Taking Cara Babies Review: The Newborn Sleep Class (2022) (2024)

You’re exhausted. You’ve heard other moms talk about their newborns getting 6,7, even 8 hours of sleep and yet here you are sipping your second cup of coffee, wishing you could get just 3.

Or maybe you’re expecting your first baby and know absolutely nothing about newborn sleep. You only know that the nightmare scenario above isn’t something you can deal with.

Eventually, you stumbled across the Taking Cara Babies Newborn Sleep Class. The class says it can give you the tools you need to lay the foundation for great sleep.

But does it? Is Taking Cara Babies worth it or is it just as disappointing as the other sleep tips you’ve tried?

That was exactly the question I was asking myself when I signed up for the course. I learned about Cara’s newborn sleep class through a Babywise Facebook group. A mom asked about the Taking Cara Babies sleep programs and 21 other women commented, raving about their success.

I knew I had to try it myself. With a 10 week old baby, I was excited to try the course for myself and my readers.

As I’m writing this review, my baby is 12 weeks old and has finally slept her first 9pm-6am stretch. I’m so excited to share my personal experiences with the course, the topics covered, pros and cons, and other important insights you’ll need to know before signing up for the Taking Cara Babies Newborn Sleep Class.

My ultimate goal is to help you decide if this course can actually help you and your baby get the sleep you both are craving.

POSTS RELATED TO THE TAKING CARA BABIES NEWBORN SLEEP CLASS REVIEW:

• How to Have Amazing Sleep with a Breastfed Baby
• The SG Supernanny Baby Sleep Class Review

Pros and Cons: Taking Cara Babies Newborn Sleep Class Review At-a-Glance

This post may contain affiliate links. I purchased and completed the Taking Cara Babies Newborn Sleep Class on my own, however, I asked to join their affiliate program afterwards. If you make a purchase from one of these links I may make a small commission at no charge to you.

What is the Taking Cara Babies Newborn Class?

The Taking Cara Babies Newborn Class focuses on building a foundation of great sleep for babies under 12 weeks. With this class, you’ll learn how to calm your fussy baby and implement a flexible routine that promotes wonderful naps and nighttime sleep.

The course was created by Cara Dumaplin, neonatal nurse and certified sleep consultant. She’s very popular on Instagram (her page has over 1.5 million followers) and I think everyone has fallen inlove with her positive, down-to-earth personality.

Now, let me tell you what the class ISN’T: It’s not sleep training.

The goal of the course is to lay the foundation for healthy sleep and meet your baby where he or she is at developmentally. With her help, you’ll establish a routine that works for your family and positive sleep techniques that eventually translates into great sleep.

For example, when I began the course, my baby was capped out at 6 hours of nighttime sleep. Immediately after taking the course, I added another hour between night feedings by simply tweaking a few things with her routine and using the techniques Cara recommends.

My end result has been more sleep, but that’s simply a by-product of laying a great foundation.

Class Structure

The bulk of the course is video content, supplemented with a few printables and written lessons. The video content is a combination of lecture-style lessons and step-by-step tutorials featuring real babies and real life situations.

The course is divided into four sections:

• Cara’s 7 Tips: The meat and methodology of Cara’s system
• See It In Action: My favorite part! See her work with actual clients
• Get More Help: Common troubleshooting areas.
• Resources From Instagram
• Frequently Asked Questions

The production and quality of the videos is completely professional. You can tell that the Taking Cara Babies put a lot of effort into creating a valuable resource for their students. Honestly, for less than $80, I think the course is a steal.

My one gripe is the organization of the content. I thought the order of the topics was very logical and easy to follow, but I really wish there were some reference points or markers that allowed me to go back and look at specific sections more easily.

For example, let’s say you want to watch Cara’s tutorial of the S.I.T.B.A.C.K. again. You would need to fast forward through the video, trying to remember when she talked about it. Obviously this is a small concern, so just remember to take notes or jot down timing.

Content

If you feel like you’re drowning in midnight feedings, I think there’s a good chance Will I Ever Sleep Again will help you figure out why. I can’t think of a single topic that Cara didn’t cover.

Despite the massive amount of information in the course, you can get through the main part (“Cara’s 7 Tips”) in an hour. This is so important because the main part of the course is devoted to teaching you her program and getting started.

The rest is really devoted to hiccups, questions, and real-life examples that you’ll need while you’re implementing the program.

A few of the topics included are:

• Newborn sleep 101
• Implementing a daytime routine
• Swaddling
• Sound machines
• Getting your baby to stop crying with C.R.I.E.S.
• Extending sleep with the S.I.T.B.A.C.K. method
• Laying the foundation for independent sleep in a crib or bassinet
• Dealing with unpredictable (read: crappy) naps
• Creating the best sleep environment

Who is This Class For?

