01 Jan Sleep Tips I Learned From Taking Cara Babies—ABC’s of Sleep Program
It’s been almost 3 years since I found Cara the founder of Taking Cara Babies and our sleep lives were changed. In the first year of motherhood, I didn’t sleep more than 3 consecutive hours a night. I was up and down all night taking care of a baby unable to fall back asleep on her own. Today I wanted to share with you some of the sleep tips I took away after using the ABC’s of Sleep program.
It’s All About The Environment
How dark is your child’s room dark, is it really dark? Having a baby that struggled to sleep through the night, waking up early block out all the light Research shows that “exposure to light stimulates a nerve pathway from the eye to parts of the brain that control hormones, body temperature and other functions that play a role in making us feel sleepy or wide-awake”. As we used the ABCs of Sleep program changing the environment was vital to our success. I suggest going into your baby’s room and look for all the light sneaking into your baby’s room? I found out that her monitor had a small flashing light in the corner, I quickly placed some duct tape over it and the problem solved. Also, most blinds have a light that leaks through, so I used black curtains to take care of that problem.
Understand Wake Times
As we implemented the ABC’s of Sleep program I had to adjust our wake time window around naps and bedtime in order for Blakely to sleep continuously until 7 am. Depending on the day bedtime was either pushed a bit earlier or later depending on the last nap of the day. On Cara’s Instagram, she provides a lot of extra information to help your baby be a successful sleeper.
Here is the AVERAGE healthy wake windows based upon age that I used over the last few years with my daughter.
▪️Birth-12 weeks: 60-90 minutes
▪️3-4 Months: 75-120 minutes
▪️5-7/8 Months: 2 – 3 hours
▪️8-14 Months 3 – 4 hours
▪️14-24 Months- 5 – 6 hours
Your Baby Can Learn To Fall Asleep On Her Own
This is something I truly didn’t believe before I used the ABCs of Sleep program. I remember telling/crying to Cara saying ” she just won’t fall asleep unless I rock her and feed her, it won’t happen”. Cara kept encouraging and telling me, ” Whitney she can do this and you can do this too, stick to the program and give her some time”. Once I let go of the feeling that I had to pick her up to soothe her and
Beware of Early Crib Transition
We started the ABCs of Sleep when Blakely was almost a year old. Something that Cara talked about with me was the importance of not moving her from a crib to a bed too early. As they get older and have a few bad nights of sleep, it’s easy to think that a big bed would be the ultimate fix. But I had to remember once you have a good sleeper and their sleep is suddenly disrupted, there is often a DEEPER issue happening. Often our issue was an ear infection or her imagination was developing causing her to dream more.
Stay consistent
If there is one thing I learned from using a special specialist it’s staying consistent is vital. A consistent bedtime with routine helps your baby understand it’s time for bed. I feel that we were successful after using ABC’s of sleep program because we had a very consistent bedtime routine. Our routine wasn’t complicated it consisted of a quick bath, pj’s, and sound machine on and then 3 books before getting into her crib.
All of these tips from Cara really helped create healthy sleep habits from the beginning. And we all know that a kid who is getting healthy sleep creates a more pleasant and happy kid during awake times.
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