The team at Smart Sleep Coach gave me a free 3-months-trial to test out the app with my 2-year-old, Zoey. Sleep hasn’t always been easy for me to get these past eight years as a Mom of 3 and business owner – so I was very eager to give it a try!
Our Sleep Situation as a Family of 5
It’s a rare morning that Shaun & I wake up without a child or two wedged between us in bed. There’s usually a tiny person’s feet or arm in my face, and I’m holding onto my corner of the blanket for dear life.
If you’ve got kids 8-years-old or under, you probably get it. I have three of them, and despite them all starting off in their own beds at bedtime, Zach & Evan creep into our room through the night. Usually I attempt to bring them back to their beds in a groggy daze and beg them to stay there ‘til there alarm clock light turns green.
There’s still hope for Zoey though, who is still in a crib and ‘moldable.’ She can’t escape in the night (yet) and so her sleep really depends on how her days go, and how she’s feeling.
Sleep for My 2-Year-Old
I honestly feel like I haven’t had great sleep since becoming a Mom, but am just used to running on slightly empty. Adrenaline?! On those nights where I do get at least 7 hours, I am more productive and feel like a whole functioning human – which is all it’s cracked out to be and a bag of chips! Shaun and I talk a lot about sharing the responsibility of who gets up with the kids in the night, or first thing in the morning, and do our best to take turns helping each other get more rest.
I didn’t do everything right with the first two when it comes to sleep, which is why I am hopeful to get a better routine in place with Zoey. When she was around 6 months old, we had a sleep consultant come out to the house and give us advice. It was a great experience, and I learned a lot about sleep, but it was expensive and I found that the impact didn’t last long before we were going through another regression or teething and I had no clue what to do again.
Zoey is two years old and takes 1 nap per day. She sleeps in her crib and usually makes it through the night, but sometimes wakes up SUPER early at the crack of dawn (Like 5am!) We also sometimes get off her routine especially on the weekends with the boys schedules, and she ends up falling asleep in the car seat or stroller while we are out and about. I get stressed when that happens because I know it means we are going to have an overtired Zoey and and even more tired mommy.
There’s nothing worse than late bedtime leading to an early wake up. It still amazes me how that always happens. Aren’t they so exhausted and just want to sleep in?!
Early wakeups for toddlers are the worst. My ideal morning is that Zoey wakes up around 6:30am, So we can have some peaceful moments together before the mad dash to get to school begins.
What I like about the App
The Smart Sleep Coach app starts with a quiz, which was great because I felt like it was already identifying some of the issues I have had with Zoey’s sleep. (Like waking really early!)
I also love how I could start using it right away, and the interface for inputting in her wake and sleep times is almost addictive! I actually had a lot of fun documenting her sleep pattern with detail.
It’s amazing that this technology now exists for new parents and I wish it was around when Zach was a baby. Would have saved me the back aches I got from bouncing on an exercise ball until he fell asleep!
There is also an amazing feature with tons of resources on sleep. I found myself scrolling through all of the articles on Zoey’s age group and learning a lot.
As I mentioned before, having tried a Sleep Consultant in the past, I know that they can be quite expensive. I love that the Smart Sleep Coach app is accessible to everyone and affordable!
What I don’t love about the App
Right now the app only goes up to your baby’s first two years of life. I really wish it would help me out with the older kids, too!
For example, If I could figure out how to help Evan with staying in his bed all night, that would be amazing. Smart Sleep Coach team, are you reading this!?
The Results of using the App
After using the Smart Sleep Coach app with Zoey, I am already noticing stronger habits around her sleep routine. I can tell when she is going to be cranky, because she’s late on a nap window, or if we are getting off our bedtime schedule. It’s really helpful to have the tracker empowering my decision making and making her days more predictable and smooth for the both of us.
One of my biggest ‘aha’ moments was realizing that she was going to bed too late. The app was recommending bedtime about 30 minutes before I would have usually started. It took me a day or two to adjust, but I made an effort to align to the bedtime window, and I will say – there have been not too-early wake-ups since then! Hallelujah!
I highly recommend the Smart Sleep Coach app for any new parents, or parents of young kids to get sleep on track from the start. It’s only available on Apple right now, so stay tuned if you have an Android.
Here’s a link to download from the App store and start your 7-day free trial. Let me know if you try it out!
