Little Ones Sleep Program- How it helped us! |

Little Ones Baby Sleep Program- How it helped us!

This blog post is sponsored by Little Ones Baby Sleep. The opinions expressed are my own

When my first son Gabriel was born, we had a really hard time getting him to sleep at night on the first month. He would take long naps during the day and spend most of the nights awake. And between little experience, diaper changes and feeding, I would get close to no sleep. Thankfully that only lasted a few weeks of the newborn phase and little by little he started to adjust to a consistent schedule and sleep patterns. I can safely say that he sort of set his own schedule and slept through most of the nights. Since then he has always been a good sleeper. He is almost 3 years old now, sleeps through the night and takes 2 hours nap during the day.

Then why we needed a sleep program?

When my second baby boy was born, I knew I wanted him to have better sleep habits from the start. For the first 3-4 months he didn’t need much sleep training and kind of sorted his own schedule and slept pretty well most nights. However, when he hit that 4 month regression phase, he started to wake up all night long. When the sleep regression began, we noticed him becoming tired and fussy during the days and would only catnap. At night he was always so tired that nothing would comfort him. I would put him to sleep and 20 minutes later he would be crying. There was seriously countless visits to his room and zero sleep for this tired mama. Months were passing by and this pattern was not changing.

Having to care for a baby and a toddler with little to no sleep is extremelly exhausting plus knowing your little one is not getting the sleep he deserves is heartbreaking so I decided it was time to start a sleep program. I wanted something that would fit our lifestyle and get my baby boy into a routine whitout using the “cry it out” method.

So, about a month ago we began using the Little Ones Sleep Program.

About the program

Little Ones help families sleep with their comprehensive online Sleep Programs. They believe better sleep doesn’t have to be difficult to achieve and with their holistic approach and gentle methods, easier settling and greatly improved sleep is attainable for everyone. They offer easy-to-follow schedules based on what your day looks like & the ability to choose which method works for you & your family which is great to have in mind when you have more kids in the house.

The program is broken down by age groups: Newborn sleep 0-3 months, baby sleep 3-12 months, older baby sleep 6-24 months (which is the one we are using), toddler sleep 12-36 months. Its all available on an app for easy access on your phone or tablet.

The program provides a schedule sample that you can adapt it to your lifestyle since all babies are different and awake and sleep times vary. Starting any program can be difficult and allows for work between both baby and parent. The program does state that it takes at least 1-2 weeks before you can start to see improvement.

Our experience with the program so far

First of all, remember all babies are different!

This program takes time between you and your baby so do not expect it to work overnight and also keep in mind that your baby is constantly growing which changes his sleeping and feeding schedules.

It was a little bit easier for us since my oldest boy is not in school yet and its winter time so we would not leave the house much. Its all about consistency and schedule.

My main focus was getting my boy to have decent naps during the day so it could lead to a more settled night so we could both get some well deserved sleep. We went from at least every hour wake-up at night time to only 1 or 2.

I started by following all the advices the app gives about creating the best sleeping environment and followed on creating a schedule that would work for my family. The first days we had a few ups and downs, but with time of implementing the program I started to see some improvement on his nap time. It also worked for me to have both kids taking a longer nap at the same time so I could have some time for myself. Of course that as with any sleep program sometimes things do not go quite as planned. Thats when the troubleshooting section comes in handy. They give tips and explanations so you can try to improve and combate some unexpected situations.

I started by following their detailed schedule for babies 10-12 months and eventually created one that fit into our routine and this is what it looks like right now:

Raphael’s Schedule

6:30 Wake (sometimes he stays alone for a few minutes, some days he cries so I pick him up imediately)

7:00 Change diaper + milk

7:30 Solid Breakfast

9:30- 10 Morning nap

10:30 Morning snacks

12:00 Lunch

12:30 Quick bath/ wind down

1:00 Afternoon nap

3:00 Wake / milk feed

3:30 Snack

5:30 Dinner Solids

6:30 Bath/ wind down

7:15 Milk feed

7:30 – 7:45 Wind down/ bedtime

Now that we have a set schedule that is working with our lifestyle I can always adapt and change around a little bit if we have an event or are out of the house for the day.

The settling section of the app is very helpful and it gives you methods of self settling accordling with your little one age. You can choose the method you think best sutis your baby temperament. So if you ask me why I give my baby two baths a day, that is because it calms my baby down and he associates it with time to wind down and settle to sleep.

I’m thankful for this program, and how much it has helped us so far. I am finally getting some much- needed sleep and so is my baby. I wish I would’ve had this program sooner when he hit the 4 month regression but I am happy its working for us now. I highly recommend it to any parents struggling with their child’s sleep routine.