If you’re pregnant and in your third trimester or have a child 24 months or under and are dealing – or anticipating dealing with – sleep issues, I cannot recommend Take Cara Babies courses enough.
She has an amazing Instagram page that is full of information, but if you really want to optimize your baby’s sleep, there is no replacing her online courses. I am talking sleeping 12 hours!
Her courses are formatted by topic into short videos. Each course also comes with downloadable PDFs which highlight her methods as well as give you handy charts for things like sample eat-play-sleep schedules. I used the SNOO for my son and he was sleeping through the night as of 9 weeks with the help of it and Cara’s strategies from her Newborn Course. The real test, however, was at 5 months when we transitioned out of the SNOO and into a crib (Cara has a section in her newborn course on using her method with the SNOO). For that I watched her 5-24 month course and I was blown away.
Day 1 (before implementing Cara’s strategies) in the crib was a nightmare. Day 2 I implemented her tactics and things got better that night… two nights later baby was back to sleeping 12 hours. It was truly amazing how fast it worked. Cara not only helped me optimize night sleep, she helped me optimize baby’s naps as well. Plus, when baby got sick and we ended up having to feed him at night, I used her course to wean him off night feeds – that also only took 3 nights.
I see so many parents struggling with kids who are 7, 8, 9 even 10 months and beyond – I have raved about this program to each one of them and all those who have gotten the course were in similar awe about how swiftly and effectively it worked. What I love most about the program is that it not only teaches you how to optimize naps and night sleep, but it teaches you how to troubleshoot. Like, for example, in the case when baby was sick and we needed to wean night feeds. Her program explains exactly what to do. Or, if you’re traveling or baby is teething.
I carved out a few hours to watch all of her videos before committing to her method and now every so often when problems come up I go back to watch the relevant videos.
It’s important to note that some crying is involved in this method – any sleep training method will involve crying…it’s part of the game. Just remind yourself it’s for the benefit of your baby and you! If you know your baby is safe and had enough calories to be able to not feed at night, there is no need to worry… some crying is OK! If your threshold for tears is low, Cara has ways to work with that. She gives her recommendations, but then explains how you can tailor her approach to suit your comfort level. Good sleep is critical for everyone and if you stick to the method, you should see improvements very quickly – just remember, commitment is key. Once you watch all of Cara’s videos and get all the information, commit to the method. Not committing is the only reason this method won’t work.
