For Pamela and TJ Hobby, self-described “Cradlewise superfans,” their baby sleep journey began with their son Buster (born in 2021), and now it continues with baby number 2, Honey, who is just 9 weeks old.
We first interviewed the couple back in 2022 when they discussed Pamela’s journey to motherhood, and how Cradlewise helped keep their family connected during the pandemic.
But how does Pamela feel about Cradlewise today? How did Buster adjust to the crib as he grew? And how does Honey like it? That’s what we’re here to find out.
How has the transition from being a mom of 1 to a mom of 2 been?
Pamela: Well, it’s hard to get anything done when all I want to do is stare at these cute little sugarboogers.
The best part of this transition is having the World’s Best Teammate in my husband, TJ. I learn so much from TJ, and watching him be a father of a son and a daughter nearly brings me to tears when I think about it.
With two kids, TJ and I have an unspoken language of how to anticipate both of their needs. With Buster, we would say, “Would you like to do this/that, or would you like me to?” Now it’s, “I’ll warm her bottle. You get him dressed.”
Like the Elvis song goes, “A little less conversation, a little more action.”
Why did you choose Cradlewise over another smart crib?
Pamela: The fact that we watched a live demo, and we could ask any questions that we needed to. At one time, TJ and I were just demo attendees. We trusted Radhika (co-founder and CEO of Cradlewise) and the product.
We genuinely felt something at the demo. We couldn’t stop talking about the crib. That led to now something that’s truly been a remarkable part of our home. It’s done for me what I couldn’t do in the middle of the night.
We’re both tech geeks. And, one of the things that TJ said was: as our car updates, the crib will continue to update. We were seeing the future, hoping this would be an incredible crib.
Did you know?
The Cradlewise smart crib is Over-the-Air update enabled. What this means is we push updates, new features, and improvements to the crib bi-weekly. So, your crib is continuously getting better no matter when you bought it.
I don’t have any family close by; all of my family live in Oklahoma and Kansas. And so I leaned on Cradlewise as that extra pair of hands since day one, and now It’s helping me with baby two.
I’m getting even more sleep with the second baby than I was with the first, which is remarkable.
Did Buster like the bounce even when he got older?
Pamela: He needed less and less bounce as he got bigger. Then there were times when he would nap and not need any bounce at all. You learn what works best as they grow. But yes, as he got bigger, and as he moved from bassinet to crib mode, it was effortless.
He had the same sleep patterns when we moved it from bassinet mode to crib mode. It was still the same environment that he knew, it still felt like his crib.
Also, you’ve learned so much about the crib while they’re in bassinet mode, that when it becomes their regular crib, you know the functionality of everything.
How long did Buster use the crib, and was it a comfortable fit?
Pamela: Buster used the bed for 19 months before his baby sister, Honey, came and took over his crib. He’s a tall baby. With that being said, it was a comfortable fit and boy did he LOVE it.
When we transitioned him to his toddler bed, there were no issues. We worried that he would not sleep without a bouncing bed, but his sleeping habits transferred seamlessly to his new bed.
And how does Honey love the bounce?
Pamela: The sleep recipe for Buster was a little less of the bounce than we need for Honey.
For Buster, I loved manual and TJ loved auto mode. We would have long conversations about why we liked which setting. But, just the other day I said, with baby number two, I might just try auto mode.
TJ said the crib’s so intelligent and to let it do its job. There was a night that I just left it on auto, and let the crib do its job, I had such a deep sleep. He was right.
So, I’ve used a lot of auto-bouncing with Honey because the crib intelligently detects when she’s stirring and responds. We just hit the nail on the head of what she likes for the bounce. She prefers a stronger bounce than Buster did.
Did you know?
Auto mode can be customized and overridden at any point in time.Even if your Cradlewise is set to auto, you can customize the settings around bounce intensity and sensitivity. The crib will learn your preferences and use them when it next soothes your baby.
What’s the most difficult sleep challenge with two kids who are so young and close in age?
Pamela: Probably the most difficult sleep challenge is if they happen to wake up at the same time or near the same time during the night. Buster and Honey go right back to sleep, but for a moment there it is a flop-sweat-panic.
I read an article that said the more you keep quiet and zen in the nighttime wake-ups, the more they can fall back to sleep. Your energy is their energy. We stay calm, zen and quiet in the night to get them right back down.
One night, I was walking Honey to her crib. Buster had woken up and found me for a hug. I was SO grateful for Cradlewise at that moment. I put Honey in the crib, initiated a bounce with my hand and grabbed Buster for his hug. It was surreal. Cradlewise became my second pair of hands in that moment.
How did the crib physically hold up through the first baby?
Pamela: The mesh sidings are easy to remove and clean. The sheets are something we put on our registry for baby two. I said, “I need to buy new sheets.” I couldn’t believe I had the same sheets. But, when I checked them, the old ones were fine! They’ve lasted such a long time. They’re waterproof and water-absorbent.
The mattress is still super soft. I thought we’ll have to get a new mattress but, no. It’s nice to see that those span the test of time as well. And if you happen to have any issues, you could contact the incredible team.
Do you have Cradlewise in your bedroom now? How do you use it?
We’ve always had Cradlewise in the nursery from the beginning, so we’ve always had the crib separate from where we sleep, but it’s totally up to you.
If you wanted to have it right next to the bed, the design’s so nice and sleek, it would fit there.
You know that’s the best thing about parenting — Do you.
Are there any features that you can’t live without?
Pamela: To me personally, it was the caregiver feature – what we call “granny cam.” And we started calling it granny cam because my mom can watch the baby, and we call her Granny in our family. She’s in Oklahoma and can watch the baby sleep in real-time from her cell phone or her iPad.
With the caregiver part of the app, you can give access to people (family and friends), so they can watch the baby via the in-built monitor. Even though your family may not be there to physically take care of baby, there’s connectivity that happens.
The second thing that saves us is the sleep insights functionality that’s changed over time with Buster and Honey; it has kept getting better. It shows you exactly how many hours your baby has been asleep or how many hours your baby has been awake.
There’s also an indication of how many times the crib has to soothe your baby (the crib soothed the baby zero times, five times, six times). There’s real data that you can keep up with as your baby sleeps through the night.
Sometimes I’ll just put Honey in the crib to get her used to it. So, within sleep insights, in the yellow sections, where it says awake, you’ll see how many minutes she’s been awake. So, I would say this is also another unparalleled part of the tech that’s behind the crib.
I love the picture-in-picture, I didn’t realize that I was needing it till I went, “Oh, oh! Game on, now I can do picture-in-picture.” Anytime there’s a new update, it seems like we have our finger on the pulse of what customers are saying, and then we get the benefits of that.
There’s an auto mode. Once you start trusting it, it’s interesting. There were multiple times throughout the night when I thought Honey would be up. I would watch the app thinking I’d have to get up. But, sure enough, the crib would do its job. She would settle in like four or five minutes.
Anytime we needed something or had a question, we reached out to the Cradlewise team. Everyone has been lovely and kind and that’s been another portion of it that I didn’t know that we would have, a little community there.
Any last things that you would like to share?
Pamela: Take a chance on it, the 60-day trial period was something that kind of pushed us over the edge. If you’re on the fence and you’re thinking about it, know that you have a trial period to enjoy it.
Also, the team is so responsive. We had a minor issue in that first year. And immediately you said we’re sending you a new crib. And I thought that was incredible, just the response of the team. You went above and beyond.
Yeah, it’s something that feels more than just a crib — it’s an extra pair of hands.
