From Midwife and MCHN to Sleep Consultant

Hear from Jazz Kostov - one of the BSS Co Founders who pivoted from a career as a Midwife and Maternal and Child Health Nurse (MCHN) into Sleep Consulting. If you’re contemplating a career change - this the blog article for you.


When I signed up to study a Sleep Consulting course, I hadn’t even considered starting my own business. It was something I chose to do to add to my learning and skills within my role as a Maternal and Child Health Nurse.

Fast forward 4 years and I now am working exclusively as a Sleep Consultant and don’t do any clinical work anymore as a Midwife or MCHN! I never would have imagined that would happen - but here we are.

And you know what? It is the most fulfilling and flexible work i’ve ever done.

I was one of those kids who got a job as soon as legally possible. At 14 and 9 months I got a job at Gloria Jeans selling coffee and pastries. I loved having my independence and some income to call my own. Throughout high school I had a range of jobs including babysitting, swim teaching, waitressing and before and after school care. I always loved working with kids and families and had an inclination that i’d end up in a career like Midwifery.

When I finished high school I went straight to university and studied a 3 year Bachelor of Nursing at Deakin University in Melbourne Australia. During my graduate nursing year I completed a 4 month rotation in Midwifery and worked on the postnatal ward to follow my passion for working with kids and families - with some supernumerary days in birth suite and special care nursery.

I knew then that Midwifery was what I wanted to pursue and the went straight in a Graduate Diploma in Midwifery at La Trobe University in Melbourne the very next year. I loved working as a Midwife. I loved helping families, supporting women to bring babies to the world and in those early days that followed their arrival in the hospital setting. Pretty quickly though, I wondered what happened when these families went home.

How were they doing? What challenges were they facing? As a lover of learning, I decided to study further and completed a Postgraduate Diploma of Nursing (Child, Family and Community) and commenced work as a Maternal and Child Health Nurse.

I was in my element - supporting families in the community as well as in the hospital as a Midwife. This role was such a mix between Nursing and Counselling and I loved talking to parents about their experiences and challenges.

It wasn’t long before I realised a common theme.

Sleep deprivation and anxiety about baby sleep dominated a large portion of the conversations I was having and to be honest - I felt pretty ill equipped to support families with sleep!

Ironically you don’t learn much practical information about baby and toddler sleep in the degrees I had completed and so…I decided to empower myself to understand sleep to better help families. We also planned on starting a family soon and sleep is SO important to me - so I didn’t want sleep to be a massive issue for our family.

In October 2019 I enrolled to complete a short course in Sleep Consulting and a week later I found out I was pregnant! Divine timing. I was getting crash course in Baby and Toddler Sleep right before becoming a parent.

It was this decision to complete this course that kickstarted an absolute passion for me and changed the trajectory of my career.

I started supporting a family or two each month once I had certified and had a newborn but just 8 weeks old at the time. Each month I took on more clients, created digital resources, started a podcast, showed up on instagram and before I knew it - i’d replaced my six figure salary I was earning as a Maternal and Child Health Nurse.

I decided to go all in and resigned from my roles as a Midwife and MCHN (not a decision I made lightly) and I’ve never looked back.

Did I have fears? Yes.

Did I worry about leaving my job? Yes.

Did I worry it wouldn’t work out and clients would dry up? Yes.

Did these worries stop me? No.

When you want something enough and you are passionate - lean in.

You never know where that decision could lead you.


Written by Jazz

BSS Co Founder