One of the most challenging aspects of being a new parent has been the lack of sleep. It seems like some parents "luck out" with sleepy babies and others are "blessed" with struggling sleepers. 

We were the "blessed" parents. Our son's sleep had been a struggle starting when he was three months old. In terms of night sleep, Johnny would need to be rocked and bounced to sleep taking anywhere from 15-30 minutes to fall asleep. We would then have to wait 20 minutes to transfer him to the crib or bassinet. Sometimes, he would wake instantly upon transfer, and we would have to begin the process all over again. Other times, he would "survive" the transfer, but he would have continuous wake ups throughout the night. In terms of daytime naps, Johnny could never sleep on his own.  He always needed to be rocked to sleep and held for the entirety of nap or else he would wake up instantly. By the time Johnny was five months old, nighttime became unsustainable when he began to only stay asleep in our arms. My husband and I began taking shifts at night so that we could get some semblance of sleep. At this point, we knew we couldn't continue this way. It wasn't healthy for us or for him. 

Out of frustration and desperation one sleepless night as I held Johnny, I began Googling sleep training methods. I soon stumbled across one of Batelle's ads. Once I read about their promises, I read mom blogs and reviews to see if it was too good to be true. Ultimately, the positive reviews & blogs (and our desperation) led us to "bite the bullet" and pay for the Batelle Sleep School. 

The purpose of this post is to share my family's experience and honest review of Batelle. Ultimately, I recommend this program to most parents, but there are some pros and cons that you may want to weigh before diving in. If you are already certain that you want to try the money-back guarantee program, use the referral link below & my name to receive $250 off. 

Batelle Babies & Batelle Sleep School 

Batelle has two programs depending on the age of your baby. If your baby is less than 6 months old, you are placed in Batelle Babies. If your baby is 6 months or older, you are placed in Batelle Sleep School. Once you complete Batelle Babies, you are transferred to Batelle School (both are included in the cost).

Since our son was slightly under 6 months old when we began the program, we did both Batelle Babies & Batelle Sleep School. Batelle School has 10 steps that lead your baby to becoming an independent sleeper (the goal is to accomplish one step per night; however, you can go at your own pace if needed). Batelle Babies essentially focuses on the first five or six steps of Sleep School (without actually naming them "steps"). 

The quick summary of both Batelle Babies and Batelle Sleep School is that both aim to wean babies from bad sleep associations (like feeding to sleep, rocking to sleep etc.) and adding sustainable sleep associations (like talking/singing over the monitor). In adding these positive sleep associations, the goal is to help your baby stay asleep in his or her own sleep space for the duration of the night. Essentially, the gradual "steps" of the program make it less stressful for baby to cope and theoretically makes your baby feel supported in the change towards self-soothing (rather than needing you for comfort). 

Essentially, the cost covers the educational program itself, 24/7 support, and a "welcome kit" with products. 

The Program

The content of the 10-step program is located in the Batelle app, which you receive access to once you pay the fee. The app contains videos and articles that explain each step of the process. Each day, parents are supposed to watch the content for that day so that they know what techniques to implement for that same night. The next morning, parents complete a survey which indicates how the previous night went. If you achieve the goals for the "step," then you are moved forward to the next step. If the goals are not achieved, you stay on the "step" until you achieve it. 

24/7 Support - Live Zoom Calls, Chat Feature, Ring Camera Support 

Each day, you can join live group zoom calls to ask questions about the step for the day, receive clarification, or troubleshoot issues you are having. You can also use the chat feature (also located in the app) to text questions 24/7. If you are having trouble at night, you can ask Batelle to hop on the Ring Camera that they provide you. They can watch what is happening and provide live advice for you. 

Welcome Kit

The welcome kit includes a sound machine, Ring camera, and a Hug sleep sack (for older children). 

Ongoing Support

One of the most enticing features of the program is that Batelle promises to provide support up until your child is six years old. I will say that the only downside to this is that they no longer provide 24/7 support after you "graduate" from Sleep School (after the two weeks). Instead, they typically respond Monday-Friday and not right away (usually within 24 hours though). There are some questions that my husband and I have had that are more time-sensitive, but we are not answered immediately because we are "alumni." In an ideal world, we would have liked more of the immediate responses to continue for at least a month or two as the "kinks" are worked out. We understand, though, that running a business like that would probably add a lot more labor costs for Batelle.*

*A few days after writing this post, we decided to ask Batelle if we could rejoin Sleep School since we were having issues with night wake ups and a longer than 5-minute bedtime. They immediately helped us by giving us back 24/7 access to chat, zoom meetings, and Ring camera support, which has been incredibly helpful. They indicated that they would check again after four days to see if we had reached our goals. 

