Any Babywise moms?

J&D2007 · September 2015

I know it's somewhat controversial, but we are trying the Babywise method with LO. I read quite a few books and that's the one that really stood out for me as being sensible and I'm a bit of a schedule lover anyway:-). Just wanted to see if any others are trying it and how it's going? My LO is just under 4 weeks and we are now just starting our groove. We were doing pretty well at first, then a 3 weeks growth spurt threw us a little. So, we are now on pretty predictable 3 hour cycles, starting at 7 a.m. We are doing well with the sleep-.feed-wake routine, with LO sleeping about an hour and a half, eating for 45 minutes, then awake time for 45 minutes. At night, we haven't been able to go more than 2-1/2 hrs between feedings though. We are eating at 10pm, 1a.m., 4am. I know the book says baby will automatically start to extend the sleeping periods at night, but our don't seem to be budging at all. Cycles are shorter at night if anything, so I don't have any idea how we are going to merge the 2 MOTN feedings. Any suggestions? Another question is : for naps, are you putting LO in the same sleep spot as your night routine? Book says to make it just like night conditions (I.e. Dark, etc), but I worry that if I always do that, that baby will decide he needs to be on his crib in the dark only if he needs to sleep. Also, did you/will you sleep in separate rooms at 4 weeks like it suggests? I'm having a hard time as his room is on a different level of the house and it's a long way at night!! Let me know how you all are doing!

SashaDenn25 · September 2015

I dont know what the babywise method is, but I know @deviduke412 is using this method.

deviduke412 · September 2015

Yes, BabyWise for us here. Love it! All of our close friends follow this method too and it's been successful for all of them. My Lo will be 5 weeks tomorrow. We start our day at 730 and are on a 3 hour schedule. The exception being only 2 hours between the last 2 feedings. So I feed at 730, 1030, 130, 430, 730, and 930. I did that Bc it helps him to be fuller for bedtime and so my husband and I can still go to bed together. If we would have a growth spurt or he'd get hungry earlier, I feed him and just gradually re-adjust the schedule throughout the day to get back on schedule. So he gets to bed about 1015 and sleeps til usually between 3-4, but the last two nights it's been 445-530. Then I lay him back down to sleep til I wake at 730. Anyways, his wake time, including feeding time, is usually between 45-55 min. I was originally keeping him up way too long at about 90 minutes and he was getting too tired and overstimulated. He sleeps in his crib for all naps and bedtime. We started this the 3rd day home. It's important to remember that the feeding time counts as part of your awake time. As for your MOTN feedings, are you making sure you keep the baby awake while he eats to ensure a full feeding? Do you swaddle? Do you have a specific night time routine? Mine isn't too complex. It consists of feeding 1 side, changing clothes and diaper, putting on nighttime lotion, feed other side, then sing him a song. I try to keep it the same each night so he can learn what is coming-bedtime. Same with naps. I try to do the same similar routine before I lay him down so he knows it's ok to sleep now. There is a blog called chronicles of a BabyWise mom. If you haven't heard of it, I highly recommend you to check it out. It's a life saver and offers so much more info than the book. I've been looking up her blog topics nearly every day to get advice. My lo struggles with naps, but does well at night. Her sleep hierarchy blog helped me to understand that sleep training is a process and that if you don't get it quite right the one nap, there's always next nap time. Did you start BabyWise right away? Wasn't sure how far you were into the process. I'm sure she probably has a blog on the MOTN topic. They also recommend not making night feedings a social time, as in talking a lot to baby and playing. So they learn it isn't a social call. Are you putting baby to bed awake? Does he fight it a lot or only fuss for a few min? I'm sure you know this too but you aren't having play wake time during the night feedings right? Just feed and straight back to bed. There's so much info I could share but so much to type lol. I wish we could discuss face to face, itd be much easier

Oh and I don't make his room dark for naps. He has curtains but some light comes in. I didn't want him to be dependent upon needing a dark area to sleep.

ChristinaWild · September 2015

I'm trying it and having some success. Are you doing a dream feed and cluster feeding in the evenings? I found the schedules on this site to be very helpful. My little guy is six weeks, and we haven't quite shifted to the 3.5 hour feeding schedule, so I'm following the one listed for 3 weeks.
https://m.journeyofparenthood.com/k1dk29l/articles/37046/Birth-Six-Month-Babywise-Schedule

J&D2007 · September 2015

deviduke412 said:

