BabyWise/Sleep Scheduling

krystleshel · July 2015

My LO is about to be 3 weeks old & I've been reading up on scheduling/routines for newborns. I have to go back to school at 6/7 weeks, & I know daycare is on a routine & it'll help her transition to there better (fingers crossed). I've seen a lot about BabyWise ideas & wake, eat, play, nap schedule. Anyone started/tried this yet or are you just winging it?

*I'm still winging it & feeding/napping on her schedule within 2-4 hour rules. & I won't start any thing until 4 weeks, personally.

ksimo6 · July 2015

We "kind of" baby wise our son. We wake him every three hours to eat during the day (we feed him if he is hungry sooner than that) and then we try to keep him awake for a bit. At night, I let him direct when he wakes and eats... But I put him right back down when he's done. No playing in the middle of the night.

We did the same thing with our daughter and she started sleeping in 6-9 hours stretches in her 9th week. That said, every kid is different... And will stretch that sleep when they are ready. My son is almost give weeks and is going about four hours between feedings at night.

lindsladle15 · July 2015

I know the whole concept is controversial, but I love those books! We used the first book for DD1 and also the second (it's thinner and teal...something like parenting your pretoddler). We are planning to start a schedule in a week or so...DD2 is currently just over 2 wks.
The books are very interesting, research-based, and they make sense to DH and me on all fronts. Our ped. at church recommended them to us and is also friends with the authors.

DD1 was sleeping through the night and happily on a schedule by 6-7 weeks (though we started the process late with her). It was so helpful to have something to follow and not feel like I was winging it all the time.

krystleshel · July 2015

Awesome! Thank you @ksimo6 & @lindsladle15 !

From what I've read online about it, its parent led, so baby gets used to "going down" for a nap. I really love this idea. DH is all for the crying it out idea, but I feel that we are WAYYY to early for that right now, so from what I've read-that's the only thing I am iffy on for her age. Otherwise, the schedule/plans seem worth the effort. I wanted to start a nap a day in the crib now.
To each their own with parenting. Lord knows it's hard enough to figure out & do what's best for you & your family!

laurendutch · July 2015

We just had our 2 week newborn check up and we talked to our Ped about how DD has her nights/days mixed up. He gave us some great advice. During the day, we are to wake up DD every 2 hours and keep her up for 10 minutes. The point is that she doesn't fall into REM sleep and will save it for night time. Right now, DD is deep sleeping during the day and is up wide awake from 9 pm to 1/2 am.

ksimo6 · July 2015

krystleshel said:
Awesome! Thank you @ksimo6 & @lindsladle15 !

From what I've read online about it, its parent led, so baby gets used to "going down" for a nap. I really love this idea. DH is all for the crying it out idea, but I feel that we are WAYYY to early for that right now, so from what I've read-that's the only thing I am iffy on for her age. Otherwise, the schedule/plans seem worth the effort. I wanted to start a nap a day in the crib now.
To each their own with parenting. Lord knows it's hard enough to figure out & do what's best for you & your family!

Yeah, we didn't "sleep train" our daughter until about 6 months and we did a modified version of "crying it out". I didn't have the heart to do it but my husband got her sleeping well in about three days. The first evening was about 45 minutes and the next two were 15. I would not recommend sleep training this Early. If the babe is crying, they need comfort or food at this point. My two cents.

rklinge0 · July 2015

I dont think its normal but at night my lo put herself on a schedule and its pretty great. She goes to bed on her own between 9 and 9:30. And then pretty much sleeps in 4 hr shifts to wake for 15 minutes and then passes back out after she eats.We have gotten a few stretches longer up to 7 hrs but I don't like her waiting that long. She wakes up around 10 a.m.
We do need to work on a schedule during the day. But I can handle anything if she keeps up with her evening schedule.
And I think some daycares will let the babies stay on their own schedule and let them sleep and eat on demand. The one that was at my school let the infants do that, which made me feel a little better.

laurendutch · July 2015

rklinge0 said:
I dont think its normal but at night my lo put herself on a schedule and its pretty great. She goes to bed on her own between 9 and 9:30. And then pretty much sleeps in 4 hr shifts to wake for 15 minutes and then passes back out after she eats.We have gotten a few stretches longer up to 7 hrs but I don't like her waiting that long. She wakes up around 10 a.m.
We do need to work on a schedule during the day. But I can handle anything if she keeps up with her evening schedule.
And I think some daycares will let the babies stay on their own schedule and let them sleep and eat on demand. The one that was at my school let the infants do that, which made me feel a little better.

