California Mom Sparks Controversy With Article on Sleep Training Her Baby

— -- A mother of two who paid to have someone sleep train her 3-month-old baby while she and her husband went on a one-night getaway has sparked controversy online with an article about her experience.

Katy Landrum, a 34-year-old residential Los Angeles realtor who has been featured on the HGTV show "Selling LA," recently explained in an online article for Redbook magazine her decision to hire a professional to sleep train her infant, Bo, while she went on a getaway with her husband.

Landrum wrote in the article that, "At $30 an hour, the decision to bring in a professional to manage the process seemed like a 'no-brainer.'"

Landrum added that she planned a getaway to a luxury California spa and resort because "I didn't want to be in earshot of Bo's weeping. Treating ourselves to a restful retreat meant we could try to enjoy ourselves instead of dwelling on what was taking place at home."

Sleep training refers to a sometimes controversial variety of techniques used to teach infants to sleep for longer stretches at night.

Dr. Tanya Altmann, a pediatrician at Calabasas Pediatrics in Calabasas, California, told ABC News that sleep training is often "a blend of methods depending on the baby and what the parents feel comfortable with."

Landrum, who also has a daughter, told ABC News she and her husband planned to hire sleep training help for Bo at around 3 months of age after a close friend of Landrum's inspired her with her own positive experience and outcome. After receiving support and a green light from their pediatrician, the couple went for it.

Landrum said that she was apprehensive about sleep training for a while.

"I was so nervous I just kept trying to come up with reasons why [Bo] wasn't ready to do it yet," she said.

Landrum's article on Redbook has been shared thousands of times and received mixed reactions.

One person commented, "This is so selfish;" another said, "If a woman doesn't have time to be a parent ... then she shouldn't have kids."

But while some were harsh, others came to Landrum's defense. "It helped put him on a schedule..." one wrote. Another poster added, "I'm all for making home life happy and rested for both parents."

In response to the public reactions, Landrum said, "I know that it's controversial for people to sleep train but for me being a working mom of two it was just something that I felt strongly about."

Landrum is self-employed and said that despite the controversy, she feels sleep training with an expert was the right decision because it was most important for their family to sleep through the night so she could work.

Altmann said it is important to do what is best for you when it comes to sleep training, explaining, "What may be right for one family may not be right for another family."

Doctors say parents can start to sleep train babies as soon as they are big enough to go a full night without eating. The most important thing, according to doctors, is to be consistent.

Landrum called hiring a sleep trainer "the best money I've ever spent." She wrote in her Redbook article that with the sleep training expert's help, Bo began sleeping through the night.