the babywise books. For instance today, Owen woke up at 7am, well I was not ready to be up for the day and I fed him and put him back in his crib. He played for a while and when Chris left for work (8am) he said he was back asleep and he stayed that way till 9:30!! I was LOVING some extra z's!
Well, Owen wasn't due to eat till 10 so since he was awake I gave him a bath which he LOVED! Then by the time I had him diapered and dressed it was time for some breakfast!! But, by 10:30 he was fussing. If I hadn't been doing babywise and knowing his cues I would never have thought to put him back to bed. Since, I did know I put him down and he smiled as I zipped him up in his woombie and after about 30 seconds of fussying his eyes were closed and off to dreamworld he went. After that nice long nap, we were able to get back on schedule.
I know every mom has their own way of doing things. For instance, my friend Christie, is a bank manager; and is a slave to the clock (in a good way). Her daughter Camryn melts down at 7:30, her bedtime. Christie likes knowing exactly what is going in Camryn and had her naps perfectly timed. This works really well for their family as Camryn is in daycare and a tight schedule fits with Christie's personality.
Another friend April, her 3rd son is the most laid back kid you know. He just smiles and one night when we were all hanging out (before Owen was born), she swaddled him, gave him a bottle and then he fell asleep and she put him in his carseat where he slept in the middle of all the commotion till they were ready to leave. April and Josh are the most laid back parents and have instilled that into their children.
Some of this could be genitics, but I think it has more to do with parenting style.
Here is my reason why: I am so ADD, all over the place, LOUD and yet a clean freak and I like things put away MY way. So, I thought I would be this annoyingly overprotective parent. Yes I am overprotective, but not how I had envisioned it. I thought my son would be so different. He is just a perfect baby. He really only cries if he is over tired, dirty diaper or hungry, but really who could blame him. When I say cry it is usually this fussy talk/whine and I know that I need to do something for him. Once taken care of he goes back to my wonderful little baby again. At night when I change his diaper before I feed him at his dreamfeed he will cry bloodymurder, no amount of talking or singing will make him stop. I find it hilarious, the crying. Probably, because I don't see him cry this way very often (OMG my second child is soo going to have colic!). When he cries this way this is when I think "this is what I thought it would be like all the time". I am soo thankful for my even tempered baby.
I really think that following the babywise schedule has kept his needs met so he has no reason to fuss and is generally super happy all the time. My friend Caroline would agree, we have discussed this as she is another babywise mama.
When we were on vacation and able to keep Owen on his eat, play, sleep schedule he was so wonderful and I was told my my very opinionated family members that they were impressed at how good he was. Even people out in public comment on how good he is.
Owen does have his weakness and it seems to be the carseat. He fusses every time I put him in it. If he misses 2 naps and then has to be in the carseat I really hope no one is in the car with us because he lets us know how much he hates it! Traveling to and from the beach was NOT fun.
I am sure that this isn't for everyone, but Chris and I have really found it to be a great parenting tool. Even Chris will turn to me sometimes and say "maybe we need to read that babywise book again and see what it says" I guess in a way it is our parenting Bible! It's the book we turn to to make decisions. One last thing if you made it this far reading this rambling post, we are not die hard babywise parents either. We took the principles and applied them to make sense in our life. It is all about parent directed parenting and not baby directed parenting. I decide when and how long his naps are not Owen. Sometimes, I get it wrong and I put him down and he cries and then I realize he had a poopy diaper. Sometimes we get off schedule and Owen and I pay for it.
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Your blog looks beautiful! Love it, dear! Okay, this is so funny that you are writing this. I'm writing a guest post this week for another blog and I talk about how some parents are Happiest Baby On The Block parents and some are Baby Wise parents. They are kind of contrasting sleep methods. I LOVED Happiest Baby on the Block. It worked GREAT for Charlotte. She just kind of fell into a good sleep routine with that method. I'm glad Baby Wise is working for Owen. Keep us posted on any sleep changes.
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