Toddlers find a way to make you stay up at night every day. They ensure to recharge themselves just before bedtime and show the highest level of enthusiasm when they are trying out new tricks, saying new words, understanding your actions, and mimicking them most adorably.
You do not want to miss out on these mischiefs and wish to capture their firsts of all the new words, walking stages, trying to understand what’s going on around them, and other things. Hence, we keep up late, which impacts our next day when they are sound asleep.
On many days, they wake up early, sometimes crying because of hunger or when they need a diaper change. All in all, you cannot have your night for yourself. Me-time is a long shot to expect when you are unable to complete the required hours of sleep. This happens to us too.
While we were proudly complaining about it to our neighbor, we got to know about the Taking Cara Babies sleep program.
Taking Cara Babies Sleep Program
Our neighbor introduced us to this program and stated that their baby sleeps a lot. They do not have to be worried about them for at least 10 to 12 hours every night as they slept for that long after enrolling in the taking Cara Babies program. Saw no harm in trying this as even if it works by 50 percent for my child and he sleeps for 6 hours straight, we will assume it as a win.
We immediately googled about it and found her website. Cara, the sleep counselor for kids, offers a course designed for babies up to the age of 4. In this, she lays a foundation for the parents to make their babies sleep well for long hours. It is a process of sleep training the babies so that the parents can get their work done and have normal lives even after having a toddler at home.
What is Cara Babies Sleep Program?
Taking cara babies program is a blog by Cara, a mother of four kids, certified sleep consultant, and neonatal nurse. She takes great interest in helping new moms get some sleep after giving birth to the baby by sleep training the kids to sleep for long hours in one go. She creates sleep-baby programs to enhance the sleep schedule of your kids. She offers three programs depending on the baby’s age.
One is for newborns up to 3-4 months of age, and the next is for babies from 5 months to 24 months. Another program is conducted for parents of babies that are 24 months to 48 months old.
I was initially skeptical about these programs, but after researching and knowing that she is a mother to four kids, I was sure she knew what she was doing.
There is a lot of information on the internet about how one should train their babies for sleep. But the more you read from them, the more you develop majorly contradicting ideas and get confused.
The best part about enrolling in the cara babies program was to consume the information in the form of videos. It has some credibility as you know the person behind the screen.
She radiated a positive coaching style that was a great way to learn. She has an amazing Instagram page giving tips and tricks for handling your babies, and it was quite impressive for me.
During the consultation stage, she gave great ideas and advice that helped to improve the sleep of my baby and thereby enhance my daily routine. Before the program, I saw my child not sleeping well and began to make rapid changes in various things like eating habits, etc., after reading content on the internet. But it didn’t work out well for my baby.
The major thing she made me realize was that the trick to making the changes more suitable for your kid is to implement them very slowly. This program helps parents to create a healthy bedtime routine for their toddlers and implement it gently with sleep time techniques.
Taking Cara Babies Sleeping Method
The taking cara babies method emphasizes placing your baby in a crib while they are wide awake and then letting them sleep there on their own. This process should take place consistently every day, and a routine must be built around their schedule. Also, do not let your baby become overtired before placing them in the crib. Practice this method every day consistently and patiently, and watch it do wonders for your baby’s sleep schedule.
Sometimes the babies do not sleep because of being overtired due to excessive activities or lack of sleep. So avoid them going into a state of fatigue where it is difficult to make them sleep.
You will understand the patterns and behavior of your baby when you maintain a routine. In this way, you will learn their actions when they are supposed to be placed for sleeping.
If you notice that your baby is crying because of being overtired or fatigued, avoid making them sleep instantly. Instead, calm them down very slowly. One of the great methods of calming your baby down is to lay them down on their back and use your hand to rub their back. Give a feel of support to them by swaddling on the back.
This will be an effective way to stop them from crying.
Now repeat the same process by laying them on the chest. Rest your hands on them and allow them to take their own time to calm down.
If your baby is not getting continuous hours of sleep, and they sleep for a few hours, wake up frequently, sleep too late, or wake up early, they are going to be tired for most of the time of the day.
When you think that feeding your baby will help them sleep, it is true to some extent, but an overfed baby may take a longer time to fall asleep and stay asleep.