My twins were on a great night time schedule since birth.

mindaa · July 2015

We haven't really tried a schedule, but LO sort of has his own routine. One thing we did for nights was start early using sleep "cues". At night keep the room dark, quiet and cool, swaddle LO and turn on white noise. First thing in the morning we open the curtains and change him into a short onesie. In the morning he'll often fall asleep after eating but then after a long late-morning nap, he's pretty alert in the afternoon/evening, and eats frequently.

GL - let us know how it goes!

dancegurl1118 · July 2015

Any tips for keeping LO warm after a bath? She freaks out as soon as we take her out of the water and until I put her to breast. Defeats the purpose of calming routine ha!

ksimo6 · July 2015

@dancegurl1118 a friend of mine used a space heater in the bathroom during bath time. May be worth a shot.

krystleshel · July 2015

@dancegurl1118 & @ksimo6 the newborn photographer we used brought a space heater to keep her calm & asleep & it worked wonders!! I told DH we have to get one for winter!!

hbornzin · July 2015

We are trying the baby wise approach and have been for a few weeks. My son sleeps well at night, for long stretches or wakes up, feeds and goes right back down. However, during the day he does not want to sleep.. Like at all.. He is great when we do 'wake time' activities, but as soon as we put him in his cradle or swing to sleep he starts crying and crying! We've tried everything to get him to nap, skipping wake time, making it shorter, swaddling, laying him on his side, white noise, etc. but if he does fall asleep it's for 10-20 minutes and then he's awake screaming again. We try to let him cry it out. Also, if you go to him and give him his pacifier or place your hand on him he calms down or as soon as you pick him up he calms down, so It's not colic! Ps he is eating right before this and he eats for about 30-45 minutes so I know he's not hungry! Any advice?? We are going nuts over here!

mindaa · July 2015

hbornzin said:
We are trying the baby wise approach and have been for a few weeks. My son sleeps well at night, for long stretches or wakes up, feeds and goes right back down. However, during the day he does not want to sleep.. Like at all.. He is great when we do 'wake time' activities, but as soon as we put him in his cradle or swing to sleep he starts crying and crying! We've tried everything to get him to nap, skipping wake time, making it shorter, swaddling, laying him on his side, white noise, etc. but if he does fall asleep it's for 10-20 minutes and then he's awake screaming again. We try to let him cry it out. Also, if you go to him and give him his pacifier or place your hand on him he calms down or as soon as you pick him up he calms down, so It's not colic! Ps he is eating right before this and he eats for about 30-45 minutes so I know he's not hungry! Any advice?? We are going nuts over here!

My DS naps great in the k'tan - guess he's kinda spoiled

queequeg09256 · July 2015

We've worked pretty hard on the whole night and day thing and we just try to keep lo awake during the day which she is now so much better at! She is 5 weeks old now and goes down between 10-11 and Wales up around 4:30-5:00am which is when dh gets up for work. If she wakes up in the middle of the night we feed and she goes right back to sleep usually.now that I'm saying this she will be a mini nightmare tonight I'm sure. I'm trying to get her on a 6-7 hour stretch by week 8 when I go back to work. My ped says this is perfectly ok especially given her great weight gain and growth. So I'm pretty stoked to keep it up so that nights won't be so bad.

thay33 · July 2015

ksimo6 said:
We "kind of" baby wise our son. We wake him every three hours to eat during the day (we feed him if he is hungry sooner than that) and then we try to keep him awake for a bit. At night, I let him direct when he wakes and eats... But I put him right back down when he's done. No playing in the middle of the night.

We did the same thing with our daughter and she started sleeping in 6-9 hours stretches in her 9th week. That said, every kid is different... And will stretch that sleep when they are ready. My son is almost give weeks and is going about four hours between feedings at night.

If you don't mind me asking... How do you try to keep your baby awake during the day? My sons sleep schedule during the day is making him be awake at night. I've been trying to keep him away during the day but he keeps falling asleep on me lol!

hbornzin · July 2015

thay33 said:

ksimo6 said:
We "kind of" baby wise our son. We wake him every three hours to eat during the day (we feed him if he is hungry sooner than that) and then we try to keep him awake for a bit. At night, I let him direct when he wakes and eats... But I put him right back down when he's done. No playing in the middle of the night.

We did the same thing with our daughter and she started sleeping in 6-9 hours stretches in her 9th week. That said, every kid is different... And will stretch that sleep when they are ready. My son is almost give weeks and is going about four hours between feedings at night.
If you don't mind me asking... How do you try to keep your baby awake during the day? My sons sleep schedule during the day is making him be awake at night. I've been trying to keep him away during the day but he keeps falling asleep on me lol!

