The only downside is all these naps (that he easily goes down for). This is how he has to take his first morning nap...during carpool.
You see, I had already swaddled him and put him in his crib. Then at 8:15 for carpool, quietly transferred him to his car seat and buckled him in all swaddled up. And he slept right through carpool!!
And in about 30 minutes, I'll start it all over again with his feeding! Things are going so much better around here now! A well rested mama is a much happier mama!
Oh, I could just go on and on about babywise right now. I'm thrilled at the positive feedback I received about it. Especially since it gets a lot of heat out there in the baby world. But it's nice to know that it's working so well for so many out there!!!
I will say I'm curious about a couple of another books - "The Happiest Baby on the Block" and "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child". I would be interested in comparing philosophies from the three books. Anybody read these before??
I'm a Babywise fan so I haven't read any others...of course, ML doesn't (and hasn't ever) napped well, so maybe I should check out some others. I think at her age she should have about 11-12 hours at night (we do) and two naps of an hour or two each (maybe an hour on a GOOD day). You can't win them all though. Rhodes is DARLING!
ReplyDeletecan you start babywise at nearly 7 months? my other two did really well without reading anything, so i was thinking #3 would be nearly the same. he still wakes up 1-2 times at night! i'd love to know if you think it would help before i try to buy something at random. you had so many positive comments i thought it might be worth the try.
ReplyDeleteYes, I started Olivia at around 4 or 5 months and she quickly got it! They have a chapter for "starting late" in the book! You can get it at Amazon for pennies! It's worth a shot. Thought I will say my 3rd isn't the best sleeper...BUT, I did NOT do babywise with her...I thought i did, but I was way off!
ReplyDeleteSo glad I got the book back out with Rhodes...he is sitting happily here at my feet watching me...and soon he'll go back down for a nap! and then we start all over again! lol
I am a HUGE fan of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. I used this with all my kids and they are all wonderful sleepers! Right now, Gray goes to bed every night at 6:00 and wakes up at 6:30! It is very child centered, so if you don't like being at home--forget it! I made a commitment to stay at home and let my babies sleep and in turn have had happy well rested, hardly every sick, content babies who LOVE to sleep. I should endorse this book for them...I tell everyone about it.
ReplyDeleteI have not read either, but have heard rave reviews about both. I never read babywise but was told what it was about and it worked for my children.
ReplyDeleteYea for you getting some sleep! AND how cute is Rhodes? Love his swaddled travels!
ReplyDeleteI read "Happiest Baby on the Block" with Tristan and thought it was great. It's the only thing that worked for getting him to sleep. I raved about it!
Thing is, it's a great book for parents who don't want their kids to cry before going to sleep. We didn't let Tristan cry (skewed views and fears of him feeling unloved...bologna!). The book focuses on the 5 S's: Swaddle, Suck, Shhh, Swing, and something else. The basics are you always swaddle (check! and still LOVE this part), give them something to suck, and swing them while making a loud SHHHHHHHHHHHHHH sound. It worked great but didn't teach him to fall asleep on his own. NOT GOOD! It would be tough to do if you have more than one child.
Babywise worked AWESOME for Asher. I didn't do it with Tristan because of all the negative stuff I read on the internet. I wish I hadn't believed the awful things I read. It was such a blessing! Asher was always a great sleeper because of Babywise. He went to bed easily and slept all night.
I started Babywise with Rhiannon (and it was going GREAT) but have slacked off (and it shows). With her being our last baby (unless God clearly tells us something else), I've started babying her and going off track some. Gotta get back on that train! A well-rested baby is a happy baby...and a happy momma! :)
we LOVED healthy sleep habits, happy child. wil's neighbor gave it to us and her boys were apparently really good sleepers who hated giving up naps when it was time for school. it was awesome in helping us figure out when to let wiley cry it out, etc, giving a couple different options at the beginning. he was able to just go straight to naptime, soothe himself, after we followed the book. it is very child-centered, but we really learned what the signs were he was getting tired to prevent him from becoming over-tired. i love the phrase "sleep breeds sleep." it totally changed our perspective on naps/bedtime. w. is a great sleeper even though his mom and dad have slacked off on bedtimes.
ReplyDeleteunfortunately it is in storage somewhere, and i am left wondering what i need to do about his naps now. he seems in between. some days he needs one and falls asleep readily and we have to wake him up. other days he just sings in his room. i can't decide if we need to drop the nap (and still have 1 1/2 hour rest time) to get our bedtime earlier or keep nap and just enforce earlier bedtime, and hopefully he will start falling asleep better at night. what do you think? we really messed up his bedtime (used to be 7 pm) when i started staying home with him. what time do yall go to bed? he is starting school too so 3x/week he goes at 9 am, and i want him rested...Agh! I should have read ahead to this stage!
I can't wait to do Babywise with my next one. Why didn't I do it earlier??? Not sure. Sounds wonderful though=)
ReplyDeleteso glad you're getting some sleep! i think you're the best swaddler i've ever met. i was horrible at it...maybe you can teach me some tricks this time around. and, for your friend that commented earlier, i know several people who have started with 5-10 month olds and it's worked great. i think it's the parents that make or break it. sounds like you're sleeping more than i am these days.
ReplyDeleteI never read anything else either because I love babywise. But I have heard good things about other books like the Baby Whisperer. For me, it's like anything else with parenting: you learn and then you apply to your needs/style. Somehow, with Jace he just didn't take to it like the others. I read the book almost daily when I would nurse him to remind myself! ha! I would say he semi adhered to babywise and my routine for him. Strange. My others did great with it. Oh well, he's in a great place now and I can't believe my baby number 4 is almost 1!
ReplyDeleteHappiest Baby on the Block is the best!!! Loved that book. It all made so much sense. Happy for you to get sleep. That is so huge, so important.
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YES! I am a huge fan of happiest baby on the block. Babywise and HBOTB got me through the first time, and is about to get me through again!
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