Bengaluru: Ever tried sneaking away after putting your baby to sleep, only for them to wake up and cry the moment you move? For many parents and caretakers, especially mothers heading back to work, it’s a daily catch-22 situation.To deal with this tug-of-war between soothing a clingy sleeper and rejoining the workforce, parents are turning to baby sleep coaches for help. Prithi P, a baby and toddler sleep consultant at Naps & Sleep, told TOI while sleep coaching is more common in the West, Indian parents have become increasingly curious due to parenting forums and Instagram. Prithi says she gets 20–25 enquiries weekly, mostly from mothers who are returning to work after maternity leave. Rajesh (name changed), a programme manager, turned to sleep coaching when his wife was struggling with postpartum depression and their 10-month-old son was waking up several times at night. “The sleep therapist helped us streamline a schedule and dim the lights — it even put me to sleep,” he laughed. Within three months, his wife felt well enough to return to work.Apoorva Kukreja, a chartered accountant, reached out to a sleep consultant to understand if her eight-month-old daughter could learn to self-soothe instead of being rocked to sleep. “Through our professional consultant, we learnt that babies need to sleep based on their age-specific wake windows and are happiest when they follow a routine. Prithi was available for help constantly throughout the programme, hence the baby learnt to sleep with minimal intervention quickly, without any harsh techniques.”Dr Nagarjun, a paediatric sleep expert, sees 7–10 cases a week. “There’s more awareness now. We do detailed assessments — sleep routines, lighting, family dynamics, even caffeine intake. Sleep issues are often tied to lifestyle, not just the child,” he said.Dr Sumaira Quazi, a paediatric intensivist at Rainbow Children’s Hospital, sees a spike in sleep struggles when grandparents leave. “We help break associations like patting or rocking. A child might get used to cry-it-out in baby beds in 10 days, while gentler methods may take months. But both aim to help the child self-soothe, and the parent, rest.”