My Babywised Babies sleep great!

(I didn't have much time to proof read and so please excuse the run on sentences, fragments and HORRIBLE punctuation!)

We follow the babywise book.  It's not a new method, but really sleep hasn't changed over the years.  The basic premise is eat, play, sleep; instead of eat to go to sleep, play and then eat again.  Basically, you are teaching your child to go to sleep on their own instead of needing to be rocked, held, or milk to go to sleep.  I have done this with Owen and now again with Jesse and I swear by this method because my babies sleep great!  Owen is almost 3 and still takes an afternoon nap that ranges from 2-3.5 hours!  Jesse is 12 weeks and has sleep through the night 7 times!! His bedtime is 6pm, I nurse again (dreamfeed) before I go to bed around 10-11pm) and he has slept till 6am and 7:30am!!!  Mommy loves her sleep so I am THRILLED!

We started at about 3 weeks old with both boys.  Before that we just nursed and held our babies as we all know those first few weeks are just survival.  Then at 3 weeks we moved our babies from the bassinet in our room to the crib in their own room.  When the baby is only a newborn sometimes the "play" was only a diaper change or a burp to wake them.  Here is what our newborn routine looked like during the day:

Baby is allowed to sleep as long as they would in the night and early mornings, when baby waked we would change his diaper and then nurse one side, burp, nurse the other side and burp.  Sometimes it would take up to 10 minutes to get that 2nd burp, but it is key to know there isn't any belly gas that would be uncomfortable for sleep.  Then we would enjoy a little awake time (keeping the lights bright and not muting sounds of Owen playing or tv etc.). When we saw the first sign of sleepiness it was off to the crib he went.  Some signs of sleepiness are rubbing eyes, droopy eyes, a yawn, redness around the eyes, and fussiness.  Jesse is great at rubbing his hands into his eyes while nuzzling his head into my shoulder when he is ready to sleep.  It is really important to put them to sleep when they are sleepy and before they are over tired.  I usually say the same thing when I put him into the crib:  "night night sweet boy.  Mommy loves you! Its time to go night night" and pat his belly.  I laid my babies on their back in a swaddle they can't get their arms out of.  We used some velcro ones early on and receiving blankets, but once they can get a hand out we would put them in the Woombie brand swaddle.  Yes, they are pricey, but worth every penny!  You can get them on the half off baby websites sometimes.

During the day, I closely watch the clock and if he is sleeping and it hits the 3 hour mark from the beginning of the last feeding I wake him up and we start the cycle over again.  Now, at nighttime I do NOT do this; I let them sleep as long as they can.  With Owen the nurses said I should wake him for the first month every 3 hours.  I think that he got trained to be on this schedule and it took longer for him to fully sleep through the night whereas I knew better with Jesse and we were able to establish his nighttime at night earlier on!

I just looked back and Owen's 4 month schedule was this and it is pretty close to Jesse's schedule now too except he is still about about 2.5 hours during the day and getting up earlier:
8am-Eat, play time (this is a special time of day, he is so sweet!!) then a 1 1/2 hour nap
11am-Eat, play time (usually some tummy time or in his swing) then a 1 hour nap
2pm-Eat, play time (run errands) then a 1 hour nap
5-6pm Eat, play a little then a 1 1/2 nap
8-9pm Eat, play about 30 minutes and ready for bed!
10:30 dream feed and back to bed

Ok, here is the hardest part.  Crying it out.  I think the earlier you do this the easier it is for the baby and parents.  There are different ways to do CIO (crying it out).  We found that at 3 weeks CIO only lasted 30 minutes top.  Our boys would scream crying for the first 10 minutes then it there would be a pause then some more intense crying before tapering off or just conking out asleep.  It is HARD.  I would hold Chris's hand and we would encourage each other to be strong because we knew it was better for them in the long run.  Thankfully, it usually takes only a couple of days/nights to get to shorter crying periods.  Now, Jesse is only 5 minutes tops.  There are exceptions.  Sometimes I know Jesse is over tired from holiday or visits from family and those times I will swaddle him, give him his paci and hold and pat him to sleep and usually I can easily transfer him to his bed.  There are different ways to go about crying it out and you should decide as a family what works for you.  We said 30 minutes top crying before comforting and calming him down and trying again.  You have to check for poopy diapers, burps and sometimes a growth spurt will throw it all off.

One other thing you have to know about and it is the 45 minute intruder.  This is how long a young babies sleep cycle is.  After 45 minutes it starts over and sometimes or even most times the baby will wake up crying.  I usually look at the clock and use my judgement to see if it is close to the 2 hour mark I will get him up and start the cycle over, if it isn't close to it then I wait it out.  Usually, after 5 minutes he is back asleep or quiet in his crib.

I really can't stress enough that you should just read the babywise book.  She describes in detail the reasons behind it all.  It is all about the parent making the decisions with the information you have and not about the baby's crying dictating their schedule.

Last thought because WOW this is getting LONG!  If you are nursing you really need to make sure the baby is nursing enough and getting the hind milk.  If you can feel yourself let down then you know baby is getting the nice creamy think calorie milk.  If you only nurse for a few minutes on each side then baby only gets the foremilk which is more watery and wont sustain baby till the next feeding.  Babies who only get the foremilk have to eat more frequently and thus turns into a cycle of snacking instead of eating full meals.  The other reason to move baby out of your room if you are nursing is that baby can smell you...wouldn't you want to wake up earlier if you could smell your wonderful food cooking all night?!  Jesse slept an extra hour longer at 3 weeks when we moved him to his own room at night.  4 hour cycles are amazing during the night with a newborn!

Please, ask any questions!

i cant say enough about...

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. 

Owen is babywised! (again)

If you don't know about babywise then you should check it out.  When I first read it I was like "hey this makes sense" then you get home with a newborn and you are like "heck no, I am not waking that sleeping baby".  I did a mild version of their philosophy and I have to say it works.  Owen was sleeping a 6 hour stretch followed by a 3 hour or 4,4,and 4 hours at 8 weeks.  Well, then I got cocky.  I did playgroups, shopping, errand running, hanging out for hours at my girl Caroline's house, and just generally not keeping Owen on a schedule and one day I realize my sleeping baby was no longer sleeping through the night.  Well, after one day of making him nap more regular I am again amazed by the principles of the babywise books.  Sunday night he slept from 10:30 to 6am, Monday night 10pm-7am and last night from 9pm-7am.  If only I had gone to bed at 9pm with him instead of midnight I might not be as tired.  How in the world more sleep or regular sleep creates better night sleep I don't know, but I will take it!!  As I am typing this my precious bundle is in his woombie out like a light!  

Once you have read the book then check out this great blog that helps trouble shoot some questions:  Babywise Mom

I would be interested to hear what methods you use to get your babies to sleep thru the night and feeding schedules.