No one knows the importance of sleep more than sleep-deprived parents — every day, we’re out here juggling childcare, work, family, and, well, life. With all you have going on, two extra hours of sleep can feel like a lifesaver when you have a young baby.

In honor of Sleep Awareness Week from March 12 to 18, we’ve compiled a list of how Cradlewise helps families sleep better — because when the baby sleeps well, the whole family sleeps well. 

Here are the ten ways Cradlewise builds healthy sleep habits for your entire family:

1. Two hours of “me time” for parents

Cradlewise gives parents back an average of two hours of sleep per night! These two hours of “me time” per day add up to 90 more nights’ worth of sleep for Cradlewise parents each year. 

You can show up for your baby better if you’re well-rested. And a little me-time can improve your overall mental, physical, and emotional wellness. With those precious hours, you can do anything from reading a book to reconnecting with your partner.

2. Fewer wakeups per night

Every time your baby wakes up in the middle of the night, it disrupts the sleep cycle of the whole family. And as any experienced parent can tell you, newborns and young babies wake up frequently throughout the night — sometimes because of hunger, but just as often for other reasons such as developmental milestones, teething, or sleep regression.

Babies wake up in three phases: quiet, active, and crying. Any parent knows that it’s much more difficult to calm babies once they reach the escalation stage. Cradlewise’s built-in monitor senses the first signs of stirring in the “quiet” phase and soothes babies back to sleep before they reach the active cry stage.

That means your baby gets more prolonged, uninterrupted, and quality sleep, and so do you. A well-rested baby means they’ll be less likely to fuss during the day. 

3. 10 hours of sweet sleep each day

A baby’s brain doubles in size in the first year and grows to 90% of adult size — nearly full-grown — by age five. Sleep plays a massive part in your baby’s brain development in the first year of life. 

And Cradlewise babies log an average of 10 hours of sleep each day, which means you’re also setting them up for healthy sleep habits during the coming years.

Apart from its magical bounce, Cradlewise also comes with a set of sleep tools that help your little one sleep better. For example, our sound machine has a collection of white, pink, and brown noise tracks that you can customize to your baby’s preference by adding layers of different sounds like rain, heartbeat, and waves, among other things.

Our built-in room temperature monitor will allow you to quickly confirm your baby’s room temperature from anywhere, whether you’re watching Netflix down the hall or getting work done on a business trip.

4. The magic million

Cradlewise recently celebrated a significant milestone: 6 million hours of sleep logged in Cradlewise convertible smart cribs—the equivalent of around 685 years of Zzzs!

This means that Cradlewise babies have slept over 6 million hours in their Cradlewise convertible smart cribs! This is a strong testament to our mission of helping babies sleep better.

5. Teaches baby how to sleep

One of the best features of Cradlewise is that it teaches your baby how to sleep.

As your child grows, they’ll start demonstrating self-soothing cues like falling asleep on their own at night, moving their head back and forth, or soft crying with pauses or lulls as they are entering sleep. As your little one starts displaying these signs, you can adapt the ‘Sensitivity’ feature to determine how quickly and how often your Cradlewise responds. By gradually reducing the crib ‘Sensitivity,’ you are teaching your child to self-soothe.

Over time, your baby will learn to self-soothe without the need for motion at all. This method helps your little one build a healthy habit that stays with them long after graduating from Cradlewise. 

6. A minimalist approach to soothing

Cradlewise is responsive to each baby’s unique needs at the moment. When the baby first starts stirring, Cradlewise first starts bouncing at low intensity. If the wakeup progresses further, the intensity of the bounce increases. Once your baby transitions from active awake to light sleep, the bounce intensity reduces.

The crib stops bouncing completely when the baby falls asleep. It emulates a parent and bounces only when needed. The Smart Mode is designed to be responsive and intervene only when required.

7. Extra set of helping hands for parents 

Cradlewise has a gentle bounce motion, which soothes the baby back to sleep during the earliest wake-up signs. Inspired by the instinctual and calming way that a parent bounces their little one in their arms as they settle down to sleep, Cradlewise gives your baby a seamless transition from a parent’s loving arms to crib.

The crib would never rock your baby to sleep all night or do things you, as a parent, would never do. It only intervenes when absolutely necessary. If the motion doesn’t work to soothe the baby, then it stops bouncing.

All these characteristics of Cradlewise’s bounce help build healthy sleep habits in your baby and make their transition out of the crib easier when they’re older.

8. Teaches parents about baby’s sleep

Cradlewise is a self-learning crib that learns and adapts to your baby’s unique sleep patterns. The Cradlewise app teaches parents how to understand their baby’s sleep through data and other insights.

For example, you can track your baby’s sleep patterns and stay on top of changes in their sleep cycle. The app shows you your baby’s daily sleep logs, which tell you the number of hours they were awake and asleep in the crib, the total number of hours they slept, and the number of times the crib helped soothe the baby back to sleep. You’re the expert on your baby — and the Cradlewise app helps you learn the ins and outs of your baby’s sleep patterns.

Dr. Chitra Akileswaran MD, MBA, a board-certified OB-GYN, and Cradlewise’s medical advisor, says, “I love that you can get regular information about how your baby is doing and see the tools your little one needs to get better sleep. Using the crib as a facilitator, you learn what works and doesn’t. And the faster you learn what your child needs to sleep, the better it will be for everyone. These are not shortcuts but rather the next steps in how we parent.”

9. Responds to baby’s sleep based on their development

Babies grow a lot in the first year of their life. Their brain and body go through countless developments. And often, each milestone tends to disturb their sleeping schedule. 

Sleep regressions, teething, sickness, cold, and congestion—all these things impact your baby’s sleep.

Cradlewise is designed to adapt and respond to these sleep schedule changes. You can adjust how quickly and how often your Cradlewise bounces by adjusting the crib ‘Sensitivity,’ which controls the point at which the crib auto-soothes based on the baby’s activity level. For example, you choose a higher level of the crib’s ‘Sensitivity’ if your baby is going through a regression or is sick to give them some extra TLC during this time.

10. More sleep for the whole family

Cradlewise helps the whole family sleep more, which is our ultimate goal and mission. Your baby’s wellness is directly affected by your own wellness. Getting enough sleep and rest is crucial not just to your baby’s health, but to your mental and physical health as a parent. That’s why we build cribs that help build healthy, well-rested families.

More posts you might like:

• What is revenge bedtime procrastination and why is it so alluring to parents?
• Cradlewise packs major functionality into a compact mini crib.
• How you can plan your Cradlewise purchase in advance (and help our planet.)