Testimonials
Susie & Nick, parents to Lewis (3.5y),
Denver, CO
"Our son Lewis will be 4 years old this fall and we could count on two hands how many times he had slept through the night in his ENTIRE life. That is also how many times my husband and I (especially me let’s be honest) had slept through the night in over 4 years (those last months of pregnancy are a sleep destroyer).
Now, in the last 2 weeks he has slept through the night more than in his entire life! WE have slept. I already feel a semblance of sanity returning.
We have tried what felt like every tactic and product under the sun to get this child to sleep. We have bought devices, hired consultants, had surgeries (double tongue tie), TWO medical sleep studies, countless doctors including specialists in sleep, hematology, and digestion, and the list goes on and on. He has been taking elemental iron supplements for 2.5 years to help his restless sleep.Nothing seemed to work.
He would take 2 hours to fall asleep some nights. By 11 pm he was in our room asking to sleep on me. Yes, my 35 pound child needed to sleep on me like an infant in order to sleep. As you can imagine, sleep deprivation was a tragic reality in our house.
A few weeks ago, I resigned myself to this reality, this was just my life now. I would always have to share a bed with Lewis. I hoped by his wedding day I could have my sleep back. Now our lives look a lot different.
What changed? We thought we would try one more thing. One more time.
We called Kate Faraci of ‘It Starts with Sleep’. Honestly, I was hopeful but not expecting much would change. After all, we had already done so much. Within 10 days, Lewis was sleeping through the night and falling asleep on his own. In the middle of the night he would return to HIS ROOM. The weight that has been lifted can not be understood unless you know what it is like to live life continuously sleep deprived. We can not put into words our gratitude for Kate.
On our initial call with Kate, the first words out of her mouth were, “this is a judgement free zone”. Mom shame is so real and she knew it didn’t have any place in our solutions to this issue. Kate truly listened to our experience which was incredibly validating. She took that information and made an incredibly comprehensive yet simple plan for us to follow.
However, the most meaningful work for us as parents came in her daily check ins, support, and coaching. Her expertise in sleep but also early childhood development helped us coach our son in what to expect and how to be excited about sleep. The coolest part (besides my own sleep let’s be real people) is seeing his confidence as an independent sleeper grow tremendously.
If you are having challenges with your child’s sleep we truly understand the impact it has on your entire life and the functioning of the family. Please reach out to Kate of ‘It Starts with Sleep’. Our only regret was that we didn’t do it sooner."
Chelsea (15m), Mom to Rome,
Jersey City, NJ
“I can’t recommend Kate and her sleep training method enough! She helped my family when my little one was 15 months old and still waking up twice a night. Within a few days of Kate’s help, he has been sleeping through the night ever since! Kate held us accountable and gave us the encouragement we needed to get through a tiny bit of tears for a major reward. Thank you Kate!!”
Heather, Mom to Gregory (3.5y),
Mendham, NJ
“My son had always been an incredible sleeper since we started our “sleep training” around 3 months old. Everything quickly turned upside down around 3.5 years old. His bedtime routine became difficult and long, with multiple trips into our bedroom during the night. When I first started working with Kate, she listened to all of my concerns and helped craft a full step by step plan tailored to each specific issue. We diligently followed the plan and learned so many tips and phrases that helped us communicate effectively with our son which in turn empowered him! Kate checked in daily on our progress and always gave encouraging feedback. Within 2 weeks, our son was proudly sleeping in his bed through the night again and the bedtime routine shortened from an hour to 15 minutes. Not only did we get our sleep back, but our home once again became happy and harmonious!
Working with Kate was such a wonderful experience. I am beyond grateful for her help and would recommend her to anyone who is either in the beginning of sleep training a newborn or re-training a toddler."
Aleksandra, Mom to Denali (8m),
Boonton, NJ
"Kate’s services were life changing. Her patience & encouragement gave us the strength to implement her recommendations. Our 8 month old was waking up every two hours and wanted to eat every time she woke up. Now, thanks to Kate, our baby sleeps in her own crib & learned how to put herself back to sleep. She even sleeps through the night and is also on a regular napping schedule."
