Baby Wise: Day 1

TrulyBlessed22 · July 2013

Our LO is 6 weeks today and I've decided to start her on Baby Wise feed/sleep training today. I'm focusing on the feeding part first and then hope that the napping schedule will follow shortly thereafter. One can hope.
The plan is that by the time I return to work she will be on a good eating and feeding schedule.
Anyone else using Baby Wise, I'd love to hear how it's going for you.

ksimmy · July 2013

I haven't but my LO was 6 weeks as of yesterday and I was just wondering when and how to get her on a sleep and feeding sch.

She does really well at night for the most part but during the day its constant snacking and cat naps..

TrulyBlessed22 · July 2013

ksimmy:
I haven't but my LO was 6 weeks as of yesterday and I was just wondering when and how to get her on a sleep and feeding sch.nbsp;She does really well at night for the most part but during the day its constant snacking and cat naps..nbsp;

My LO is the queen of catnaps, see yesterday's Catnaps post from me lol. She too does really well at night though. Really hoping this book is as good as everyone says. My dentist and neighbor swear by it, here's hoping.

ksimmy · July 2013

I hope so too!! Let me know how it works!!!

I hate not being on a schedule for my life. I know its her schedule now but I have a hard time not knowing what to expect from day to day!

KLJ3 · July 2013

People tend to freak out about BabyWise, but DH and I are trying a middle of the road mix of the Baby Whisperer technique and the BabyWise stuff.

To date, our LO follows the daytime routine [and I make a distinction between "routine" and "schedule"] very nicely. He is far too religious about eating to follow the nighttime routine very well, though. :]. We'll get a pretty good stretch from 9 or 10 until 2 or 3, but then the little man is huuungry!

He'll STTN when he's good and ready.

TrulyBlessed22 · July 2013

KLJ3:
People tend to freak out about BabyWise, but DH and I are trying a middle of the road mix of the Baby Whisperer technique and the BabyWise stuff.

To date, our LO follows the daytime routine [and I make a distinction between "routine" and "schedule"] very nicely. He is far too religious about eating to follow the nighttime routine very well, though. :]. We'll get a pretty good stretch from 9 or 10 until 2 or 3, but then the little man is huuungry!

He'll STTN when he's good and ready.

Yes, I don't plan to make myself crazy over following it but I like having a plan/routine. Glad yours is going well.

MrsM1111 · July 2013

Abbie will be 8wks on Friday and has been on the baby whisperer easy schedule for about a week and a half with only one day randomly that she was off but we got her back close to schedule by afternoon that day. I'm happy with it. It's wake and Eat immediately at 7, Activity til 8:30, Sleep for an hour and a half for some You time and repeat at 10, 1, 4 and 7. We do bath time at 8, a book and rock with a snack. She's usually out by no later than 9:30 and does her MON at 4ish. They recommend a dream feed, but Abbie is good at her nights, so we haven't done it. Also, if she shows signs of tiredness before her "scheduled" nap time, we will put her down early and never wake her to feed unless she is sleeping for more than 3hrs as it is ultimately a guide for her day's activities... It really has worked great for us and it has made it easier to interpret what she needs...

blush64 · July 2013

AmyG:
I do anything other than BabyWise.nbsp; It was written by an idiot guy with no child care experience.nbsp; And it is the only baby care book that has a policy statement against it by the American Academy of Pediatrics due to the high incidence of babies being failure to thrive when following the advice as written.nbsp; If you have to sort of follow a book, but don't follow it exactly, or you'll put your baby at risk of not getting enough feedings in a day and failing to thrive, that's a sign of a poor book.nbsp; If you like the Eat, Activity, Sleep, you sort of pattern there are other books that detail that without the same risk.

There are a lot of books out there, why not follow one that hasn't caused issues for other babies.

LovestruckAJ · July 2013

AmyG*:
I do anything other than BabyWise. It was written by an idiot guy with no child care experience. And it is the only baby care book that has a policy statement against it by the American Academy of Pediatrics due to the high incidence of babies being failure to thrive when following the advice as written. If you have to sort of follow a book, but don't follow it exactly, or you'll put your baby at risk of not getting enough feedings in a day and failing to thrive, that's a sign of a poor book. If you like the Eat, Activity, Sleep, you sort of pattern there are other books that detail that without the same risk.

All of this, but especially the bolded. Ezzo is a manipulative and condescending douchbag. He tries to convince women that our natural instincts to soothe our babies are wrong and damaging to our child's development, & that HIS methods are right. Some of the scare tactics he uses to dupe women into using his teaching are disgusting.

Here's an example of one:

"Mother?s decisions without assessment can be dangerous. To deny the importance of careful assessment is to deny parents their role as leaders. Leaders must be clear-headed and ready to make decisions. They should not be driven by emotions. In practice, emotional mothering can set the stage for child abuse.? (p. 151)

That's one of many gems you'll find in his book.

MermaidNM · July 2013

I am all for routine and getting in a groove but feeding/sleep training suggests using CIO which is nuts at this age. I am all for sleep training at 6 months with CIO but not feeding training with CIO and never CIO at this age. It is just cruel.

EASY has really helped me keep DS in a better groove with less crying. He has fallen asleep drowsy but awake a few times without crying. It was like magic. But he still eats about every 2 hours, maybe 2.5. And I won't let him cry to lengthen his feedings period. He depends on me to eat one hundred percent. But I am not a comfort boob giver either.

TheyCalledHerKate · July 2013

The AAP condemned that book so it's not something I'm interested in trying as I feel there are other books that help establish healthy sleep habits.

TrulyBlessed22 · July 2013

Thank you Everyone I really appreciate the feedback.