Yes, BabyWise for us here. Love it! All of our close friends follow this method too and it's been successful for all of them. My Lo will be 5 weeks tomorrow. We start our day at 730 and are on a 3 hour schedule. The exception being only 2 hours between the last 2 feedings. So I feed at 730, 1030, 130, 430, 730, and 930. I did that Bc it helps him to be fuller for bedtime and so my husband and I can still go to bed together. If we would have a growth spurt or he'd get hungry earlier, I feed him and just gradually re-adjust the schedule throughout the day to get back on schedule. So he gets to bed about 1015 and sleeps til usually between 3-4, but the last two nights it's been 445-530. Then I lay him back down to sleep til I wake at 730. Anyways, his wake time, including feeding time, is usually between 45-55 min. I was originally keeping him up way too long at about 90 minutes and he was getting too tired and overstimulated. He sleeps in his crib for all naps and bedtime. We started this the 3rd day home. It's important to remember that the feeding time counts as part of your awake time. As for your MOTN feedings, are you making sure you keep the baby awake while he eats to ensure a full feeding? Do you swaddle? Do you have a specific night time routine? Mine isn't too complex. It consists of feeding 1 side, changing clothes and diaper, putting on nighttime lotion, feed other side, then sing him a song. I try to keep it the same each night so he can learn what is coming-bedtime. Same with naps. I try to do the same similar routine before I lay him down so he knows it's ok to sleep now. There is a blog called chronicles of a BabyWise mom. If you haven't heard of it, I highly recommend you to check it out. It's a life saver and offers so much more info than the book. I've been looking up her blog topics nearly every day to get advice. My lo struggles with naps, but does well at night. Her sleep hierarchy blog helped me to understand that sleep training is a process and that if you don't get it quite right the one nap, there's always next nap time. Did you start BabyWise right away? Wasn't sure how far you were into the process. I'm sure she probably has a blog on the MOTN topic. They also recommend not making night feedings a social time, as in talking a lot to baby and playing. So they learn it isn't a social call. Are you putting baby to bed awake? Does he fight it a lot or only fuss for a few min? I'm sure you know this too but you aren't having play wake time during the night feedings right? Just feed and straight back to bed. There's so much info I could share but so much to type lol. I wish we could discuss face to face, itd be much easier Oh and I don't make his room dark for naps. He has curtains but some light comes in. I didn't want him to be dependent upon needing a dark area to sleep.

Thanks! Yes, we started right away. I feel he's getting a full feeding at night and I actually keep him swaddled during those feedings and don't interact much. Yes, he goes in his crib while drowsy and he fusses about half the time, usually due to gas issues. Usually after the 4a.m. feeding he fusses for almost 45 mins before finally falling asleep (I usually have to take him back out of the crib to soothe, rock, etc to get him back down). I wonder if I have to question my supply as I'm EBF as to why we can't get over the 3 hour mark?? But he seems to be full and prospering poop and pee and weight wise:-). I don't actually have a bedtime routine so I will start that tonight. Maybe singing and a book or something? And I'll check out the chronicles for help. Thanks so much for your help! I may message you sometime if that's ok?

J&D2007 · September 2015

ChristinaWild said:

I'm trying it and having some success. Are you doing a dream feed and cluster feeding in the evenings? I found the schedules on this site to be very helpful. My little guy is six weeks, and we haven't quite shifted to the 3.5 hour feeding schedule, so I'm following the one listed for 3 weeks. https://m.journeyofparenthood.com/k1dk29l/articles/37046/Birth-Six-Month-Babywise-Schedule

I am doing the dream feed at 10pm, but I am not cluster feeding. Not really sure how. Our evening feeds are at 7pm and 10pm. Do o just move the 10pm one up a 1/2 hour? Thanks for the link, going to check it out now!

J&D2007 · September 2015

@deviduke412 , your LO wake time during the day is only 45-55 mins? And she still goes down for a 2 hour nap? I BF for 45 mins or so, then wake time for 30-45mins. I feel like he wouldn't go down to nap after only 45 mins? Guess I could try!!

deviduke412 · September 2015

J&D2007 said:

deviduke412 said:

Yes, BabyWise for us here. Love it! All of our close friends follow this method too and it's been successful for all of them. My Lo will be 5 weeks tomorrow. We start our day at 730 and are on a 3 hour schedule. The exception being only 2 hours between the last 2 feedings. So I feed at 730, 1030, 130, 430, 730, and 930. I did that Bc it helps him to be fuller for bedtime and so my husband and I can still go to bed together. If we would have a growth spurt or he'd get hungry earlier, I feed him and just gradually re-adjust the schedule throughout the day to get back on schedule. So he gets to bed about 1015 and sleeps til usually between 3-4, but the last two nights it's been 445-530. Then I lay him back down to sleep til I wake at 730. Anyways, his wake time, including feeding time, is usually between 45-55 min. I was originally keeping him up way too long at about 90 minutes and he was getting too tired and overstimulated. He sleeps in his crib for all naps and bedtime. We started this the 3rd day home. It's important to remember that the feeding time counts as part of your awake time. As for your MOTN feedings, are you making sure you keep the baby awake while he eats to ensure a full feeding? Do you swaddle? Do you have a specific night time routine? Mine isn't too complex. It consists of feeding 1 side, changing clothes and diaper, putting on nighttime lotion, feed other side, then sing him a song. I try to keep it the same each night so he can learn what is coming-bedtime. Same with naps. I try to do the same similar routine before I lay him down so he knows it's ok to sleep now. There is a blog called chronicles of a BabyWise mom. If you haven't heard of it, I highly recommend you to check it out. It's a life saver and offers so much more info than the book. I've been looking up her blog topics nearly every day to get advice. My lo struggles with naps, but does well at night. Her sleep hierarchy blog helped me to understand that sleep training is a process and that if you don't get it quite right the one nap, there's always next nap time. Did you start BabyWise right away? Wasn't sure how far you were into the process. I'm sure she probably has a blog on the MOTN topic. They also recommend not making night feedings a social time, as in talking a lot to baby and playing. So they learn it isn't a social call. Are you putting baby to bed awake? Does he fight it a lot or only fuss for a few min? I'm sure you know this too but you aren't having play wake time during the night feedings right? Just feed and straight back to bed. There's so much info I could share but so much to type lol. I wish we could discuss face to face, itd be much easier Oh and I don't make his room dark for naps. He has curtains but some light comes in. I didn't want him to be dependent upon needing a dark area to sleep.

Thanks! Yes, we started right away. I feel he's getting a full feeding at night and I actually keep him swaddled during those feedings and don't interact much. Yes, he goes in his crib while drowsy and he fusses about half the time, usually due to gas issues. Usually after the 4a.m. feeding he fusses for almost 45 mins before finally falling asleep (I usually have to take him back out of the crib to soothe, rock, etc to get him back down). I wonder if I have to question my supply as I'm EBF as to why we can't get over the 3 hour mark?? But he seems to be full and prospering poop and pee and weight wise:-). I don't actually have a bedtime routine so I will start that tonight. Maybe singing and a book or something? And I'll check out the chronicles for help. Thanks so much for your help! I may message you sometime if that's ok?
I tried to just tag you without quoting all of this but it wouldn't work. Yes, messaging me anytime will be fine. I've never messaged on here before so I'll have to see if I have notifications set up to let me know when I get a message. It sounds like you are doing everything right. Some kids just don't follow the "typical" timeframe. If he's having the right amount of dirty and soiled diapers and seems content after feedings, I wouldn't question your supply. I also EBF. I think that's something we all question at one point or another. For the bedtime routine, I like the song Bc it's something I can take with us everywhere we go and it be consistent.
I'm glad I could help. I'll ask my BabyWise mom friends about your MOTN issue and see if they have any advice. Good luck!

ChristinaWild · September 2015

Good luck!!!

deviduke412 · September 2015

My friends said that 4 weeks is still really young and not to worry about that just yet. We know it's hard though with the lack of sleep. They suggested maybe adding an extra feeding during the day? Basically they said to make sure you're feeding enough during the day. I get 8 feedings total in a 24 hr period. 8-10 is recommended.

bcarb · September 2015

It seems like it's such a tight schedule especially in terms of naps, how do you get out of the house?! I do like the idea of a feeding schedule but not sure how to implement

deviduke412 · September 2015

I go out after feeding him, which would be during nap time. But at this age, he can sleep in the car seat while we are out and about. Once he gets older and time between feedings gets longer and wake time gets longer and they have less naps, then it's easy to work around as well. Personally feeding on a schedule makes it easier to go out Bc you know when lo will need to feed and sleep, etc. And we don't go out everyday so going out during nap time a few times a week at this age isn't an issue.

bcarb · September 2015

Ah gotcha, thanks for clarifying!

EmJ628 · September 2015

My boys were in the NICU for 2 wks and were born at 35+1 so we are a little unusual, but basically doing BabyWise. They came home on a 3 hour schedule. We were pretty used to waking them up to feed so I think they could have skipped a MOTN feeding before I finally let them, but around 6wks they dropped their first MOTN feed. So right now we are 6am, 9am, 12p, 3p, 6p, 9p- this is 'bedtime' and they are waking now around 2a and going back down til 6.
We have reflux issues with both so feeding/wake time takes about an hour total since they have to stay upright afterwards. They sleep in Rock N Plays in our room at night and in their cribs in nursery during the day. Nighttime routine is feeding with dim lights, no TV on, I already have the bedroom dark with sound machine on and we go in and go straight down. We aren't too good yet at going down when drowsy bc of aforementioned reflux accommodations. But they seem to know that is bedtime routine. During day for naps they sleep in nursery with blinds open etc so there is daylight and get fed and play in living room. Then into nursery to nap. Honestly it's been easier I think bc the NICU already had them on a solid schedule and they are FF.- so I don't see the 'controversial ' part. I am hoping by the end of Sept, around 10wks, they will drop their 2am feed. They are a few weeks behind the BW suggestions since they were early, which the book advises will happen. GL OP! I like the method bc it gives me some framework to aim for. The hardest part for me was the instruction 'down for nap' HA! Like you just lay the baby down and they magically go to sleep!

