A West Midlands couple believe they hold the key to parents and babies getting a good night's sleep, thanks to their eight-month-old son, Toby.

And now Graham and Claudia Nicoll, from Leamington, are launching a business on the back of the technique.

They have been given the license to be the UK distributors of a DVD from Australia called It's Time To Sleep.

The DVD is said to offer revolutionary new techniques that teach babies and toddlers how to sleep independently and put themselves back to sleep if they wake during the night.

Graham and Claudia found out about it when they were struggling to get any more than 45 minutes' unbroken sleep when Toby was about three-months-old.

Some research on the internet led to them importing a copy of It's Time To Sleep and within five days Toby was sleeping right through the night.

Such was the success of the DVD, the couple are now launching a national business on the back of the product, which they believe will help parents up and down the country.

It will be sold via their smileybaby.co.uk website, which will also feature a host of other products for babies and toddlers.

They will also hold the rights to reproduce the DVD in this country and sell it on.

Graham said: "For want of a better phrase, this DVD gave us our lives back.

"We were at the stage when we were getting less than an hour of unbroken sleep per night and it was extremely difficult the following day.

"I was fortunate that I had recently sold a business and so neither of us was working. It was hard enough then, so I take my hat off to those who get up and go to work the next day after struggling to get any real sleep the night before.

"We spotted the DVD on the internet and decided to give it a go. Within five days, Toby was sleeping through night and was also sleeping in his bed for his nap during the day."

He added: "We had been looking around for a business idea for some time and Claudia had already come up with a plan for Smileybaby.

"Originally we were planning to open a shop to sell high-quality baby and toddler products but decided that in the first instance the website was the perfect medium.

"Then when It's Time To Sleep worked we knew this was something that would be of interest to parents all over the country.

"We were our own market research guinea pigs and a few friends have tried it, too, and it has worked for them.

"It is going to be revolutionary for parents and we believe it will provide a very strong backbone for our business."

Graham's previous firm Grazies - a health and fitness company that set up health clubs for organisations such as BT, American Express and Powergen - was sold in 2002 to Sona.

He carried on working for the company until August 2004 - a month before Toby was born.

* For information on the DVD visit smileybaby.co.uk