a couple of hours before waking and having to be fed back to sleep.

Sleep consultants, also know as sleep nannies – experts who offer consultations and sometimes come to your home to advise on getting your little one to sleep – were mooted but it always seemed like a potentially expensive waste of money.

I was reading the books, I knew what we were ‘supposed’ to be doing, but it didn’t seem relevant to our baby.

What difference would talking to someone make?

I’d read enough about crying it out and controlled crying techniques, where you leave your baby for increasing intervals to cry, to know that it wasn’t for us.

I was trying gentler techniques.

But the advice was always to put your baby down sleepy but awake – and the only way I was able to get my daughter to sleep was by feeding her until she dropped off, creeping across the room, gently lowering her into her cot and sneaking out of the room like a pyjama-wearing ninja.

I knew that my approach probably wasn’t for the best but, I was desperate for sleep, so doing what was going to get immediate results won out over potential negative long term consequences.

And so it went on – she was six months old, a year, 15 months, and still sometimes waking every two hours to be fed.

Something had to change – cue Southampton-based child sleep consultant Lucy Shrimpton.

I read Lucy’s new book, The Sleep Nanny System, cover to cover, and was pleased to see that she detailed a range of techniques, rather than advocating a ‘one size fits all’ approach.

I was drawn to the fading technique, which involved gradual withdrawal, but as one of the keys was putting your child to bed sleepy but awake, I couldn’t see how to implement this.

What changed everything was the one-to-one consultation I had with Lucy.

It’s a conversation I wish I’d had a good nine months earlier but I’m glad I didn’t wait another day.

Lucy asked about our current routine and addressed my concerns about how to change literally the habit of a lifetime. One important step was to bring my baby’s feed earlier in the routine. I was then to read a book with her afterwards, put her to bed and sit near her cot without interacting too much.

I could lean in and cuddle her when she cried but Lucy said it was best not to pick her up as that could give her false hope of getting what she wanted, ie fed to sleep, and could make it worse when I put her back.

I was to assume this position by the cot for three evenings, taking it up again when she woke in the night, and then over a series of nights move further away from the cot.

The idea was to teach my daughter how to settle herself to sleep, rather than relying on me to get her down at the start of the night and every time she woke.

We talked for over an hour. At the end of it, Lucy asked me how I felt.

“Like you haven’t met my daughter!” I laughed, feeling very unsure that the technique would work.

I decided to start it that night. After half an hour of heartbreaking crying I was really regretting it. I leant into the cot and put my hands through the bars to stroke and cuddle her, sshing and whispering what I hoped were comforting things.

I don’t think I would have been able to stick with it if it wasn’t for the fact that I felt I had made a commitment to Lucy, that she had heard my concerns and addressed them, that I knew it was best for my daughter, as well as me and my husband in the long run, and if I hadn’t been wearing earplugs.

I regretted starting, especially because Lucy had stressed how important it was to see it through. Otherwise I would be teaching her that if she screamed for long enough, she would eventually get what she wanted and next time it would be worse. She screamed for an hour and a half. Then suddenly she stopped and fell asleep.

I was elated! I couldn’t believe that it had actually worked.

And it got better – very quickly.

The next night she cried, but with much less commitment, for around half an hour, and in following nights it was mostly a matter of a few grumbles before dropping off.

I felt pretty emotionally drained for the first few days. I hated hearing my little girl cry, though it made it easier being being able to comfort her.

I have to admit, I didn’t do it ‘properly’. I cuddled her more than I was ‘supposed’ to.

I didn’t move across the room and out of sight in as few nights as had been recommended.

But it was a huge success.

However, I couldn’t bring myself to repeat the technique when she woke at night.

Having learnt to settle herself, she was waking less at night, and was easier to get back to sleep when she did wake.

I just couldn’t face the prospect of sitting by her cot with her screaming for an hour at 4am when I had to go to work for the day, so I was still stuck with a few feeds almost every night.

Luckily, Lucy offers follow-up consultations. I’d had some support via her private Facebook page, but it was taking part in a group telephone support session that was the second turning point.

Lucy offers these to clients several times a week, meaning you can get almost live support.

It only took one of these sessions to strengthen my resolve to tackle the night time situation too.

I waited until I had a day off the next day and steeled myself for a night of misery.

That first night she woke for around half and hour in the evening before I had gone to bed, cried for around half an hour before settling herself and then slept through until 6.30am.

It was amazing.

The next night she didn’t even wake, or the one after.

Unfortunately we had a pretty bad glitch the night before I was back at work, when she was up for more than an hour at 4am, but the glitches have become further between.

I really wish I’d spoken to Lucy earlier and would urge anyone who is struggling with their child’s sleep to contact a sleep consultant.

Speaking to Lucy was completely different to reading tips in a book and struggling to work out how to apply them to my daughter.

The sense of being supported made a huge difference, and knowing which rules were hard and fast made a massive difference.

And now, we have a 17-month-old, who goes to sleep with little fuss, often actually indicating that she wants to go to bed, and generally sleeps through the night.

Sometimes we even have 7am wake ups – what a luxury!

Sometimes it’s not so good - teething seeing me by her cot at 5.30am, trying to coax her back to sleep, before giving it up as a lost cause at 6am just a few nights ago.

Sleep will probably never be like it was before, but having previously accepted waking every two hours as normal, I’m OK with that.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you Lucy. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

• One to one programmes with Lucy range from £387 to £647 and include two to three weeks of support calls depending on the package.

For more information, visit sleepnanny.co.uk. The deluxe package also includes some email support in addition.

Clients also have access to Lucy through her members club for as long as they like but with one to three months included in the packages.