We debated whether or not to wait a couple of weeks to do Batelle Sleep School instead of starting in Batelle Babies, but we are actually glad that we didn't wait. Our son had a very strong physical contact sleep association, so I believe that the time spent really focusing on the Batelle strategies and techniques for self-soothing created more of a smooth process for our baby. It gave us more time to practice the techniques that we used in Sleep School. While it meant that it took us 4 weeks instead of 2, I think it ultimately helped us more. I wish we had taken the Batelle Babies course earlier on (i.e. when Johnny was a newborn) because I think it would have prevented a lot of bad habits from forming.

Therefore, I would highly suggest beginning the program as early as possible to help prevent future sleep issues, especially if your baby is already starting to form bad habits like needing to be nursed to sleep or rocked/bounced to sleep. I believe Batelle Babies did a wonderful job helping parents to understand those negative sleep habits and work on breaking them. Even though this was also taught in Sleep School, it seemed a bit more "rushed" in Sleep School.

Batelle Babies Program Promises

• 5 minute bedtime - Yes & no. We had (and still have) a few nights that baby falls asleep in 5 minutes. Most nights, it has taken 10 minutes. To me, this part of the Batelle Promise wasn't the most important. As long as baby is coping well, I don't really care too much if it takes 5 or 20 minutes for him to fall asleep, especially if I don't have to physically engage with him to fall asleep anymore. Batelle promises on their website that "If we haven’t been able to achieve these milestones, we’ll give you the option to receive a full refund or extend the coaching and support until your child is reaching these goals." 

• Baby will sleep in sleep space all night - Yes. This one is true and has remained true for us. After completing the program, we haven't had any issues with having to bring baby to our bed or to pick him up at night (with the exception of when he was teething; we had to pick him up to calm him). 

• No cry-it-out methods are used. - Yes. I never felt as though a cry-it-out method was being used. Throughout the entire process, we responded to baby's cries (just with varying techniques). 

Batelle Sleep School Promises

• Baby Sleeps Through the Night – Yes & no. To me, this was the most important promise made. With this program, we have had the fewest amount of wake-ups than we have ever had. We used to have anywhere from 2-5 wake-ups per night. Now, we average one wake up at least every other night (or every night if the baby is teething). Typically the wake up doesn't last longer than 10 minutes, but the wake up has gone to 30-40 minutes at times. Typically, we can use our voice over the monitor to get baby back to sleep. However, we sometimes need to go in and do a check-in (hug and a kiss), and baby usually goes back down soon after a check-in. My family members and friends who have done cry-it-out methods don't seem to have this issue as much as we do (or if they do, their baby cries but falls back asleep on his or her own). For this reason, I would say that if your baby has frequent wake-ups, the program helps to improve this issue immensely, but if you are looking for no wake-ups (or at least no wake-ups that you need to respond to), this program may not be for you. 

• No rocking, bouncing, or pacifier to sleep - Yes. We were the most skeptical about this promise since our baby was so dependent on these techniques to fall asleep. Johnny falls asleep in his own crib on his own. It's beautiful. 

Overall improvement: After the two-week program, Johnny can now fall asleep in his crib with typically only minimal interaction with me over the monitor. He has few to no wake-ups, and he only eats when I dream feed him at night. He is overall happier and less cranky throughout the day. Naps are still a struggle though. 

1. No cry-it-out: For many parents, this is a huge deal. Cry-it-out can seem cruel and uncomfortable. While I, personally, don't think it's cruel, I did feel a lot better using a non-cry-it-out method. Since our baby had such a strong dependency on contact with us, it seemed most logical to choose a more gradual, kinder approach like this one. While babies likely won't remember which method you chose to use on them, I do personally feel as though our baby understood what we were trying to do. We could see his recognition of the new habits we were trying to form in how he responded to us. Rather than simply learning that "If I cry, mom and dad won't come," from a cry-it-out method, he learned that "If I cry, mom and dad will respond, but they aren't going to pick me up or feed me."

2. Better parent-child bond: I better understand my son's levels of crying and when he needs me versus when he can self-soothe. My son better understands what my expectations are for sleep, and he knows our boundaries (i.e. he has learned that I decide when he eats, and he won't be picked up at night...unless ill). This mutual understanding makes me feel closer to my baby. 

3. Sets a Strong, Positive, and Predictable Foundation for Sleep: I genuinely do believe that our son understands our responses and can predict our responses through this program. I have seen friends and family members struggle with toddler transitions when using Ferber or soft versions of cry-it-out methods. For example, my sister had struggled with transitions from crib to toddler bed. Though I can't predict the future, I don't think the transition will be as challenging for us simply because the techniques grow with the child. As babies become toddlers, the need for a more nuanced response system is needed (rather than your toddler thinking that you just don't come when they cry). Batelle provided that more nuanced system. 

4. 24/7 hour support: The 24 hour support during the two weeks of training is incredibly helpful. I received quick responses at all hours of the night. I'm not aware of any other program that does this. There are many tough nights in the program, so having 24/7 support is wonderful. 