Babies 12 weeks and younger.

You can implement many of these strategies right from birth, but the official time to start is at 4 weeks.

I took this class when my daughter was 10 weeks, which is definitely on the upper end of the age recommendation. Honestly, I would have even taken it at 12 weeks. The strategies I learned improved my daughter’s sleep the day after I finished the course.

What if your baby is 11-12 weeks?

You can still take the course when your baby is 11-12 weeks, but I’d recommend buying the 5 month bundle so you’ll have the Navigating 3-4 Months Guide. It deals with a lot of tricky issues that pop up during that time (like the 4 month sleep regression).

You’re also switching gears a bit at that age. You’re extending the S.I.T.B.A.C.K. method and really nailing down naps and nighttime sleep.

(Note: I purchased the 5 Month Bundle which includes the Newborn Class and the Navigating 3-4 Months Guide. When you purchase the bundle, you’re saving 15% and gain access for 6 months.)

When Should I Take Cara’s Newborn Class?

I’d recommend taking it while you’re pregnant, if possible. I feel like it’ll save you a lot of frustration and exhaustion after your sweet baby comes. You’ll hit the ground running, so to speak.

If you’re in the trenches, don’t worry. I was in the same boat! The lessons are bite-sized, so I was able to watch them during feeding times and right after the kiddos went to bed for the night.

Who Is This Class Not For?

Okay, just to be real, it is not for everyone.

Cara is very positive, gentle, and laid-back. If you’re a Type-A person that craves absolute structure, I’m not sure this is the class for you. While she does teach about fussing vs. crying, it’s clear that Cara does not support letting your baby cry-it-out at this stage of the game.

With that said, I am a type-A, pro-schedule person and I loved the course. I love routines and predictability. This course is much more laid back than I am used to but because my daughter requires much more grace than I am used to, it was perfect for me. Just keep your baby’s personality and needs in mind too!

Here are a few more reasons why Will I Sleep Again may not be for you:

• You are hardcore against routines
• You want to bed-share
• You’re against all potential sleep props (pacifiers, swaddling, sound machines, rocking)
• You are not able to finish an online course. (Be real with yourself. If you can’t commit to completing at least the Cara’s 7 Tips section, don’t bother purchasing it.)
• You want to implement CIO before 5 months

Highlights from Taking Cara Babies Will I Ever Sleep Again

Cara’s 7 Tips

The main meat of the course, “Cara’s 7 Tips,” is quick and easy to get through.

Within an hour you’ll have enough information to start gently sleep training your newborn (although she reiterates multiple times that this class is not sleep training).

You might have heard most of her tips from her blog or Instagram page, but she presents them in a way that helps you understand and apply the techniques.

Most of her tips also include footage of helping real, fussy babies. This is gold! It really helped things click for me.

See It In Action

Speaking of real, fussy babies…the See It In Action section of the course is probably my favorite.

This section includes videos (originally Instagram Stories) of real sleepovers with Cara and some babies. You will appreciate these videos SO much, because here you get to watch Cara use her methods on babies for real naps and night wakings.

I think I have watched the S.I.T.B.A.C.K. sections of Raelynn (5 weeks) and Bo’s (7 weeks) sleepover videos like 5 times. For me, this helps the information click.

Learning about her methods is great, but actually seeing it in action helped me apply it with my own baby.

Naps

Cara focuses heavily on nighttime sleep (because let’s face it, that’s why you’re considering this course). However, I think her tips and philosophy on naps is another one of my favorite aspects of Will I Ever Sleep Again.

There are actually three sections of the course solely devoted to this topic. Here are just a few topics she covers on naps:

• Reasonable expectations for the duration of naps
• What to do if your baby’s naps are short
• How to get your baby back to sleep for a nap (or BACK to sleep if his nap is short)
• How to NOT beat yourself up should you struggle with naps.
• Doing errands and living life without ruining your child’s nap routine

As a work at home mom with a toddler, having a consistent sleep routine is EXTREMELY important to me.

At first, I found Cara’s lenient policy on naps disappointing (what do you mean, I shouldn’t worry if my baby’s naps suck? I NEED them), but after a while I realized how desperately I needed this grace.

Now I don’t beat myself up or stress out every time my baby starts waking from her nap. I attempt to deal with it, and if it’s not happening, I put her in the swing and move on with my day (which inevitably gives me more time for work anyway).

Ironically, now that I’ve been following the tips of the course for about a week, my daughter’s naps have become excellent.

S.I.T.B.A.C.K. Method

The newborn sleep class will help you gently lengthen the time between feeds (as developmentally appropriate). To do this without crying, you will use the S.I.T.B.A.C.K. method.

I really don’t want to give away the specific steps (I feel that this would kind of be a disservice to Cara), so let me describe it as best as I can.

