Sleep Consultant Course
Become a Certified Sleep Consultant Online
Self-directed, evidence-based, and designed for doulas, birth workers, and compassionate individuals ready to transform the lives of exhausted families — on your schedule, from anywhere in the world.
Infant Sleep Consultant Certification
Self-directed, evidence-based, and designed for doulas, birth workers, and compassionate individuals ready to transform the lives of exhausted families — on your schedule, from anywhere in the world.
At Doula School we know that exhausted families are not just searching for someone who knows about sleep. They are searching for someone who truly understands them: a skilled, warm, and qualified practitioner who can guide them through one of the most overwhelming seasons of early parenthood.
Our Certified Sleep Consultant Course is a 100+ hour, evidence-based certification built for doulas, birth workers, healthcare professionals, and caring individuals worldwide who want to add one of the most sought-after specializations in family support to their practice.
You will graduate knowing how to assess the whole family, support a wide range of parenting philosophies, and provide individualized, responsive sleep guidance rooted in neuroscience, attachment theory, and real-world clinical skill.
- Earn an internationally recognized certification from a globally trusted institution with over 20 years of training excellence
- Learn about maternal sleep to fully support the entire family, not just the baby
- Explore infant sleep through developmental, neurological, cultural, and family-systems lenses so you always see the full picture
- Build a versatile toolkit of strategies spanning responsive, graduated, and more structured sleep support approaches
- Learn to coach parents with genuine compassion, clarity, and confidence through every stage of change
- Graduate with the practical skills, ready-to-use tools, and business foundation to launch or expand your practice right away
This Certification Is Ideal For:
- Certified doulas ready to expand their services and grow their income
- DSI alumni adding a high-value, in-demand credential to their existing practice
- Postpartum doulas who want to specialize in newborn and infant sleep support
- Healthcare professionals, lactation consultants, and early childhood educators
- Nurses, midwives, and allied health practitioners seeking specialized family support skills
- Compassionate individuals beginning a new career in family wellness
- Anyone who wants a flexible, globally recognized certification they can build a real business around
Whether you are just starting your journey or you are a seasoned practitioner ready to deepen your impact, this program was built with you in mind.
Duration and Effort:
100+ Hours
3 to 12 months to complete at your own pace
Certifications:
Certified Infant and Maternal Sleep Consultant
Qualifies for up to 50 continuing education credits toward existing doula certifications
Mentorship:
One-on-one mentorship included throughout your entire program
5 live virtual webinar sessions available multiple times per year
Lifetime access to the DSI student and alumni community
Materials:
Self-directed learning modules
Optional live virtual webinar sessions available
100% online and accessible worldwide
Flexible Learning
You have a life. You have clients, a family, and obligations that do not pause for a certification program. This one does not ask them to.
Work through your self-directed modules on your own schedule, layer in live virtual sessions for community and mentorship when it works for you, and take up to 12 months to complete everything at a pace that is sustainable, realistic, and entirely yours.
Your learning. Your timeline. Your career.
SELF-DIRECTED
Learn at Your Own Pace-
Unlimited one-on-one mentorship with your dedicated DSI mentor
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Immediate on-demand access to all 7 course modules and video content
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7 assignments and 7 module quizzes to reinforce and deepen your learning
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Downloadable client handouts, sleep plan templates, and assessment tools by age
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Contract templates, client intake forms, and business pricing guides
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Access to the DSI student and alumni community
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Lifetime access to all course materials and future content updates
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Certificate of completion upon fulfilling all certification requirements
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Access to 5 live virtual webinar sessions running multiple times per year
Doula School International does not charge any outside fees, membership fees or recertification fees.
Why Choose Doula School International?
We have been training birth and family workers for over 20 years. With 6,500+ alumni across 20+ countries, DSI is one of the world’s largest and most trusted doula training organizations.
This sleep consultant certification carries the same depth, values, mentorship, and community you would expect from any DSI program. You are not just buying a course. You are joining a movement of practitioners who believe that families deserve skilled, compassionate, and truly individualized care.
100+ hours of deep, practical training in sleep — from neurobiological foundations to real-world family coaching
A global community of birth and family workers who honour family choice above all else, no judgment…full stop
Genuine income potential in one of the fastest-growing areas of family support, with tools to help you start your business
The opportunity to make a lasting difference at one of the most vulnerable and meaningful seasons of a family’s life
A Certification That Is Recognized and Respected
A Global Standard for Family and Infant Sleep Consultant Training
In a growing and increasingly professionalized field, the credential behind your name matters. Families trust practitioners who are certified through recognized institutions, and employers and referral networks look for exactly the same thing.
Doula School International’s Certified Sleep Consultant r curriculum is co-developed by specialists in infant development, sleep science, neuroscience, feeding, and mental health because this work deserves nothing less than the full picture.
Globally Recognized Training Our certification is backed by a globally respected institution and carries relevance across international practice settings. This recognition reflects the depth, credibility, and standard of excellence DSI has maintained for over two decades.
Exceeding Industry Standards This is not a surface-level certification. Our curriculum integrates attachment science, neurodiversity, trauma-informed care, and family systems thinking alongside practical sleep strategies. You will graduate as a complete, adaptable practitioner, not simply someone who knows a handful of methods.
20 Years of Birth Work Excellence Behind You DSI has trained 6,500+ practitioners across 20+ countries. The credential you earn through us carries the reputation of an institution that families, hospitals, and birth professionals around the world already know and trust.
Your Path to Certification
Whether you’re looking to deepen your knowledge or expand your birth business, we’ve designed this training to provide actionable steps to succeed as a Fertility Doula.
Learn and Specialize
Build deep, practical knowledge in infant sleep science, neuroscience, attachment, and family-centered practice across 7 comprehensive self-directed modules.
