SleepBuddy Complete Sleep System {Review & Giveaway}

When I was working full time my little guy had to be up most morning before the sun was even shining. I made the switch from the corporate world to a stay at home Mom right after his first birthday. I had hoped over time that his sleep schedule would adjust since Mommy was now home and there was no reason to get up so early. Wishful thinking was simply not enough!

Fast forward three years and my son is still on that same schedule. He typically goes down for the night between 8 & 9 and is up every morning (no matter the circumstance) at 6:30 am, weekends included. When baby boy number two came along it was rough between the night feedings and being up before the sun is shining each morning to get breakfast ready for my older son. Needless to say Mommy was pretty grumpy for those first few months. It's been real fun! ;)

I was envious of my friends who said their kids slept from 8 or 9 at night till 8 or 9 in the morning. I wanted that and by my sons behavior I think he needed more sleep. Around age 3 and 1/2 he refused to take afternoon naps any longer. There goes my lunch break! All kidding aside, I did some research and found that the National Sleep Foundation suggests children 3-5 years of age need a total of 11-13 hours of sleep daily. It was time for a change! Enter SleepBuddy:

SleepBuddy is a complete sleep system for both naps and bedtime. The SleepBuddy System includes a soft blue light, children's book, rewards chart and parents guide. The SleepBuddy arrived in this adorably wrapped package just for my little guy to open. He was very excited to get a present out of the blue.

We then read the included children's book about the SleepBuddy at bedtime that evening. The children's book is age appropriate and helped my son understand the concept of his new bedtime surprise. While I read the story with my son, my husband took the minute or two necessary to set the SleepBuddy timer.

We set up the SleepBuddy to come on (or light up) at 8pm to let my son know it was time for bed. It offers a dim blue light while he's sleeping and we selected to have it turn off at 7:30am which we felt was an appropriate wake up time. The SleepBuddy offers the added bonus of a nightlight which always puts kids at ease.

After that we went over the reward chart and agreed on a weekly reward for each of the four weeks. I love that SleepBuddy has a designated section on their website that suggests rewards for each age group. The reward chart is colorful and inviting and has animals for the days of the week. It includes smiley-face stickers to apply when your child has a success night of sleep.

My one and only con would be using the reward chart as a teaching tool and I'd love to see them place the days of the week on the reward chart in place of, or in addition to the animals. I appreciate the colors featured on the chart to use as a teaching tool, but would love the days of the week too.

We started the SleepBuddy in the middle of the week so his first week doesn't look so great, but as you can see his second week and every week since then has been successful. He's sleeping or staying in his room until SleepBuddy tells him it's time to get up at least 6 days out of the week. I am so proud of my little man!

After almost 4 complete weeks my son has received 3 weeks of rewards. SleepBuddy works! My son had a routine of using a fish lamp as a nightlight and once he fell asleep we would shut it off. What's different about the SleepBuddy is that it goes on and off on a timer which teaches your child the concept of time.

SleepBuddy is beneficial for children transitioning from a crib to a toddler bed, having difficulty sleeping through the night or in my case a bedtime routine that needed a bit of tweaking. SleepBuddy is available for purchase for just $34.95 and includes everything mentioned above.

~*~Giveaway~*~

~*~A SleepBuddy Complete Sleep System!~*~

a Rafflecopter giveaway Disclosure: All opinions are my own. I received a SleepBuddy for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received. A big Thank You to SleepBuddy for the review & giveaway item.