new mommy help?

lesalia217

Hey everyone - new to 0-3 and I have been doing some lurking to learn. 

Lesson 1:  CIO=not something to do this young - check 

now for the rest of my learning.........I have read posts about other "methods"....Ferber, sleep training, CIO........

My question is where do I start?  Can someone give a summary?  I am a big reader, but not sure how much time I will have to do research.  Any books you can recommend over others?

TIA

Aknight1986

As far as sleep training goes you do whatever works best for your family. It's not recommended to start any sleep training before four months and six months is probably optimal. Something you can start early is establishing a nighttime routine. It can include a bath and singing or rocking and of course a nursing session. I plan on starting one around a month or so. It's supposed to cue your baby in to the fact that it's time to sleep.

lesalia217

Aknight1986:

As far as sleep training goes you do whatever works best for your family. It's not recommended to start any sleep training before four months and six months is probably optimal. Something you can start early is establishing a nighttime routine. It can include a bath and singing or rocking and of course a nursing session. I plan on starting one around a month or so. It's supposed to cue your baby in to the fact that it's time to sleep.

ok, so we are too early to do anything but just go with the flow.  Cool, I can handle that.  I will just keep BFing on demand   and I guess I have time to do research on different 'methods'

will'sbeachprincess

It's not too early to do some things.  I read "On Becoming Babywise" and followed a lot of those principles starting early on.  The main idea is establishing a feeding/waking/sleeping routine throughout the day to train your child to STTN. 

From weeks 1-4 you really just want to make sure that you keep your baby awake to take a full feeding at each feeding to discourage snacking and because they sleep so much at that age you want to make sure you wake them up to feed if it's been 3 hours since their last feeding.  After feeding you want to try to keep them awake (even if it's only a few minutes) by changing their diaper, talking, playing, etc.  Then it's naptime.  So feed, awaketime, sleep, repeat.  (except you don't want the awake time at night, just feed and put right back down to sleep).

Then weeks 5-8 you want to feed them every 2.5-3.5 hours and keep the same feed/awake/sleep routine.  The book says between 7-9 weeks that most Babywise babies (something like 85%) are STTN at least 6 hours.

My personal experience is that my 9 weeker is still waking every 3 hours to eat (but will go right back to sleep).  However, he was a preemie so he will take longer to do most things.  My pedi said that a weight of 14 lbs is the magic number for STTN and we aren't there yet.  I do like the routine though and would recommend it.

mrscupcake

will'sbeachprincess:

It's not too early to do some things.  I read "On Becoming Babywise" and followed a lot of those principles starting early on.  The main idea is establishing a feeding/waking/sleeping routine throughout the day to train your child to STTN. 

From weeks 1-4 you really just want to make sure that you keep your baby awake to take a full feeding at each feeding to discourage snacking and because they sleep so much at that age you want to make sure you wake them up to feed if it's been 3 hours since their last feeding.  After feeding you want to try to keep them awake (even if it's only a few minutes) by changing their diaper, talking, playing, etc.  Then it's naptime.  So feed, awaketime, sleep, repeat.  (except you don't want the awake time at night, just feed and put right back down to sleep).

Then weeks 5-8 you want to feed them every 2.5-3.5 hours and keep the same feed/awake/sleep routine.  The book says between 7-9 weeks that most Babywise babies (something like 85%) are STTN at least 6 hours.

My personal experience is that my 9 weeker is still waking every 3 hours to eat (but will go right back to sleep).  However, he was a preemie so he will take longer to do most things.  My pedi said that a weight of 14 lbs is the magic number for STTN and we aren't there yet.  I do like the routine though and would recommend it.

I read this too and have several friends who swear by it. But I'm not quite sure how to start it. LO is only about 2 weeks old so I'm not really starting anything yet. But how do you tell what a "full" feeding is?  DS eats about 2.5 ounces every 2-4 hours but sometimes can eat as much as 3+. How did you get into a rhythm?

yourmomwreckedmybike

we have the 'Happiest Baby on the Block' book. I bought it when i was still pregnant so that i would have some idea of how to calm baby he was colicky or fussy. Its a good read even if you don't follow it, and the "methods" of calming LO have really helped when he is fussy. 

will'sbeachprincess

roxstarrgirl:

mrscupcake:

will'sbeachprincess:

It's not too early to do some things.  I read "On Becoming Babywise" and followed a lot of those principles starting early on.  The main idea is establishing a feeding/waking/sleeping routine throughout the day to train your child to STTN. 

From weeks 1-4 you really just want to make sure that you keep your baby awake to take a full feeding at each feeding to discourage snacking and because they sleep so much at that age you want to make sure you wake them up to feed if it's been 3 hours since their last feeding.  After feeding you want to try to keep them awake (even if it's only a few minutes) by changing their diaper, talking, playing, etc.  Then it's naptime.  So feed, awaketime, sleep, repeat.  (except you don't want the awake time at night, just feed and put right back down to sleep).

Then weeks 5-8 you want to feed them every 2.5-3.5 hours and keep the same feed/awake/sleep routine.  The book says between 7-9 weeks that most Babywise babies (something like 85%) are STTN at least 6 hours.

My personal experience is that my 9 weeker is still waking every 3 hours to eat (but will go right back to sleep).  However, he was a preemie so he will take longer to do most things.  My pedi said that a weight of 14 lbs is the magic number for STTN and we aren't there yet.  I do like the routine though and would recommend it.

I read this too and have several friends who swear by it. But I'm not quite sure how to start it. LO is only about 2 weeks old so I'm not really starting anything yet. But how do you tell what a "full" feeding is?  DS eats about 2.5 ounces every 2-4 hours but sometimes can eat as much as 3+. How did you get into a rhythm?

Not to offend or judge anyone that uses it, but I've read some really negative things about Babywise-- especially concerning BF babies.  

As far as I could tell a "full" feeding refers to BFing-keeping them awake to do well with the feeding-good latch, feeds for a while, both sides (sorry if this isn't eloquent, I'm not a LC).  For formula fed, it probably just means that they finish what you are giving them.  I got into a rhythm by waking DS up every 3 hours to eat and doing everything I could to keep him awake during the feeding (playing with his feet, rubbing his back, cold washcloth if necessary).  He was a very sleepy baby so I really called the shots as far as a routine.  Me waking him up every 3 hours was the routine because he didn't stay awake on his own for a couple of weeks (again, he was a preemie).

As far as the negative things about Babywise, in the first edition they were very rigid about the feeding every 3 hours thing.  As in, don't feed them before the 3 hours is up, even if they are hungry.  In the newer edition, they do state that it is never wrong to feed a baby when they are hungry but the point is that the parent needs to assess if the baby is actually hungry or if they are crying for some other need.  They also address growth spurts and the fact that you will have to feed them more often than every 3 hours.  They encourage their routine, but also give guidelines as to when to deviate from it and signs to look for in your baby to make sure they are healthy and growing.  I took from it the routine of "eat, awake, sleep" as the main point of what will help your LO to form a schedule and transition into STTN sooner rather than later.