Audra (5.5m), Mom to Poppy,
Brooklyn, NY
"Kate was an unbelievable help to us as new parents. She was the perfect match for someone (me) who was hesitant about sleep training and very nervous about excessive crying (read: any crying). She hosted a discovery call with us and truly took the time to get to know us and understand what was important to us, what we think we can tolerate (crying wise) and what our sleep goals were for our then 5.5month old. She listened, asked thoughtful questions and was able to build us a custom sleep plan. The sleep plan included everything we needed to start our sleep training journey and not just for overnight. The plan went over day and night sleep, bedtime routine, eating schedule, do and don’t to support a healthy relationship with sleep, etc. Kate was able to play to all of our strengths to transform how our household ran. We went from multiple wake ups overnight, to 1 wake up (our daughter was small and the pediatrician did not want us dropping the overnight feed at first), to zero wake ups smoothly over the course of 2 weeks. Our daughter also went from never napping in the crib during the day, to happily napping 3 times a day in the crib. Kate encouraged us to believe that our baby could do anything if we as the parents had and shared the right tools.
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Kate as a mother of 3 (great sleepers) is super in tune with the parent experience and supported us in turn. She was VERY available for the entire time we worked together. We had a running text chain where we got all of our questions answered, where Kate would constantly check in on us and where she would drop tips. When our time with her was ending, she made sure that we had a plan for when we dropped to 2 naps many months later and to 1 nap even further down the road. We have since successfully transitioned to a 2 nap schedule on our own with no help and there is no stress around sleeping, which makes sleeping easy and pleasant. Kate was an unbelievable partner and support system and I would hire again in a heartbeat."
Alex, Mom to Luke (4y) & Jack (7m), Manhasset, NY
"I cannot thank Kate enough for helping our entire family sleep!!! As a mom of three little ones (4, 3, and 1), I know how critical sleep is, but was really struggling to get it. So when my then 7-month-old and 4-year-old were seriously struggling with naps, middle-of-the-night wakings, and 5AM wake-ups, I reached out to Kate for help. She was compassionate, non-judgmental, and encouraging when I explained to her what was going on with each child. We talked through our current daily routines and unique challenges (primarily, my toddler's room sharing and my baby's reflux/feeding issues), and from there, Kate developed a customized plan with me that was not only thorough but actually attainable and made sense for our family's unique circumstances and needs. Her daily check-ins with positive encouragement and real-time troubleshooting made me feel supported and hopeful that we would get through this rough patch and reach our sleep goals. Thanks to Kate, we felt confident and committed to our plan, and within just a few weeks our kids were sleeping better and so were we! Kate is absolutely the best and I cannot recommend working with her more!!!"
Killian, Mom to Maeve (18m),
Staten Island, NY
"Our family was definitely hesitant when we started with Kate to sleep train our 18 month old daughter–would this work? Would this throw off our “schedule-less” routine? Could we do this? All I can say is Kate took the time to learn about our family and the dynamic and managed our expectations. With her help our baby girl is putting herself to sleep and staying asleep! It makes us feel relieved that she is getting good quality sleep and waking up with a better disposition–because she isn’t tired anymore! We are so grateful to Kate for helping our family regain our nighttime. I used to have such anxiety when it came to bedtime and would be stressed about it from early on in the day. Now, I know that my daughter can do this, and Kate gave us the tools to do it too. Bedtime has become a pleasant time of the day because of the work we did with Kate. Now, it’s time to sleep train my oldest!!"
