Babywise help please!

daniellecleasby

So I read Babywise and I guess we have been doing this all wrong.  We were doing Feed/nap/awake so now we have a problem.  My babies eat and want to go to sleep.  I know I can change their diapers etc to wake them up to finish feeding but then they just fall asleep again.  The book had suggestions like rocking and singing, going for a walk, out shopping etc but my girls always sleep during these events so I need to know what to do to keep them awake after a feeding. And what if they fall alseep 1/2 through awake time. I am going to try to do a 3 hour schedule where they eat for 1 hour, awake for 1 hour, then sleep for 1 hour. They are 14 weeks (6 weeks early) so I think they should be able to do this, then I hope to go to a 4 hour once we have that worked out.

Also, during the nap time how long did you let your babies cry?

Thanks a bunch!

MrsLnt

At 3 months old, I think 2 hours of awake time is way too much, especially if your girls were even a few weeks before 40 weeks. Sleep stuff is almost always, always based on adjusted age. Mine were "full term" at 37w but their sleep development is almost exactly 3 weeks behind their actual age.

This website has an awesome breakdown of average awake times by age: https://www.babywisemom.com/2008/07/optimal-waketime-lengths.html

At 3 months old I didn't let them cry at all at naps. I'd wait to respond to see if was just fussing but I never let them all-out cry until they were much, much older. Minimum age for any sort of sleep training is 4 months adjusted. 

UsedToBeGoldie

just do your best to interact with them a bit after they eat - to keep them awake for a little bit- but know that "play" at that age isn't much... and not long- esp since yours were born early.

And BW is not CIO--- you shouldn't be letting them cry for more than a minute... the idea behind the crying in BW is that you don't respond to every little wimper - but that you listen for a minute to see if they really need you, or they are just fussing a bit- and will work it out and go back to sleep.

My little Gibby needed to cry for 3 minutes before a nap - even if I was holding him- this was his thing - i knew the cry- it wasn't that he needed me - it just was his way of winding down- and I'd time it and EVERY time it was 3 minutes - then he'd go right to sleep.... but you have to learn your baby's cries - it takes some time- but you'll figure it out.

 

Mrs.Greg

My girls were on this "schedule" for a while too because I sometimes BF'd them to sleep for nap. I decided it was time to change all of this about a month ago because I'm going back to work January 3 and our nanny won't be able to BF them to sleep for naps. It took a few days but I stopped waking them at the same time in the morning, they were both getting up a 7 to eat and then immediately went down for their first nap, waking about 2 hours later, playing for a bit, then ate and took another nap, and so on. When I let them sleep and wake on their own in the morning, they actually stayed awake after the first feeding and then staying awake after each feeding the rest of the day. It was a few crazy days of them not being on the same schedule but once they both stayed awake after each feeding, I started waking them both up at 7 again and it actually worked!

Mrs.Greg

Mrs.Greg:

My girls were on this "schedule" for a while too because I sometimes BF'd them to sleep for nap. I decided it was time to change all of this about a month ago because I'm going back to work January 3 and our nanny won't be able to BF them to sleep for naps. It took a few days but I stopped waking them at the same time in the morning, they were both getting up a 7 to eat and then immediately went down for their first nap, waking about 2 hours later, playing for a bit, then ate and took another nap, and so on. When I let them sleep and wake on their own in the morning, they actually stayed awake after the first feeding and then staying awake after each feeding the rest of the day. It was a few crazy days of them not being on the same schedule but once they both stayed awake after each feeding, I started waking them both up at 7 again and it actually worked!

I forgot to comment on crying at naptime. There is sometimes some fussing and squirming but I pick them up right away if they start crying. They are too young for that. If I time it just right, I swaddle them and turn on the white noise and they go right to sleep without making any noise. This took some trial and error but I've it down now. My babies have some very specific sleepy cues. Fiona goes down right after her second yawn and Anna goes down when she starts sucking on her thumb. And they both have sleepy eyes.