Eitak82 · September 2015

I have read babywise and roughly followed it with DS1 (now 2.5 years old). I'm not sure looking back if he was just more alert than DD (6 weeks) or if we were keeping him up way too long.

The issue in having is that DD CAN go 3 hours between feedings, but she currently seems to have a wake time between 1 hour - 1 hour 15 minutes before she needs a nap. Some naps she may only sleep an hour, so when she gets up I can either feed her right away (less than 3 hours between feeds, but alert and taking full feedings) OR hold her off until the three hour mark, but by then she's exhausted and falls asleep at the bottle. Any thoughts?

At night she goes down around 9:30 pm and wakes to be fed around 1/1:30 and 4:00/4:30, but I'm not sure how to stretch that longer (or if it will just stretch on its own).

deviduke412 · September 2015

@Eitak82 For the nighttime feedings, you could try making her last feeding of the night later. More of a dream feed timeframe. Our last feeding is at 9:30 and he gets to bed about 1015. When she wakes up in the middle of her naps do you try to let her go back to sleep before getting her up? That does seem like a really long wake time for only six weeks. My son is five weeks and his wake time is usually in between 45-50 min. Does she go down for her nap OK? Or does she fight it? I know it can be so frustrating when my son wakes up early and will not go back to sleep and then he's falling asleep when I try to feed him, it just creates a bad cycle for the day.

Edit: https://www.babywisemom.com/2008/01/waking-early-from-napswont-fall-asleep.html?m=1

Eitak82 · September 2015

@deviduke412 thanks for the feedback. She goes down great for most naps (less so for the ones that get derailed a bit while I'm helping her older brother, causing her to be overtired). I put her down awake (swaddled) and she gets herself down nicely about 80% of the time. When she wakes after only 45 minutes to an hour I give her a chance to get herself back down, and will let her cry for a few minutes (not too long given her age), but she typically seems ready to be up.

When your son wakes early do you typically feed right away to maintain the ear, wake, sleep cycle? Or hold him off until his normal "time"?

Looking back at our app, my son started taking larger feeds at this age, so I'm hoping she'll be ready for that soon (currently 3-4.5 oz at a feed) so hopefully she can get more of her calories in during the day.

deviduke412 · September 2015

@Eitak82 if my son wakes up early from a nap, and I cannot get him to go back down, I do not feed him until his next scheduled feeding time unless he is showing obvious hunger cues. If he won't go back down, typically I can get him content to be in his swing or bouncy seat if he has his pacifier. I just make sure to count that time as part of his total wake time. So basically then when he would eat at his regular feeding time, he would go right down after he finishes eating.

Eitak82 · September 2015

@deviduke412 thanks for sharing. Right now there are some cycles where her wake time of 45-60 min wouldn't allow us to stick to a 3 hour schedule. For example, when she wakes at 7:00 am, she is usually ready to go down again by 7:45 am. She the. Frequently only sleeps until 9/9:15 am, so making it to 10:00 basically exceeds her wake time for that cycle.

Maybe I will try pushing things as much as I can to get closer to 10 while still respecting her short wake time and hope to get back on track when she takes her typically one longer nap later in the day. Thanks again! It's always nice to have someone to get feedback from!

deviduke412 · September 2015

Eitak82 said:
@deviduke412 thanks for sharing. Right now there are some cycles where her wake time of 45-60 min wouldn't allow us to stick to a 3 hour schedule. For example, when she wakes at 7:00 am, she is usually ready to go down again by 7:45 am. She the. Frequently only sleeps until 9/9:15 am, so making it to 10:00 basically exceeds her wake time for that cycle.

Maybe I will try pushing things as much as I can to get closer to 10 while still respecting her short wake time and hope to get back on track when she takes her typically one longer nap later in the day. Thanks again! It's always nice to have someone to get feedback from!

You are very welcome! Another thought I just had was maybe moving your lo to a 2 1/2 hour schedule until she gets the nap thing down. Good luck! If my lo would get off of his schedule because he's hungry earlier than the 3 hour mark, then I just gradually work back to getting him on schedule for the day.

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