Is it possible to train your baby to go off to sleep by itself, without hours of rocking or singing?

Emma Riley and Bek Dalrymple are convinced that you can - so much so that they have started a business, helping parents who are desperate for a good night’s sleep.

’My mum calls them "The Robot Babies" because you can set your clock by them,’ says Bek of her son, Hector, aged 20 months, and daughter, Dottie, aged five months.

It wasn’t always that way, as she recalls.

’When I had my eldest son, Hugo, nearly 17 years ago, I found sleep deprivation really difficult, and he wasn’t even a "bad" sleeper, to the point where I wasn’t sure if I could ever do it again,’ she says.

’Fast forward 15 years and Hector was on his way, so I started doing a lot of sleep training research and we implemented a routine pretty much from day one, and the rest, as they say, is history. Then Dottie was here before you know it and we are now the proud owners of two great sleepers.’

Emma Riley had a similar experience when her first child, Nel, was born two and a half years ago.

She recalls: ’I wanted to do my very best for our daughter but didn’t fully understand what she needed. We developed bad habits, tried everything and were at our wits’ end.

’Then I reached out and contacted a sleep consultant: I had nothing to lose and it changed my life.

’Very quickly our daughter began sleeping well, my brain fog disappeared and I had more energy.’

Emma was so impressed that she trained and qualified as a sleep consultant herself so that she could help other parents.

Now she and Bek have got together to form a business called Simply Sleep, which launches today. It offers a science based plan for parents to follow with lots of support.

They can also dispel certain myths around the whole idea of ’getting babies off to sleep’.

’We stick a dummy in their mouths, or we bounce them around in our arms or we rock them - a baby shouldn’t need any of that. We have natural mechanisms in our body to make us sleep,’ says Emma.

Bek adds: ’It’s not our job as parents to settle them to sleep, its our job to teach them how to settle themselves.’

So does this mean just letting the baby ’cry it out’?

Emma says: ’That’s one of the main questions parents ask. It’s a commonly used method but that is not part of the plan. It’s not a case of leave the baby in the room and walk out.

’There will be crying but you stay in the room with the baby and support them to learn how to go to sleep.’

Emma writes an individual plan for each client, based on a detailed questionnaire which parents complete. She then follows this up with a 90-minute telephone or Zoom consultation during which she goes through the plan in detail.

She says: ’Once the plan is off the ground I support on a daily basis by email and follow up phone calls to discuss any issues.

’The plan is over 10 days but generally within two to three days you’ll see a massive move in the right direction.

’By night 10 the parents will be able to put the baby in the bed, give them a kiss, say good night and leave the room.’

For working parents especially - and their employers - this offers obvious advantages.

As Bek says: ’You’re going to get more out of your staff if they’re getting a good night’s sleep. For this reason it will one marketed not only to parents but also to companies who might the service as an employee benefit.

Simply Sleep offers a Sleep Foundation Plan for babies aged from birth -3 months at £125 and a Sleep Transformation Plan for ages four months - 8 years at £295.

l For more information visit www.simply-sleep.co.uk or email [email protected].