Babywise questions......

KatieO217

Is anyone here implementing the Babywise program? I just bought the book on saturday and I have some questions....

 

before buying this book, my LO put himself on a 3 hour feeding schedule, and no conclusive nap schedule.... sometimes he would wake up if it had been 3 hours and he would eat, othertimes he would fall asleep 40 minutes before his due feeding and i would just let him sleep through it... i never let him go more than 4 hours between feedings however. (also, he is now over birthweight)

At night he always gets his last bottle at 10pm and we both go to bed.... prior to trying to implement Babywise he would sleep from 10pm to 1:30am or 2am which i felt was pretty damn good for a 3-4 week old! A few nights we even got lucky and he slept from 10pm to 2:30/ 3am!

The first night after doing the naps per babywise(eat/play/sleep every 3 hours), he slept from 10pm to 2am.....again this was great! then last night after a full day of doing the 3 hr babywise schedule he slept from 10pm to 1am on the dot... and woke up again at 4:10am. He fussed and woke up at 5am and 5:30am again, each time he lost his pacifier.......

1)Now, i am not sure if i screwed up a good thing? by making him on a stringent 3 hour feed/play/sleep schedule did i mess up his rhythm? Will he not be sleeping until 1:30 or 2am now?

2)Also.... if sleep begets sleep, and they say NOT to wake a baby if he is over his birthweight, should i really be waking him up 3 hours after his last feeding if he just fell asleep? It would seem to me that if he was hungry, he would wake up then?

3)should i try and stick with the schedule or just allow him to do his own thing? he did seem happier during his wake periods... previously when i let him do his own thing, when he woke up from a nap he would be crying every time... probably due to hunger and needing a diaper change, but even after these things were done, he seemed cranky, fussy. the past 2 days he has been more content to sit in his swing for more than 10 minutes, and even allowed me to hold him during his wakeful period and didnt fuss......

All this information out there is so contradictory! I know babywise didnt work for everyone....those of you that are/have used it, please help!

Lena122

Once baby has reached his birth weight I wouldn't wake him to feed. You can still do the eat/play/sleep schedule if that seems to make him happier but I see no reason why you would wake a sleeping baby. In my experience with DS, sleep definitely begets sleep.

mbcgirlie14

My best friend used baby wise for both of her children and bought the book for me as a gift.  I plan on starting when DS Is a few weeks older.  She said that for her every change in the schedule took 3 days to see results.  She said they were all really long 3 days. Lol. But she said when se would switch from a 3 to a 4 hour schedule or if she changed something else in the schedule it would take 3 days of some fussy babies to work out and then everything was great.  Hope that helps 

Sclines2595

https://www.babywisemom.com/

This is the website I am using for all of my questions. SIL used babywise for her DD and swore by it do we figure we would try it. DS is only 9 days old so we aren really able to be strict with it yet as he is still adjusting.  Babywise isn't necessarially a schedule as you call it... It's more of a routine. We try the eat, play, sleep routine although DS isn't always able to stay awake after feedings. But I feed him...change his diaper...try to keep him awake if possible and let him go to sleep. He tends to wake u by himself every 2.3-3 hours at this point even through the night. After his 2 week appt I am going to check with the doctor to see If I can let him sleep at night without waking him every 3 hours. I am not a babywise expert - but I know that website has answered lots of questions for me  

davidswife06

I am a big fan of Babywise. We don't do it as stringently as some, but we always do one thing. We follow the eat, play, sleep "routine" during the day. I really feel like this has helped both my babies differentiate between days and nights and help regulate their little bodies into a rhythm. During the day, I don't let them go much past 3 hours. At night, I let her go as long as she wants. We've been getting 7 hour stretches consistently. 

Oh and when I say I'm a fan of this "method" I don't think you should not feed your baby when s/he is hungry, etc. Make sure you wake the baby in the first two weeks during the day to insure your milk supply is established, etc. 

michelle_1221

All the books and advice can be overwhelming for sure.  I sorta used the Baby Whisper (eat, activity, sleep on a 3 hour schedule during the day).  A pediatric nurse friend explained it to me like this which helped me, you're baby needs a certain amount of food a day, the more you can give them during the day, the better they will do at night.  I'm sure it's not true for all babies, but it's worked pretty well for my DD.  At 5 weeks, we began getting our 6 hours stretches at night and she was 8# (and she's EBF). 

Thinkerbelle80

Everything I've read about sleep training says you should not try it till your baby is a minimum of both four months old and 14 pounds.  Some books say five months and fifteen pounds. YOur baby is much much too young for this.  YOu need to feed him on demand always.  Also, most babies aren't on a stringent schedule like that at this young age.  I would let him do things on his schedule and then try again after four months to do the Babywise program.  

fernane

Thinkerbelle80:

Everything I've read about sleep training says you should not try it till your baby is a minimum of both four months old and 14 pounds.  Some books say five months and fifteen pounds. YOur baby is much much too young for this.  YOu need to feed him on demand always.  Also, most babies aren't on a stringent schedule like that at this young age.  I would let him do things on his schedule and then try again after four months to do the Babywise program.  

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