Certify and Practice
Complete your practicum with real families, pass your final exam, and earn your globally recognized Certified Infant and Maternal Sleep Consultant credential.
Launch and Grow
Step into practice fully equipped with client tools, business guidance, mentorship, and a thriving community of DSI-trained practitioners standing behind you.
Sleep Consultant Course Curriculum
Our curriculum develops practitioners who are thoughtful, adaptable, and genuinely ready to serve the families who need them most. Each module builds on the last, moving from foundational knowledge through to real-world clinical practice and business readiness.
Understand the foundational role of the sleep consultant and why this work matters. Explore sleep terminology, the cultural and historical context of infant sleep, SUID and SIDS education, and the science of sleep across developmental stages. You will also learn evidence-based strategies for protecting your own wellbeing as a practitioner — because you cannot pour from an empty cup.
Explore infant development and attachment theory through a neurobiological lens. Learn about the four universal needs of infants, the role of temperament, the impact of stress on infant and parent nervous systems, the relationship between play and sleep, and parent self-regulation as a foundation for nighttime parenting.
Dive into the clinical heart of sleep consulting. Recognize and address bias in sleep support, explore the full spectrum of sleep support strategies and sleep training methods, optimize the sleep environment, support connection and repair, guide nap transitions, and understand the relationship between lactation, feeding, and sleep needs.
Develop the skills to serve families with diverse and complex needs. Topics include working with children with diverse developmental support needs, neurodiversity and sleep, when and how to refer to other care providers, and specialized support for adoptive families, multiples, and NICU graduates.
Take a whole-family view of sleep. Explore sleep during pregnancy, toddler sleep, the connection between birth experience and infant sleep, trauma and violence-informed care, the role of nutrition, navigating major family transitions, and the impact of parental and family mental health on sleep outcomes.
Apply your knowledge to real situations. Explore parental expectations and temperament, household dynamics, and the seven types of parents you will meet in practice. Learn how to navigate each scenario with skill, flexibility, and genuine empathy to create lasting change for the families you serve.
Launch your practice with confidence. Learn how to set up and run a professional sleep consulting business, create client contracts and consent documents, price your services sustainably, identify your ideal client, develop your unique approach, and build practices that prevent burnout and support a long, fulfilling career.
How to Become a Certified Sleep Consultant
Step 1 — Complete Your Coursework Work through all 7 self-directed modules at your own pace. Complete all 7 assignments and achieve a minimum of 80% on all module quizzes. Finish your 5 required readings, including the three core texts: Holistic Sleep Coaching, Rest Play Grow, and The No-Cry Sleep Solution.
Step 2 — Attend Live Webinar Sessions Attend the 5 optional but strongly recommended live virtual webinar sessions, offered multiple times per year. Connect with instructors, ask questions in real time, and build relationships with fellow practitioners from around the world.
Step 3 — Complete Your Practicum Conduct a practicum assessment with a minimum of 5 clients. This is where your knowledge meets real families — and where your confidence as a practitioner truly takes root.
Step 4 — Pass Your Final Exam Sit for your online final examination and achieve a minimum grade of 85% to complete your certification requirements.
Step 5 — Receive Your Certification Receive your Doula School Certified Sleep Consultant credential. Your career as a sleep consultant begins here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not at all. This program warmly welcomes complete beginners alongside experienced doulas, healthcare professionals, and birth workers. If you are passionate about supporting families and committed to doing the learning, you belong here.
Very flexible. You have up to 12 months to complete the program entirely at your own pace. The self-guided modules mean you can study around your family, your clients, and your life without ever sacrificing depth or quality.
Neither and that is our philosophy. Our curriculum is intentionally non-prescriptive. You will be trained across the full spectrum of approaches, from fully responsive and attachment-focused methods to more structured sleep training techniques, so you can genuinely support whatever path a family chooses. Your role is to educate, empower, and walk alongside them.
Nope! Because babies do not sleep in isolation, and neither do the families raising them. Infant sleep lives inside a whole family ecosystem, and that ecosystem includes an exhausted parent who is also desperately trying to rest. You will learn everything you need to know about infant sleep: the science, the developmental stages, the strategies, and the practical tools. And you will learn how parental sleep deprivation, mental health, feeding, recovery, and stress shape sleep outcomes for the entire family. Because those things are not separate from the baby’s sleep. They are the context in which it either thrives or struggles. That context is where skilled, trained doulas make the difference.
Yes. Sleep support is one of the fastest-growing specializations in family care worldwide, and certified practitioners are in high demand. Consultants typically offer per-session rates, multi-week support packages, and ongoing check-in plans. Module 7 covers pricing, packages, income potential, and how to build a client base from the ground up.
Depth, mentorship, philosophy, and community. Many sleep certifications teach a single method. This program develops complete, adaptable practitioners through 100+ hours of curriculum co-created by specialists in infant development, neuroscience, feeding, mental health, and family support. You also receive one-on-one mentorship, lifetime community access, and a full suite of business tools which most programs simply do not include.
Yes. This program qualifies for up to 50 continuing education credits toward existing DSI doula certifications, making it one of the most efficient and valuable investments you can make in your growing practice.
Most students complete the program within 6 to 12 months. You have a full 12 months from enrollment to fulfill all requirements, so you have the space to go at a pace that truly works for your life.
Your Birthwork Journey Begins and Grows Here
Sleep deprivation is one of the most universal and overwhelming challenges in early parenthood. Families everywhere are searching for someone knowledgeable and caring enough to help them find rest. That person can be you.
Whether you are building a brand-new practice from the ground up or adding a powerful specialization to everything you have already built, this certification gives you the evidence, the tools, the mentorship, and the community to step into this work with real confidence.
Join thousands of DSI-trained practitioners across 20+ countries who are changing the lives of families, one family at a time.