If your baby gets into the habit of fighting sleep, they will experience excessive stimulation, which in turn will keep them from falling asleep.
Taking Cara Babies gives a sleep training technique that will help your baby to fall asleep without your help.
Also, food plays an important role in making your baby sleep. The course by Cara helps you to portion baby’s food such that it will enhance their sleep routine. It focuses on reducing the amount of food eaten by the baby at night.
In the case of 3-month-old babies, they must sleep for almost 12 hours every night and around 5 hours in the daytime. Every nap of your kid should last for 2 hours, and the awake window must not exceed more than 100 minutes.
About the Program
First Stage
In the newborn stage, they teach you how to calm your baby down when they are cranky or fussy. The schedule given by them is pretty flexible when it comes to developing a sleep routine. It helps to build a healthy foundation overall.
Second Stage
This stage is designed for babies that are in the fourth month. They witness a sleep regression that needs to be addressed. It contains an e-book that gives information about making progress in their sleep. It is a tricky stage in a child’s age and must be handled carefully.
Third Stage
The class that goes on from the 5th to the 24th month of the child is the final course. This course is called the ‘ABCs of Sleep’. It is the final stage in the course for the sleep development of the child. It helps the parents to develop a routine that enables them to sleep for 10 to 12 hours every night without a crib and independently.
It also suggests ways to handle their body transformations when traveling or going through any illnesses, leaps, or teething.
Our Personal Experience with Cara Babies Program
Week 1
The program wanted us to focus on the bedtime routine, and we did that. We wanted her to get the habit of understanding when it’s time to sleep for a long time.
It was not as smooth as it was claimed to be in the program. He woke up several times during his sleep. We fed him with a bottle of milk within a period of 2 to 3 hours. This has been the routine for the first week. It took a lot of time for us to get the kid to nap, and as soon as they were asleep, it was time to feed them again.
Week 2
The Second week showed considerable difference and progress from the first week. The frequency of his waking up during the night had gone down. We dream-fed him about 2 to 3 times at night, and then he would wake up at 8 am.
Then the baby would have scheduled naps during the day. It was a great deal for me as it gave me the time to do my regular chores without being worried or disturbed.
Week 3
As they say, growth is not a straight line; we had a setback in the week three progress. Now again, he was back to waking frequently after a few hours of sleep. We would feed him frequently whenever he woke up, and he was extra fussy about it.
Our schedule was disturbed as it took a lot of time and effort to put him back to sleep. Sometimes it would even take 3 hours to put him to sleep, which disturbed the dream feeding schedule.
Week 4
Here we are this week, again making progress. The naps are back to being longer than before, with lesser disturbances and a lower frequency of waking up. This week’s schedule was a sign of relief as it was manageable for me to feed him for 2 to 3 times in sleep.
Week 5
This week has been a blessing to our schedule. He slept for long hours at night, only with one or two disturbances in between. Even after these hindrances, he was able to sleep back in a few minutes without much effort from our side. This has brought a huge change in my everyday schedule of sleep and other activities.
Further, it makes me feel more fresh and energetic than before.
Few Issues With The Program
Uncertainty is the main issue for me when it comes to scheduling a baby’s sleep. Just like the first week has been good and the second week a slight letdown, there is no certainty in the baby’s schedule.
It keeps me always worried about what if the baby wakes up at 1 am, how I am going to adjust my schedule if he wakes up at 3 am, and so on.
Also, putting the baby back to sleep after waking up unscheduled is not an easy task. It would have helped if the program also taught about how to put your baby to sleep quickly in the middle of the night.
The program must include ways to get back to the schedule after multiple setbacks. This will help us parents to stick to it even after giving up multiple times.
Conclusion
Taking the Cara Babies program requires you to put effort into creating your baby’s schedule, even on the days when they don’t go with it. It requires you to be consistent and patient without doubting the process or going in the flow with your baby’s demands.
In my experience, the program is well-designed to answer all the doubts and stages in your baby’s life. It addresses all the milestones that are going to occur. This makes it easy to understand and handle the child.
We have witnessed a noticeable difference in the sleeping schedule of my kid and getting time for myself. Hence, we feel it is a completely worthy investment.
Tell us about your Cara Babies program experience in the comments.
