- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
March 2011 Moms
iluvbillynollie
member
Laid back mamas, come in!
iluvbillynollie
member
Sometimes when I read some of the posts on the bump, or stumble upon peoples blogs, or even just talk to some of my friends with LO's, I wonder am I the crazy one for not being so scheduled and concerned about sleep patterns, awake times, sleep training, independent playtime,yada, yada, yada?
Please tell me I am not the only mom sort of "winging it" with our LO's. Not winging it in a bad way, just following the baby's cues, and letting our toddler just be a kid. I like to read parenting books too, but they are not my bible, and I usually take most of them with a giant grain of salt. I was reading a blog about Babywise and the other books like Toddlerwise tonight and it just made me cringe reading about some of the things they want you to do in order to "teach" your baby or child. Bleccchhh. Some of that stuff just sounds BSC.
Warning
No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Laid back mamas, come in!
I'm the same way. My mom keeps asking me if I have LO on a "schedule" yet. Ha! When she's hungry, she eats; when she's tired, she sleeps. That's our schedule! The only thing consistent is her bedtime. I try to get her to sleep between 9:30-10:30 every night, and she usually complies pretty well.
I have a friend who swears by CIO and sleep training to get her LOs to take 2 1/2-3 hour naps during the day. My thinking...our babies know when they need to sleep. I don't purposely keep her up or try to get her to sleep. The human race survived long before the "Healthy Sleep Habits" book ever came out!
All of this!!!
<a href="http://s844.photobucket.com/albums/ab4/mrsskelton/?action=view
OMG you don't know how much better this makes me feel. I've always been a 'wing it' person so no surprise that I'm the same with baby. Every so often I get self counscious though and wonder if I'm doing it "right" and then all the "shoulds" creep into my head...he should be on a schedule, he should be sleeping in his crib, he should be blah blah...
But then I look at how happy and easy he is and I figure I must be doing something right. I also find that when I follow his cues he's much much happier and goes to sleep a lot easier.
I am so winging it, and am really lad back about it. I'm not a worrier and having a baby hasn't changed that. I just go with the flow and let her dictate what she needs/wants next.
Often when I read some posts about checking on the baby 50 times in a night or not leaving the house until the baby is 2 months old, I start to think that I'm too laid back. Then I just shrug it off and realize that what we are doing is working for us. Alice is happy, content and hitting all the milestones witin the normal time frame. Why stress about it?
OK so I'm totally one of those people that give people the
when they have their newborn out to Walmart after like a week or less. You are more then welcome to give me the 
too though for not taking my LO out. When it comes to schedules, there is none except as pp said she goes upstairs for bed around 9pm and she eventually falls asleep.
This is me, too! I just listen to her cues and go with the flow. Yup, my baby goes to bed at midnight and wakes up at noon, waking to eat one time (she has been doing that for a few weeks now). I work night shift (went back PT to 2 nights/week) so this current sleep pattern works awesome for me. I come home, shower, feed her, and get 3-4 hours of sleep.
I follow my baby's cues. We don't have a schedule.
I would actually guess that MOST of the moms on these boards feed and nap "on demand". You just don't see them posting about it, because there's really nothing to post about. Whereas the moms following schedules or babywise, etc. have questions about the process, share ideas, etc.
DS born Dec 10, 2013
You took the words out of my mouth girl!
I'm another one who feels better after seeing this post. I started to feel like I was the only person who didn't get my LO on a schedule and I was questioning if I was doing something wrong.
This is probably the one area where I'm laid back, lol! I'm a planner, list-maker, control freak by nature, but when it comes to my LO eating & sleeping I let her take the lead and let me know when she wants to eat & sleep. This is what works for us. The only scheduled thing she has is her nighttime routine, which she seems to enjoy: she gets a bath sometime between 7 - 8 PM, then MH or I will read to her, then she'll get a bottle, then she's in bed between 9 - 9:30. Even her nighttime routine isn't a true schedule.
My mom, one of my sisters, & my MIL keep telling me LO must be on a schedule. My mom tells me that LO has me on a schedule & I need to get off of it and get LO on my schedule. Why must I? What we do now is what works best for us. LO is happy & I'm happy.
Why wouldn't I go with his schedule? If he's happy - then his schedule is working for me. The only thing I HAVE to do right now is be a Mom. I don't have a schedule aside from what he wants to do. I agree with all of the above, especially those parts I've bolded. We don't bath every night, and we aim for 9:30-10:30 bedtime so we are sort of structured as far as putting him down. Does he always stay down? No, but it's not a big deal, we just feed/rock/cuddle whatever he needs to fall back asleep. Eventually, he will stay asleep all night, every night and we'll be even more happy!! I hate hearing him cry, so forcing a routine other than one he's comfortable with seems counter-productive to me.
A few weeks ago, DS fell into his own schedule as far as taking a long afternoon nap and we try to have him in bed by 9:30. But some days he naps earlier rather than later and other days he's not ready for bed at 9;30. So around here we pretty much just go with it. He is fed on demand and in between sleeping and eating times, we get in playtime, snuggle time, etc. And it's not in any specific pattern.
Early on, I wanted to find a way to have more of a routine, but it turns out that DS knows what he needs and he figured out his own schedule.
I only have a night time routine. He is happy with it, and works great for us. Around 7:30-8, he gets a bath. Then after he gets a massage and it's story time. I nurse him and I put him to bed usually drowsy so he learns how to self soothe. He is asleep by 9:30 the latest every night and wakes between 2-230 to eat and goes right back to sleep. I have to have him on a night time schedule so that I can function at work the next day. He doesn't fight me, I usually fight him to stay awake a little longer.
Other then that, I feed on demand, and nap time is on demand too during the weekends. He is on a schedule at daycare.
Yes! You totally took the words right out of my mouth! I also feel so much pressure from others to be a certain way or have my kids doing certain things, that I feel I am constantly questioning my parenting style. I need to just stop and realize that we are doing what works for us. I dont think it helps that I am by far the most laid back of my group and most of my friends with kids are Babywise type moms. I am SO relieved to hear that others feel the same way I do! Thanks everyone!