Cara’s S.I.T.B.A.C.K. method is the heart of the course. Prior to taking the class, I had never heard of it and after learning the steps, I have been able to extend the time between my daughter’s nighttime feeds pretty consistently.

The steps are very easy (they need to be if you’re doing this at 4am) and, inevitably, it can help extend your baby’s nighttime sleep.

It also answers the question of, “Okay, should I feed my baby now or should I try to get her back to sleep?” And finally, it’ll help you discern whether your baby is actually just fussing in her sleep or if she’s genuinely crying.

The S.I.T.B.A.C.K. method is not magic though. I want to give you absolute realistic expectations about this: it will not calm your baby back into sleep 100% of the time. However, it can gently train your baby’s stomach to go just a little longer between feeds without resorting to cry it out.

For my daughter, it’s held off a feeding about 50% of the time (the longest time she slept for an hour extra)

My Personal Experience with this Class

A brief history about me… I’ve always been a fanatic about infant sleep. Thanks to On Becoming Babywise and Secrets of a Baby Whisperer, my first daughter slept through the night consistently by 8 weeks. I’ve blogged about infant sleep for 2 years, have taken 2 sleep training classes, and read a ton on the subject.

Then entered my second daughter. She is by no definition a “good” sleeper. She started out life only wanting to sleep in my arms and now, at 11 weeks, we are finally sleeping 8 hours.

Before I bought the Taking Cara Babies Newborn Sleep Class, my daughter slept 5-6 hours at night and between 45 minutes-2 hours for naps. I reread Babywise, which helped, but naps were still the biggest struggle.

I genuinely thought she wasn’t capable of more sleep because I was doing all the things.

Since taking this class, my daughter is able to sleep 2 hours for almost every nap, including our witching hour. This week, she slept through her first 9pm-6am stretch.

I account this success entirely to this class.

Our Improved Naps

Cara helped me realize that sometimes when my daughter is crying, she’s actually asleep. That alone has eliminated some of our wakings.

Cara’s unique naps tips (which I have watched at least three times) worked great for my daughter. Tweaking our sound machine, moving to a different space, lengthening waketime, all of these elements were presented in other sleep books, but until Cara actually showed them in the class, it hadn’t clicked for me.

Also, the S.I.T.B.A.C.K. method has been great for naps and nighttime sleep.

This class has also helped me have grace for my baby and myself. Knowing that my baby’s spotty naps are normal has helped me handle them in a more relaxed way. I no longer beat myself up if she doesn’t sleep through a nap. I’ve allowed myself to rock her to sleep or go out even if I know it’ll interfere with her schedule.

Nighttime Sleep

We have extended nighttime sleep as well, though consistently for only about an hour. Most of the time, she wakes up around 5am, and I’m working on pushing back that feed to 6:00. That’s okay. I’m experimenting with the dream feed and a few things that I think may be interrupting her sleep.

We are progressing toward that nice 12 hour mark!

Is the Taking Cara Babies Newborn Sleep Class Worth It?

For us, definitely. I did not expect to learn so much from an $80 course. Honestly, I wish I had bought the class for my first daughter. I think it would’ve saved me a lot of mom guilt.

You might be asking yourself, “But can’t I just read a sleep training book and get the same info?”

Well, yes. Cara seems to follow many of the same concepts of the main sleep training experts. And, like I said, my baby was sleeping 6 hours before I took this course because I was already applying these concepts. But, it also took me almost 2 weeks to reread these book.

The Taking Cara Babies Newborn Class saves time, grief, and gives you a step-by-step program when your brain is in survival mode. I think moms will also appreciate how the class makes sleep training techniques much more doable in the real world.

If you’re struggling with the sleepy newborn phase, definitely check it out.If you do decide to buy it, I would opt for the First 5 Months Bundle. It’s the best bang for your buck because it gives you a 15% discount on the Newborn Sleep Class and Navigating 3 & 4 Months ebook, plus an extra 2 months to get through the course.

Okay, I think that concludes my Taking Cara Babies Newborn Sleep Class review. If you’d like to purchase either option, just click here or the button below to go to Taking Cara Babies.

The newborn phase can be so exhausting. You desperately want to enjoy these short days with your precious baby but you’re so tired it’s almost impossible to. I sincerely hope that this class improve your baby’s sleep so you can get the rest you deserve.

Have questions about something not covered in this Taking Cara Babies Newborn Sleep Class review? Let me know below! I’m happy to help!

POSTS RELATED TO THE TAKING CARA BABIES NEWBORN SLEEP CLASS REVIEW:

• How to Have Amazing Sleep with a Breastfed Baby
• 6 Tips to Get Your Newborn Out of Your Arms and Into the Crib
• The SG Supernanny Baby Sleep Class Review

Featured Image Credit: Lala Lensart Photography