So everyone has been raving about Baby Wise so I ordered the book and decided to give it a try. One of the reviewers on Amazon.com mentioned that it involves baby being on a flexible 3 hour feeding schedule and since Gideon has already been doing that for about a week I figured we would be ahead of the game. The book came in yesterday and I spent nap time reading it (a very quick read) and decided to implement the technique right away. Basically you keep baby on a 3 hour eat/play/sleep schedule, Gideon totally has the eating and playing part DOWN so after Gideons 3:30 bottle we played for a while on his mat and then I put him in his crib for a nap. Oh, that is the other thing, when you put baby down for a nap you do just that, put him down. Usually we rock Gideon until he is sound asleep and then transition him to the crib. This is time consuming. So at 5 o' clock I changed it up by putting Gideon in the crib and walking away. I listened to him through the monitor as he started to fuss, then whine and then cry in earnest. Around this time poor Mac came home; he said he had been missing Gideon all day and really wanted to hold him. Instead he had to listen to him cry through the monitor. Every 20 mins or so I would go upstairs and pat Gideon's back and try to console him some and then walk away as per the book. 6:30 rolled around and it was time for Gideon's next bottle and he still had not slept a second. He and I were very traumatized.
I truly believe that Gideon does not sleep as much as other babies. He just doesn't. Mac's dad says that Mac was the same way and I have heard from many others who have had the same experience. If there is one thing I have learned from having a baby it is that we should do what is right for our family and avoid drinking the Koolaid of one childrearing theory or another. So today I adapted Baby Wise and put Gideon down for a nap after every other feeding instead of trying to force a nap on him every three hours. The little guy fussed for maybe 5 mins before drifting off to sleep. Turns out he has no trouble going to sleep... when he is actually tired. So I guess I have come out of this experience a little wiser even if I am not Baby Wise.
Sounds like you know what is best for baby boy. We waited a while (probably too long) before we did the whole leaving him in his crib before he was actually asleep. It was really heart breaking at first but everyone gets use to it and you'll be very thankful for doing it down the road. GO Super Mom Kristin!
ReplyDeleteI never got used to putting Lyla down, though I definitely agree that it can be appropriate given the right circumstances. I think Gideon is probably too young to implement the "cry it out" thing. Forcing sleep just isn't possible... but when they're tired and if they'll drift off in a reasonable amount of time then that's awesome. We need to get to work on laying Flint down when he's starting to drift and stop holding him... though I think we're at least ahead of where we were with Lyla, who slept with us forever (Flint hasn't slept with us once - woo!)
ReplyDeleteGood for you for using your Mama-judgment. And I think you might be surprised about how much "other babies" sleep. LoL... No one I talk to says their kid sleeps like "other kids."