After he eats we do a diaper change, play on his activity gym or read books or go on the swing with the mobile turning (he'll watch it if I sit next to him) or take the dogs for a walk with DH and sometimes I just talk to him or make faces..

thay33 · July 2015

hbornzin said:

thay33 said:

ksimo6 said:
We "kind of" baby wise our son. We wake him every three hours to eat during the day (we feed him if he is hungry sooner than that) and then we try to keep him awake for a bit. At night, I let him direct when he wakes and eats... But I put him right back down when he's done. No playing in the middle of the night.

We did the same thing with our daughter and she started sleeping in 6-9 hours stretches in her 9th week. That said, every kid is different... And will stretch that sleep when they are ready. My son is almost give weeks and is going about four hours between feedings at night.
If you don't mind me asking... How do you try to keep your baby awake during the day? My sons sleep schedule during the day is making him be awake at night. I've been trying to keep him away during the day but he keeps falling asleep on me lol!
After he eats we do a diaper change, play on his activity gym or read books or go on the swing with the mobile turning (he'll watch it if I sit next to him) or take the dogs for a walk with DH and sometimes I just talk to him or make faces..

So far I've tried tummy time, to which hell do for a little but then fall asleep. & then I'll move him to his back to try and play with the toys and such on the mat we have and he'll still kinda be in a daze. & when I put him in his swing he's out like a light lol I will say when I put him in my chicco for a walk that will keep him awake but the weather has been so crappy here in NY with all the rain so I haven't really been able to take him for walks. His sleep schedule is definitely turned around because I know at night I could easily play with him since he is so so wide awake but I'll just try rocking him or play soft music etc. I'm not too sure what makes him so tired during the day. I will say though there are times between feedings that he is wide awake as he is at night but it's just not as often as it is at night

katyertl · July 2015

It's hard for us to have an activity time after LO eats because we have to keep her upright for 30 mins and I swear even if we move her a little bit she spits up. So by the time 30 mins is up she's sleeping. Blahhh!!

mindaa · July 2015

thay33 said:

ksimo6 said:
We "kind of" baby wise our son. We wake him every three hours to eat during the day (we feed him if he is hungry sooner than that) and then we try to keep him awake for a bit. At night, I let him direct when he wakes and eats... But I put him right back down when he's done. No playing in the middle of the night.

We did the same thing with our daughter and she started sleeping in 6-9 hours stretches in her 9th week. That said, every kid is different... And will stretch that sleep when they are ready. My son is almost give weeks and is going about four hours between feedings at night.
If you don't mind me asking... How do you try to keep your baby awake during the day? My sons sleep schedule during the day is making him be awake at night. I've been trying to keep him away during the day but he keeps falling asleep on me lol!

I think she was just saying that she tries to keep LO awake for a bit between eating and sleeping. I don't think babies are the same as adults in that sleeping "too much" during the day prevents them from sleeping at night. Actually not sleeping enough during the day can make them over tired and over stimulated, which makes it hard for them to sleep. You might try adding sleep cues (bath, swaddle, white noise) to help differentiate nights. Happiest Baby has some more tips.

hbornzin · July 2015

mindaa said:

thay33 said:

ksimo6 said:
We "kind of" baby wise our son. We wake him every three hours to eat during the day (we feed him if he is hungry sooner than that) and then we try to keep him awake for a bit. At night, I let him direct when he wakes and eats... But I put him right back down when he's done. No playing in the middle of the night.

We did the same thing with our daughter and she started sleeping in 6-9 hours stretches in her 9th week. That said, every kid is different... And will stretch that sleep when they are ready. My son is almost give weeks and is going about four hours between feedings at night.
If you don't mind me asking... How do you try to keep your baby awake during the day? My sons sleep schedule during the day is making him be awake at night. I've been trying to keep him away during the day but he keeps falling asleep on me lol!
I think she was just saying that she tries to keep LO awake for a bit between eating and sleeping. I don't think babies are the same as adults in that sleeping "too much" during the day prevents them from sleeping at night. Actually not sleeping enough during the day can make them over tired and over stimulated, which makes it hard for them to sleep. You might try adding sleep cues (bath, swaddle, white noise) to help differentiate nights. Happiest Baby has some more tips.

Yes! I read baby wise and the book says to wake them, feed them and then do wake time activities for a little bit before putting them down for a nap! You keep them awake for like 30ish minutes after a feed and then put them down for a nap, but when it's nighttime, you don't wake them (once pediatrician says it's okay for them to sleep). When they wake up in the middle of the night, you feed them and put them straight to bed, no playing. This is supposed to help your baby understand the difference between day and night.. However in my sons case he will skip a nap altogether no matter how hard I try to get him to sleep after wake time...

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