2nd Trimester

Quest. for 2nd time moms... Re: Happiest Baby on the Block

I really like this book. For someone who's going to be learning everything from scratch with her newborn, it's helpful. My question is, if you used the techniques in this book for the first few months of a baby's life, was it tough to establish a schedule for sleeping and feeding?

Re: Quest. for 2nd time moms... Re: Happiest Baby on the Block

  • I would like to know the answer to this too.  Have you posted on the 0-6 months board? 
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  • We used some of them (swaddling, shushing). I think you sort of adapt it to your child.

    We had no issues establishing a sleep schedule/bedtime routine. 

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    Annelise 3.22.2007 Norah 10.24.2009 Amelia 8.7.2011
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  • Haven't posted on 0-6 months yet because the bump is moving so slooooow. Good idea though.
  • No, if I recall that book is more just about soothing and extending sleep periods for newborns, but does not address a schedule at all.  I did love that book and think it was really helpful, but only for the 1st few months.

    We were pretty laid back about a "schedule", we fed on demand, slept on demand, etc for those first weeks and months, and then our kids fell into the fairly common sleep pattern of a morning nap (about 2 hours after they wake up for good in the morning), and afternoon nap around 12pm or 1pm, and sometimes a 3rd short nap around 4 or 5pm before they settle in for the night, but that doesnt happen for several months.

    We used "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" as our resource once you outgrow the HBOTB, we loved it and refered to it as the bible in our house.It was very helpful in knowing what was age appropriate sleep wise, has tips and tricks for solving sleep issues. etc. It is  very dry read, but the informtion in it was so helpful for us.

    I know some people swear by Babywise, but if I remember correctly, they are pretty rigid on the schedule thing, which was just not our style.

     

  • I've heard good and bad things about Baby Wise.  I think you just have to be sure not to starve your child with that method!
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  • We used Happiest Baby on the Block and it was BRILLIANT... its techniques were THE way to get DD to calm down and chill out.  Every baby is different, but every single mom I know (both on the Nest and IRL) who used HBOTB swore by it.

    HBOTB is a book about comforting newborns... the fact of the matter is that you will not get a newborn on a schedule. It simply is not going to happen, and if you think it will you're deluding yourself to the point of torture... you're going to be miserable when your child is born.

    Even the harshest scheduling people (I'm thinking Babywise here) will tell you that you can't birth a child and start putting them on a schedule the next day... it requires that baby be older and that you start slowly.

     

    And speaking of Babywise...

    imageALP:

    I know some people swear by Babywise, but if I remember correctly, they are pretty rigid on the schedule thing, which was just not our style.

    ...that, and there's a LOT of problems with Babywise - to the extent that the APA discourages its methods, it interferes with breastfeeding, and was actually put forth by a couple with lots of religious views but no professional experience or training in dealing with children.

    Read this for more information:

    https://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/1998/08/cov_06feature.html

     

    The Girl is 5. The Boy is 2. The Dog is 1.

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    I am the 99%.
  • Yeah, I just did not want to get into the babywise battle, which is why I ws vgue in my original comment, I know some people love it, but I am not  fan of any method where I have to be careful about not starving my baby, I never bought the book because I knew from what little I had heard about it, that it was not for us. Back in the day, the board battles over babywise were as epic as breastfeeding vs formula feeding.

    I really do suggest Healthy Sleep Habits for all Moms, it has some great info in it (sticking with no more than 2 hours of wake time for babies so they dont get over tired and then fight sleep, how many wake-ups are normal for each age group, etc) and I refer to it even now when some sleep issue comes up with the boys.

    We did not "schedule" our children, but once they developed their schedule we did everything in our power to respect that schedule and be home for them to nap in their crib in a quiet room, etc. I think by doing so, they are happier children who have enough sleep, know what is coming next in their day, etc, and the bonus is that it allows us to know with reasonable certainty what times of day we can commit to being out and about for appointments and visits, etc. We do of course make exceptions and skip naps here and there for special days, but we end up paying for them in spades with cranky boys, which is no fun at all!

     

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