5. Ongoing support: It feels good to know that I can reach out to Batelle anytime I need to. Though the response may not be quick now that we are graduated alumni, I'm still at peace knowing that when Johnny has issues with future transitions, I can talk to experts (rather than trying to Google everything). 

6. Improved sleep quality & increased number of sleeping hours: I can see a huge shift in Johnny's sleep quality. He wakes up happier in the morning time and throughout the day. Before Batelle, he was a lot crankier because of the frequent wake-ups during the night. My husband and I also have longer stretches of sleep than we have ever had before.

7. Reassurance of your parental responses: The peace of mind that comes with knowing that your responses to your child are expert approved is wonderful. Before Batelle, I often worried whether I was responding too much or too little. I worried if I was feeding too much or too little at night. Now, I know that what I am doing has been "approved" by experts who work with parents every day. 

I want to preface these "cons" by mentioning again that every baby and every family is different. Batelle is very good about helping to adapt to your lifestyle and family needs. The following cons were ones that my family experienced but are not necessarily ones that many/most families in the program experience. 

1. 1. Expensive - $1,500 is a lot of money, so some parents may want to try Ferber or other methods that are free prior to trying Batelle. However, keep in mind the perks of the pricey fee, like continual expert support. Sleeping through the night won't be the only sleep issue your child will likely have. If you look at the $1,500 as an investment in 6-years of support, then it isn't such a bad price. 

1. 2. Length of time - Some of my friends and family members have achieved similar outcomes in less or the same time. Different versions of cry-it-out (like Ferber method) have worked for many people in a few days or less than a week. It really depends on your child. Personally, if you think that weaning baby from night feeding is your ONLY sleep issue issue, then I would suggest trying to wean baby on your own before investing the money and time in sleep school. If you think that the issue is larger than just night feeding (which often times it is), then I would suggest spending the money on Batelle. 

1. 3. Mentally and physically taxing - In some ways, it's harder to be by your baby's side while he is crying than to stand outside the door letting your baby cry.  Again, this will probably depend on your personality. Some parents are more mentally and emotionally drained by having to listen to their baby cry-it-out while others are more mentally and emotionally drained by having to interact with a crying baby.  In Batelle Sleep School, you also will have to take part in different physical engagement strategies for night wake ups early in the process, so you may be getting less sleep than normal (at first).

1. 4. Naps are not a program "guarantee" - For me, this was this biggest con. Our son almost always refuses to nap on his own (and still does after this program). Batelle really focuses on night sleep rather than naps. While they give suggestions for naps, they emphasize in the group calls that naps are always tricky for babies so "not to worry about it." They also do not offer camera support for naps. Without explicitly saying it, they imply that parents should really be happy with just having accomplished night sleep, which is partially true. It's better to have night sleep be solid than nothing at all. I would have liked if the program provided camera support for naps. However, this isn't to say that the method won't work for your baby during naps. Although our son still struggles to sleep on his own for naps after Batelle Sleep School, there are some parents who have accomplished independent sleep with naps.

1. 5. Total night weaning may not be recommended by the program - Based on the promise that your baby will "sleep through the night," I thought this meant that our baby would be totally weaned from night feeding. This isn't necessarily the case. The program still recommended that I dream feed our 7 month old baby twice a night (so I still go in to his room to dream feed around 9:30/10 and again between 2-3 a.m.). Since I, myself, have trouble with falling asleep after interrupted sleep, this has continued to be a challenge for me. I still feel as though my sleep is "broken" especially since I have two dream feeds.  Many other sleep programs suggest weaning all night feedings at 6-7 months since some programs argue that babies do not need to eat at night. However, Batelle (and my own pediatrician) suggested that 6-7 months is often too young to completely remove all dream feeds (even though my baby is in the 80th percentile for weight). It seems to be a debate with a lot of disagreement as to whether or not the dream feeds are needed. Therefore, if you are truly looking for a program that removes all night feeds, this may or may not be for you since Batelle may not recommend that for your particular case. 

Yes. We were in a very bad place with sleep before we began this program, and now, even though sleep isn't completely "solved," it is most certainly manageable. I believe that with continued support from Batelle, sleep will continue to improve for Johnny. 

It's important to note that even if you try free sleep methods, you won't necessarily have "perfect" sleepers either. Babies are humans, too, and we can't expect zero wake-ups every single night. The true benefit of Batelle is the ongoing expert support and methods that work from infancy to toddlerhood. 

My husband and I would recommend Batelle to almost all of our friends. If money isn't an issue, we would recommend it to everyone. Batelle methodology truly sets a good foundation for every child in terms of behavioral expectations surrounding sleep. It's not money wasted. It's money well-spent. 

However, money is an issue for many of us, so if that is truly a sticking-point for you and your family, I would recommend trying the "free" methods that you can find online and seeing how it goes for you first. However, if you are still having frequent wake ups or your baby just seems cranky often, I would really consider budgeting for the program. Good sleep is necessary, not optional, for a happy and healthy family.