When I was expecting, I did not know sleep deprivation would be my biggest problem postpartum. I was more concerned with delivering the baby safely, preparing her nursery, learning how to swaddle, dress, change diapers, and bathe. Nobody ever talked about sleep! Not even new moms. I took all the pre/postnatal care workshops but none of them spoke of sleep training. Yes, there was information on how many times to feed and safe sleep practices but it was not enough. Even the doctors, after discharging me, only referred me to a lactation consultant. The first few months were a nightmare. Whenever she would cry, my mom would say she is hungry or she has a stomach ache. Sleep would never be mentioned because my mom didn't know about it either. Because of my lack of awareness, I never made an effort to put my daughter to sleep. Some nights my daughter would cry her lungs out so I started to think she was colic. Little did I know, I was overstimulating her all the time, overfeeding her whenever she would cry (which led to projectile vomiting) and not putting her to sleep. My poor daughter was sleep-deprived. I was lost, confused, sleep-deprived myself and started looking for help. It was then, when she was around 5 months old, I luckily came across an instagram ad of a sleep consultant, promising 10-12 hours of overnight uninterrupted sleep. At first, I thought it was a scam or probably very rare but when I read so many successful sleep stories on their reviews, I got curious and started to dig in more. This led me to sleep training my baby myself following the information from a couple of baby sleep programs I found online. I managed to teach my baby how to self-soothe and go to sleep but I did not find the courage in me to wean off night-time feedings so I was still stuck in a cycle of night-wakings and feeding back to sleep. When I opened up about this issue with my friends, one of them recommended me a sleep consultant. The fees seemed high but I was desperate to get my sleep back and according to my friend, the impact it made in her life within the first week, she said she would not even think twice about the fees. This gave me the confidence and I booked an appointment with her sleep consultant. That was the best decision I had taken in my life! My baby started sleeping uninterrupted for 10-11 hours from the very next day!!!! I could not believe it. She also started eating properly during the day. Fixing a routine, helped me organise my life and plan my work/appointments during her nap times. After she went to bed around 7pm, I could spend more time with my partner and get a full nights sleep. Basically, I got my life back! So when did I decide to become a sleep consultant? I was attending a wedding one night where I saw an Afghan woman outside the banquet hall with her one month old baby struggling to put him to sleep. She looked hella sleep-deprived. She reminded me of my times when I felt alone and lost. I asked her how she was doing and if she had any help. She was alone too and had no knowledge of the baby’s sleep routine and wake-windows. I gave her all the resources I had found online for establishing healthy sleep habits for newborns and referred her to my sleep consultant. That’s when it clicked, why don’t I become one myself?! I want to spread as much awareness as I can about sleep training so that new moms in my culture don’t have to silently suffer sleep-deprivation and accept it as their new normal. I want to give them the confidence that it is absolutely ok, in fact healthy and 100% possible for babies 4 months and older to sleep 8-12 hours at night without waking up. I want to give new moms their lives back so they can truly enjoy their time with their babies and their partners. I believe sleep-deprivation is one of the major causes of postpartum depression and divorces, and if I can help anyone avoid it or come out of it, I will feel extremely rewarded and at peace.