LadyDelilah · July 2013

I wouldn't even use baby wise the book if I was out of toilet paper. I will say that having a schedule does help for working moms when I had DD and went back to school/work full time it was helpful. But if you take a page from Dr Sears in letting your baby establish a schedule and modify that you will have more success than telling your baby what (s)he needs. When the relationship is built for them to tell us what they need and we are supposed to respond.

Trust your gut and if it doesn't feel right then stop doing it. Other than that good luck.

TrulyBlessed22 · July 2013

LadyDelilah:
I wouldn't even use baby wise the book if I was out of toilet paper. I will say that having a schedule does help for working moms when I had DD and went back to school/work full time it was helpful. But if you take a page from Dr Sears in letting your baby establish a schedule and modify that you will have more success than telling your baby what she needs. When the relationship is built for them to tell us what they need and we are supposed to respond. : Trust your gut and if it doesn't feel right then stop doing it. Other than that good luck.

Thank you, I really do appreciate all of the feedback and I'm glad I posted on here as I was unaware of the AAP thing. With that said, by no means do I plan to follow this book to a T to the point of having my LO not thrive, become dehydrated etc. I do however like having a guide and some type of stability as I will be a working Mom soon. My DD will be fed if she's hungry, even if it hasn't been 3 hours etc. I'm simply trying to develop some sort of first first morning feed and last official night feed with some built in naps as my DD isn't a very good day sleeper. Again, I really do appreciate the feedback though.

TrulyBlessed22 · July 2013

AmyG*:
gmorel:
LadyDelilah:
I wouldn't even use baby wise the book if I was out of toilet paper. I will say that having a schedule does help for working moms when I had DD and went back to school/work full time it was helpful. But if you take a page from Dr Sears in letting your baby establish a schedule and modify that you will have more success than telling your baby what she needs. When the relationship is built for them to tell us what they need and we are supposed to respond. : Trust your gut and if it doesn't feel right then stop doing it. Other than that good luck.
Thank you, I really do appreciate all of the feedback and I'm glad I posted on here as I was unaware of the AAP thing. With that said, by no means do I plan to follow this book to a T to the point of having my LO not thrive, become dehydrated etc. I do however like having a guide and some type of stability as I will be a working Mom soon. My DD will be fed if she's hungry, even if it hasn't been 3 hours etc. I'm simply trying to develop some sort of first first morning feed and last official night feed with some built in naps as my DD isn't a very good day sleeper. Again, I really do appreciate the feedback though.
You don't need Babywise to do that. Realize that most working moms do fall into a pattern, but what they think the pattern will be when baby is 6 weeks is NOT what the pattern ends up being after a couple weeks at daycare. Some babies eat more at daycare than at home, some babies don't want to eat hardly at all at daycare wanting to wait for mommy to eat. some babies sleep so much at daycare that they don't want to sleep at home, some babies don't sleep at daycare much at all. even if they had a good pattern going into daycare situation, things tend to go out the window for a while as everyone adjusts to that change and find their new normal. Best laid plans so to speak.
The first thing you do to try to create a predictable pattern to your days is write down what baby does for 3 days in a row where you just reply to their needs and they lead the band so to speak. Idealy not during the 6 week growth spurt.
Then sit down with those 3 days of info and figure out what works well for you/baby/family, and what doesn't. A book can't tell you how to work with baby's natural rhythms to make little changes. Encourage the timing that works well. For instance if you want to wake baby up at the same time every day so you'll be on that schedule to go back to work, then try it. Of course I don't recommend waking a sleeping baby, especially at this age. But follow the pattern baby has already set, but tweak it a little here or there. Start a nap routine--lights dim, feed bottle or nurse, certain lullabye/mobile etc. Start a bedtime routine--at a certain time, bath or wash off, pj's, bottle or nurse, book, lullabye, mobile, rock, etc.
At 6 weeks though, don't expect a schedule. just make a predictable pattern. some days nightime routine will start or end at a different time but we always do the parts of the nightime routine in the same order.

Thank you. I'm thankful for this board.

virginiagirl11 · July 2013

I honestly think people way overanalyze Babywise and take it way too seriously. Sure, babies aren't going to thrive if you don't feed them. Babywise never says not to feed them. In fact, it specifically tells you to feed them if they're hungry.

When I read it before I had #1, I took it with a grain of salt and used it loosely in conjunction with the Baby Whisperer's EASY method. They're both generally the same school of thought: eat, play, sleep, repeat. Try to get baby to eat a full meal each time, but feed on demand if baby gets hungry before the next feeding. Look for signs of tiredness before baby gets overly tired. That's about it in a nutshell and certainly not a recipe for disaster.

That said, DS1 tended to be more of a play, eat, sleep baby. He slept best when he ate right before falling asleep. I know that's generally recommended against, but it worked very well for him.

TrulyBlessed22 · July 2013

virginiagirl11:
I honestly think people way overanalyze Babywise and take it way too seriously. Sure, babies aren't going to thrive if you don't feed them. Babywise never says not to feed them. In fact, it specifically tells you to feed them if they're hungry.When I read it before I had 1, I took it with a grain of salt and used it loosely in conjunction with the Baby Whisperer's EASY method. They're both generally the same school of thought: eat, play, sleep, repeat. Try to get baby to eat a full meal each time, but feed on demand if baby gets hungry before the next feeding. Look for signs of tiredness before baby gets overly tired. That's about it in a nutshell and certainly not a recipe for disaster.That said, DS1 tended to be more of a play, eat, sleep baby. He slept best when he ate right before falling asleep. I know that's generally recommended against, but it worked very well for him.

Exactly I'm following it loosely. I'm not stressing over it if I have to get off schedule because she's hungry etc. Her health and well being will always come first, but it's nice having a guide for a routine.

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