Baby Wise and the sleep phase

hadeelb · October 2014

I'm trying to impliment the baby wise program for my LO ( have been since week 2,now going into week 5). The eat, play routine is working fine but I'm having trouble transitioning into the sleep after activity. Anyone else trying this method? How are you able to transition your LO into winding down and eventually fall sleep? I've tried everything I can think of, quite, dark room, swaddling, shushing, rocking, you name it and he just fights it even though he is tired.

CplusJ=S · October 2014

The book actually recommends letting a newborn CIO for 45 minutes? Wow. I have to give that advice a giant side eye. I've never read the book, but have heard some not so great things about the author's method. I'm not against CIO for an older baby, but allowing a newborn to CIO for 45 minutes is utterly disgusting.

hadeelb · October 2014

AmyG* said:
most really young babies might do more of a eat activity eat sleep pattern, humans newborns are hard wired to eat right before sleeping. I also would caution against crying it out, even "just" 5 minutes. At this age even if they just need to be held that is a real need, not a want. they are establishing their connection to you during this time. It's why it's called the 4th trimester.
Also you might want to read up on the controversy about Babywise and it's links to failure to thrive. You should probably read other books that promote the EASY sleep pattern without the negative connotations and poor advice of Babywise.

AmyG*, I also read the baby whisper's EASY method. Seems similar. I have not let him CIO, but he just cry's all the time regardless if I'm holding him or if he's in the crib when trying to put him to sleep.

CplusJ=S · October 2014

Just wanted to say that FTR, my disdain for the book wasn't a jab at anyone here (unless someone here actually thinks it's okay to let a newborn cry that long which I sincerely hope isn't the case). My newborn has cried for 5 minutes many times when I couldn't get to him because I've been fixing my toddler her breakfast or wiping her butt or reading her a story at nap time or driving or at my wits end. Sometimes it is unavoidable, but as long as you are getting to him most of the time I don't think you are doing him harm.

Nootbar · October 2014

This link has some info from the critics of BW: https://www.ezzo.info/resources/timeline/81-timeline/107-babywise-advice-linked-to-dehydration-failure-to-thrive

I'm sure you can also find "pro" information out there, but I personally had a friend whose attempt to BF was destroyed by this method-- so I'm a bit biased against it. She had so many struggles during her LO's infancy, she was always stressed out, and it seemed to me that she ended up in almost an adversarial relationship with her baby.

It may be less of an issue for FF babies, due to the quicker stomach emptying of BF babies and varying frequency needs of BF newborns, which is highly dependent on mom's storage capacity (see this kellymom link for more info on that: https://kellymom.com/pregnancy/bf-prep/milkproduction/)

Just my two cents. I trust the mommies here to implement whatever methods they choose in a safe and sane way!

hadeelb · October 2014

Thanks for the advise ladies! I've been trying to modify his activity phase today because I think I'm missing his sleeping cues and he gets overtired very quickly and then it's impossible to calm him. So far so good....to bad his activity time is almost nothing!

Ahlome08 · October 2014

Just curious, but I would love to know what sleeping cues are for babies under 6 weeks, I didn't know there was such a thing. My LO is almost a month and I just let him pass out when he wants. If he won't take the boob any longer, I just put him in my chest, and pat his back. This help gets any excess air out, and if he is tired, he will not route, he will just lay his head down and in 5-10 mins he's completely conked. I figure since babies sleep so much at his age, if he's awake he needs something. If he doesn't need anything, he is sleeping.

hadeelb · October 2014

Ahlome08 said:
Just curious, but I would love to know what sleeping cues are for babies under 6 weeks, I didn't know there was such a thing. My LO is almost a month and I just let him pass out when he wants. If he won't take the boob any longer, I just put him in my chest, and pat his back. This help gets any excess air out, and if he is tired, he will not route, he will just lay his head down and in 5-10 mins he's completely conked. I figure since babies sleep so much at his age, if he's awake he needs something. If he doesn't need anything, he is sleeping.

I've tried that but my LO will wake within 15-20 mins still hungry and that just extends his feeding time to over an hour. I look for that first yawn, glazed look in his eyes (he stairs at the wall or at a light) and startles easily. If he starts fussy I'm too late and missed my window to put his down and let him fall asleep on his own. Granted I just started trying his today and it has worked 2 out if 3 times. This last time I bathed him and missed the window to put him down before he got cranky.

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