Taking Cara Babies: Review + Q&A
I have been sharing on Instagram stories all about our sleep training journey with Davis using the Taking Cara Babies courses and needless to say, there are so many other moms looking for help in this area along with more information on TCB!
For those that are not familiar with Taking Cara Babies, it is an educational online tool to give you all that you need to know to get your baby sleeping through the night. Cara has three courses: Newborn, 3-4 months and 5-24 months.
In this post, I will be giving my review on the three courses (focusing on the 5-24 month course) and will be answering the questions you’ve sent me on Instagram!
Please note that ALL babies are different and what works for one may not work for the other. So far, this has been working extremely well for Davis, but I know it may not start clicking a quickly for other babies. You MUST be committed in order for this to work. I have not seen one negative response on TCB and have had hundreds and hundreds of messages from moms saying although it is so hared, the pay off is 100% worth it!
I will be providing general answers to the questions you’ve asked me on Instagram, but please know that the point of this post is to give you more information on TCB to help you decide if you’d like to purchase her course(s). The information I am sharing on here is very basic compared to what Cara shares in her courses. I highly recommend purchasing them if you want to sleep train your baby (specifically the 5-24 month course).
IMPORTANT: If you have any questions about sleep training in terms of if your baby is ready or anything else, PLEASE ASK YOUR PEDIATRICIAN FIRST.
Info & Pricing on Each Course
Newborn: Will I Ever Sleep Again? – $74
If you are a new mom, I recommend taking this course. It’s been a few months since I did this one, but the big takeaway is that she gives many strategies to help get your baby to sleep so that you can get some sleep to.
What I really love about Cara’s courses is that they are all researched based (she use to be a nurse and her husband is a pediatrician) and she highly values how important it is for mom to get sleep too.
At times with this course I got a little overwhelmed with all the acronyms. You’ll learn that Cara LOVES acronyms. It was hard for me to remember all of them in the middle of the night with a screaming baby. But overall, there is a TON of useful information for new moms.
3-4 Months: Navigating Months 3 & 4 – $34
The general feedback from most regarding this class is that it is pretty similar to the newborn class in terms of strategies to help baby sleep.
This “course” is actually just an ebook with information and strategies for this stage. Is it still helpful? Yes. Is it necessary? Not in my opinion.
5-24 Months: The ABCs of Sleep – Ranges from $179-$319 depending on if you want one on one sessions
In my opinion, this is a MUST. I do think it’s helpful to do the newborn course first, but if you are already past that age, you can 100% still start this one!
The main concerns I am seeing according to your messages to me on Instagram are about the crying and the price of this course. Ask yourself these questions: Are you helping your baby by not giving them the tools they need to sleep well because YOU do not want to see them cry? And can you put a price on both you AND your baby getting a full night of sleep?
I chose to get the basic package for this course, which does not include a one on one session. Davis has been a pretty easy baby overall and I was confident that once I knew what to do, he would respond well. So far that has been true!
SHOP MY SLEEPING MUST HAVES:
Q&A
Do you have to start this course right at 5 months or can you start it later?
No! In her course she works with two babies to show as examples. One is about 5 months and one older (maybe about a year or so).
Can you start this course earlier than 5 months?
I would talk to your pediatrician about this first to make sure it’s okay to let them go that long through the night (11-12 hours) without a feed.
Do they incorporate/recommend dream feeds?
She provides specific plans to wean your baby off of dream feeds. It took Davis 4 nights to no longer need dream feeds.
Is the course friendly for exclusively breastfeeding moms?
Yes! I am exclusively breastfeeding and it works perfectly. Now that he is sleeping for about 12 hours, I will just pump before I go to bed so that I do not get uncomfortable in the night.
Do you need to feed a certain amount of ounces during the day?
As long as you have a good milk supply and are feeding every 2.5 to 3 hours during the day, your baby should be fine! She brings up that you do not need put so much pressure on a big feeding before bed. Cara says that it’s more about feeding them enough throughout the day rather than loading them up before bed!
*If you are concerned about your milk supply, reach out to your pediatrician or a lactation consultant!
Do you put him down drowsy?
When I put him down for naps, he is not drowsy. When I put him down for bedtime, he is typically a little drowsy because I feed him right before bed. In the course, Cara will go over all of this thoroughly.
Do they just cry it out?
No! This seems to be the biggest fear from moms. Yes, they are going to cry more than normal the first few nights or so and yes, it is hard to watch at first as a mom/parent. Cara brings up to think about your why. Why are you taking this course? Why do you want your baby to sleep through the night? Thinking about your why helps focus your heart and mind when your baby is crying.
How long does it let them cry it out?
She will give you exact strategies to “pop in” to check on your baby while they are crying to let them know you are still there and that you love them. What I like about Cara’s courses is that they are very research based and she clarifies about what has been found when babies cry in her research. The “pop ins” are really helpful for baby and for you during those first few nights when your baby may cry more than normal.
What helped get me through the crying is to remember why we are doing this. It also helped me to focus on the fact that this isn’t just better for me, but it is better for my baby! If your baby is currently waking up in the night, that is not giving them proper sleep and sleep is a huge part of healthy brain development, which is crucial for babies.
I was so worried about the crying, but once I focused on why we were doing this, it really helped.
Are you nap training as well?
Yes! She talks a lot about naps and will give you all of the information you need to know for naps. I love that Cara looks at sleep training as a whole picture. It’s not just about the nights.
She says to focus on nights first and then focus on napping so that you are not too overwhelmed trying to figure out both all at once. Davis has been napping significantly better now that he is sleeping through the night and now that he knows how to go to sleep on his own. I used to have to rock him completely to sleep for a nap and when he would stir around during a nap, he wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep because he literally didn’t know how.
How do you power through the crying?
Think about your why!!!!
What techniques did you use to get him back to sleep when he was waking up in the night?
She will go over this in full detail, but basically you will repeat doing the “pop ins” until they put themselves back to sleep.
Before sleep training, the only way to get him to go back to sleep was to nurse him. This was a bad habit I created, but at the time it was the only thing working and as you know, us moms are just trying to survive!
Do you still follow the moms on call schedule?
I used the information I had from Moms on Call and TCB and made our own schedule. It leans more towards TCB. I love the Moms on Call book to keep on hand because it has a lot of good basic information, but TCB is much more in depth and more focused on sleeping.
Does the program provide a schedule?
Yes! She provides about 4 sample schedules that you can use. I just tweaked one of these slightly to best fit our lifestyle.
What time does Davis go to bed and wake up?
He has been going to bed right at 7:00 pm and wakes up any time between 6:15-6:45 am.
For babies in daycare, is the 14-day program just for nights?
Nope! She gives you plenty of information for napping and what a day to day schedule should look like. If your baby is in Daycare and you do not have control over their schedule during the day, you can definitely still do the 14 day program for sleeping through the night!
I heard she recommends unsafe sleep habits (using a dock a tot & swaddling after 8 weeks)
I think both of these are things to go over with your pediatrician. We never had Davis sleeping in the Dock a Tot because our pediatrician and nurses in the NICU said it wasn’t safe and it would create another crutch to have to remove.
For swaddling, I have always heard to stop once they can roll over and that is what Cara says too. She gives suggestions for sleep sacks and transitional pieces to help.
Are you putting him in his crib with just the sound machine? Is he allowed to have anything to comfort him?
Davis only sleeps in his crib now. Cara will go over sleep environments in full detail. I make sure it is as dark as possible, sound machine on and I also have his humidifier going. I also use the owlet sock monitor on him.
SHOP MY SLEEPING MUST HAVES:
To purchase your Taking Cara Babies course or learn more, CLICK HERE!