Our Story
Taking Cara Babies was started by Cara Dumaplin. She’s a nurse, mom of four, pediatric sleep expert, and the founder of Taking Cara Babies.
Taking Cara Babies started with Cara’s experience as a new mom. Like so many new parents, she was exhausted. But this came as a surprise to her because she was an experienced neonatal nurse. Even so, her baby was waking up every hour, they weren’t thriving as a family, and she knew something needed to change. So, Cara did what nurses do. She dove into the research and created a plan that worked for her daughter, one that felt right in her heart. As the whole family started to get the rest they needed, she knew that she had to share what she’d found with other families.
Cara started small with just a few classes in her own community, teaching evidence-based strategies for baby sleep. And while not many people showed up at first, the families who did saw incredible results. And then they told their friends. And their friends told their friends. Taking Cara Babies grew one exhausted, hopeful parent at a time.
As more families reached out for help, Taking Cara Babies had to grow. Over the last decade, the Taking Cara Babies team expanded to include other experts across many fields to better help and educate families around the world.
Today, millions of families have found more peaceful nights through Taking Cara Babies, and that number grows every day. What started as a desire to help her own family has become a company helping families sleep better worldwide.
Our Approach
Our Mission:
Taking Cara Babies helps babies and toddlers sleep so families can thrive.
What matters to us:
Taking Cara Babies has always been about you. It has always been about using evidence-based practice to help your family thrive.
What Makes Taking Cara Babies Different?
There are a lot of voices out there when it comes to baby sleep. So, I want to tell you exactly what makes Taking Cara Babies different.
Our Founder: Cara came to this work first as a nurse and maintains her license as a registered nurse. Cara understands the value of evidence-based practice (that includes peer-reviewed research, clinical experience, and the understanding that every family is unique).
Our Experience: Our sleep support and advice are based in research, understanding of safe-sleep guidelines, and our experience talking with hundreds of thousands of families. We know what works, what doesn’t, and what just isn’t developmentally-appropriate. And we never stop learning. We’re constantly in the research, listening to other experts, and taking feedback from our customers.
Our Approach:
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We always put your baby’s safety first. Safe sleep is at the heart of everything we teach. You should never have to compromise your baby’s safety to help them sleep well.
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We know every baby is unique. Every class teaches you how to customize a plan; it’s not one-size-fits-all. Our approach is built around your child being a whole human and looking at their feedings, daytime sleep, developmental age, and your family’s unique priorities.
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We understand real life happens. We don’t hand you rigid schedules, a strict plan, or expect you to follow anything “to the letter.” We’ll give you the tools to be flexible around a realistic life that includes the things you love.
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We prioritize emotional connection. We don’t believe in letting babies “cry it out.” Taking Cara Babies' classes teach you multiple options that allow you to customize your plan to your comfort and your baby. The methods are designed to keep you emotionally connected to your child through the entire process with the fewest tears possible and always with research behind every step.
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We approach baby sleep without judgment. We believe that if what you are doing is working for you and is safe, there’s no need to change anything. If you’re ready for a change, our classes and resources are designed to be rooted in the care and compassion we believe every parent deserves. If you reach out for help to our sleep consultants, know that there’s no judgment there; only support.
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We follow the research. Every resource Taking Cara Babies provides (every class, every blog post, every consultation) is built on peer-reviewed research. We pull from trusted sources like the American Academy of Pediatrics, peer-reviewed journals, and leading academic and medical organizations. All that research is easily accessible to you. You can find it linked at the bottom of every blog and included in the bibliography of every class. And that research is reviewed regularly to make sure it reflects the most current evidence available.
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We bring our expertise, and we believe in your expertise. We are experts in baby sleep and child development, and we come to you with that knowledge and those strategies. You are the expert on your baby as a human, and there’s always a need for your instincts and understanding as a parent. Our goal is to give you the tools to be an expert on helping them sleep, too.
Our Experts
When it comes to your baby's sleep, you deserve to know exactly who you're trusting and why that trust is earned.
Taking Cara Babies is led by Cara Dumaplin. She's a registered nurse (that means she continues to hold an active nursing license) with a BSN from MidAmerican Nazarene University and is a certified pediatric sleep consultant. She spent years working in labor and delivery, the NICU, and postpartum care. Her training and clinical foundation shapes everything Taking Cara Babies teaches.
The Taking Cara Babies team is made up of certified pediatric sleep consultants who have a minimum of 5 years of experience in baby sleep. The team includes nurses, teachers, lactation consultants, a child life specialist, developmental specialists, a social worker, a licensed marriage and family therapist, and other professionals who provide sleep support and help update and review Taking Cara Babies resources.
Taking Cara Babies sleep consultants have gone through extensive training in a sleep consultant training program certified through the Association of Professional Sleep Consultants. This training includes hundreds of hours of education, testing, and supervised work. They participate in ongoing education and training to hone their skills, learn from other professionals in the industry, and to ensure they’re on top of the latest research in baby sleep.
Taking Cara Babies sleep consultants are also approved by the Association of Professional Sleep Consultants and the International Association of Child Sleep Consultants. These independent associations review and credential professional sleep consultants and their training programs. It’s just one more layer we take to ensure that we are providing the highest quality sleep advice.
Taking Cara Babies sleep consultants are also parents. When you interact with a sleep consultant on the Taking Cara Babies team, whether it’s through a class, phone consultation, direct message, email, or something you read on our website, you’re getting the best of both worlds: the heart of a parent who has been there, and the expertise of someone who has studied baby sleep deeply and never stops learning.
Our Results:
Beyond credentials, we can also show you our results.
Millions of families around the world have found more peaceful nights through Taking Cara Babies. And those once-exhausted parents got real results and told someone they loved. You may have also seen Taking Cara Babies featured across major media outlets and recommended by pediatricians, OB-GYNs, or other professionals. That word-of-mouth trust is something we are so proud of and continues to be the best way for people to find us.
If you want to see what real parents are saying, you can always read reviews here.
And if you’d like to see Taking Cara Babies in the media, here are a few we’d love to share:
Taking Cara Babies Gives Back to Phoenix Children’s Hospital
Baby Whisperer Cara Dumaplin on Good Morning America
Are you ready to have a great little sleeper?
If you're overwhelmed, exhausted, or just not sure where to start. I was there too. Let me show you everything you need to confidently handle sleep so your whole family can thrive!
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