Baby Wise Depicted

If you've been following my blog since the beginning, then you know that I am a fan of Baby Wise. If you want your baby to sleep through the night at an early age...READ it!! I get so tired of hearing people say "you're so lucky" in reference to how much my children sleep. Believe me...it took A LOT of work!!

I thought I'd go through some of Baby Wise's main principals and give my two-cents. I will go through the book over the next couple of weeks.

**Did you know that parents have the greatest influence on their children's ability to sleep?? Babies have to be TAUGHT how to sleep. YOU are their teacher!! (Ezzo, 43) Ezzo states that there are several facts that will help you to obtain this.**

• (1) You MUST follow the eat, play, sleep pattern. If you take nothing else out of this book or this entry, do this step!! It is so important that your baby associates eating with waking up and not falling asleep. If your baby is not wide awake when taking in a feeding, they will take in less and wake up more. It's your responsibility to instill this patten into their little bodies. 

• (2) When your baby is fed according to a schedule, (more later) their hunger pattern will stabilize. (Ezzo, 48) Their body will establish a hunger metabolism that is stable and predictable. They will build their sleep around these times. If you feed your baby whenever they want to, they will become confused and will not develop a routine at all. NOTE: It does not state anywhere in the book to starve your baby. If you are trying to work on a routine, but your baby is starving an hour earlier, then feed him/her. You should never not feed your baby, but babies learn quickly, and if they are given the option to eat every time they cry, they will take advantage of that.  If your baby cries before the 3 hour mark, test all your options before offering him milk first. Will he be smoothed by a pacifier? What about your finger? What about walking him around or just talking to him? If nothing else works and you know he is truly hungry, then by all means FEED him!! 

Eli was an easy baby from day 1. He never cried and pretty much set his own schedule. He was a huge sleeper without me having to train him. Miles came along and started off amazing, but then developed a sensitivity to dairy and all heck broke loose. He was only sleeping for 45 minutes and then would wake up screaming mad. I knew he was still tired as he could barely keep his eyes open when I'd get him out of bed and he'd fall back to sleep in my arms for an hour. It took several weeks to get him trained. It was exhausting, both physically and mentally, but I knew that he had to learn. He went from sleeping 45 minutes and waking up screaming mad, to sleeping 2-3 hours and waking up as happy as can be. He started sleeping longer at night as well. He is on a 4 hour schedule and wakes up almost on the dot to eat. He knows that when he wakes up, he eats. (except for his last feeding of the night in which he goes straight to bed). I don't believe that some babies just aren't sleepers. Believe me, if you were around when Miles was about 3/4 weeks old, you would never believe that he is the sleeper he is now. It takes time and patience. Be strong... you can do it!  You will be thrilled when your child is sleeping 8+ hours at 8 weeks! It is possible!!