Claire, Mom to Rey (2.5y),
Oakland, CA
"Kate is a miracle sleep-training genius sent from the heavens. My husband and I had already done sleep training with our daughter, Rey, when she was 5 months old, and she had been sleeping well for a few years. When she hit two years old, Rey’s sleep went down the drain, following a trip to the east coast and some shifts in our life. Rey would be up in the middle of the night for hours screaming and demanding everything under the sun. We were exhausted, frustrated, and at a complete loss for what to do!! We thought the situation was hopeless, and didn’t believe there was any way anyone could help us (or that our situation was an especially challenging, unsolvable case). When Kate was recommended to us by a very close friend, I knew she was the answer to our prayers. I already knew she was an expert in early childhood education and development, in addition to sleep-training specifically, and she spoke with such assuredness, calm and kindness. Kate did a detailed interview to understand our specific situation and sent us a plan catered to Rey. She was with myself and Brad every step of the way, often with me via text when Rey was in the middle of a tantrum, giving moral support and encouraging me to stick with the plan. After two weeks, Rey was sleeping through the night like an angel from 8pm to 7am!!! I learned so many tools, so when we have hiccups, or our daughter wakes in the middle of the night, we know what to do to put her back on track and set her up for success. We also learned so much about parenting and the power of instilling confidence in our daughter. We are forever grateful to Kate for changing our LIFE and giving us back our peace as a couple and as a family!!! "
Lindsay, Mom to Harry (6y) & Kennedy (3.5y),
Philadelphia, PA
"When we moved 10 months ago into a house undergoing major renovations we did not anticipate, naively, the effect it would have on our kids' sleep routine. We continued to make "exceptions" and repeatedly said when "this is done" or "when that is done" we will get back on track. Countless nights of mom and dad falling asleep in a child's bed, middle of the night wakings, all four of us waking up in one bed...etc. etc. There was no "good" sleep happening for MONTHS. We hit our breaking point and knew we needed to get back on track. We reached out to Kate at It Starts with Sleep and from our first call I knew we needed to get on board. Her judgement free mentality was apparent and made us as parents feel confident to reboot and get back on track.
Re-Sleeping training a 6 and 3.5yr old was a feat we could not take on alone. Once we committed to a start date there was no turning back. With Kate's constant support, guidance and motivation we have not had a child sleep in our bed, a parent fall asleep in a kids bed and not one kid has spent the night in our bed since we started Kate's program (1 month ago!). LIFE CHANGING is an understatement. My 6 y\o's behavior and productivity at school improved tenfold and everyone was, no surprise, in a better mood on a regular basis. Kate's expertise is remarkable and there was not one scenario in which she could not trouble shoot us through. My biggest regret was putting it off for so long, if you are on the fence- just start now!"
Eric & Morgan, parents to Logan (2.5y),
Washington DC
"Kate’s support and guidance was key to better sleep for our family. She helped us lower the stakes, reframe bedtime as a positive experience, and with her communicative approach we learned methods to make bedtime fun and participatory for our daughter too.
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We continue to use what we learned and have regained confidence in/around bedtime - it’s become fun again for all of us. Kate’s empathetic approach, accessibility and encouragement was a game changer for us. Thank you, Kate!"
Julie & Jason, parents to Tyler (9m),
Jersey City, NJ
"We are truly so grateful for you and all of your help with Tyler! He is sleeping so beautifully now and we are feeling so much better physically and mentally. Your patience, communication and your clear instructions were so, so helpful. We will absolutely be recommending you to anyone looking for a sleep consultant!
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Kyle & Kate, parents to Madelyn (3y),
Latham, NY
"We cannot thank Kate and It Starts With Sleep enough for the incredible help she provided with our 3-year-old daughter’s sleep. For over a year, we struggled with constant night wakings and extremely early mornings, and we felt exhausted and overwhelmed. We tried what felt to be every trick in the book to help with her to sleep with little success and we were close to giving up. Within just two weeks of working with Kate, our daughter was staying in bed all night long and consistently sleeping until 6:00am! Kate's guidance kept us on track and gave us the tools we needed to succeed. We highly recommend It Starts With Sleep to any parent dealing with sleep struggles. It has truly been a game-changer for our family!”
Amanda, Mom to Wylie (3m),
Denver, CO
"Kate was recommended to us by a friend who also worked with her and had a very positive outcome. We took a little while to decide to call her, thinking how much can really change in two weeks. A lot, it turns out! Our baby was sleeping through the night in a couple nights and showed progress on her naps each day, although those did take a little longer. Kate was supportive, positive and super communicative through the whole process. She told us how to step in and when to support our girl, and definitely met us where we were at. I was worried about sleep training, I felt a lot of judgement about it and worried it could be harmful emotionally. Kate was patient and communicative with me and even sent me a helpful research-based article supporting sleep for babies’ emotional health. Two months in, our daughter is still sleeping well and best of all is a happy, bright-eyed girl. I cannot recommend Kate enough. She is worth every penny and the extra sleep has been invaluable!”