[CandaceDianne]

Has anyone used this method? If so, I am not sure I 100% understand it. How did it work for you?

[MommaLee]

No, but I had to google it. Hope it does whatever it is suppose to regarding eating/sleeping/waking schedules if you try it.

[CandaceDianne]

Well I just looked up a site and the reviews are not good by 'professionals'...I just cant get Lilyan on a sleep schedule at all! She is hard to put down at night and sometimes she stays up ALL night or several hours in the middle of the night after sleeping for several hours.

[downunderchick]

I dont know an awful lot about it, but from what I can find, its about implementing a strict schedule with bubs and getting them to STTN. Correct?

Please be VERY wary of this. Especially as you are BF. Rigid schedules are not recomended especially for BF bubs. If she doesnt get enough BM, its possible for her to suffer with dehaydration and failure to thrive.

Those early days are very hard, and its more survival mode than anything. Do you cosleep? We didnt intend to at all but it has made things so much easier.

Also what are your expectations of L? You said she will stay up all night after several hours sleep. It sounds like her 'long' sleep is early, would it help if she had that long sleep later in the evening?

Did you know STTN for a baby is 5 hours.

As she is so young, it might be worth finding what settles her, eg a bath, massage etc and make this part of a (flexible) routine. Bath, massage, feed in a quiet room to sleep.

Just a thought.

Oh also on doing a little research on one of the authors, he has no training or experience in BF or any sort of child development Actually, thats rather scary.

Things WILL get better, hang in there!

ETA- rather interesting Ezzo.info: Evaluating Ezzo Programs Including Babywise and Growing Kids God's Way

[Jodi0804]

Billy never really had a good schedule till he was almost 4 months old. He is EBF and still still nursing at night (although it has gotten ALOT better and he usually sleeps 7+ hours before he nurses). How does she nap during the day? We didn't let Billy sleep more than 3 1/2 hours for his naps and that seemed to help. When Billy was Lilyan's age he napped every 1 1/2 to 2 hours. For him the better he slept during the day the better he slept at night.

We also coslept for the last half of the night, because he wouldnt go back down any other way. We did this until he was almost 3 months old and now he wouldnt sleep with us if we wanted him to!

And I ditto the bathroom routine. He bedtime varies between 7 and 8 depending on when he last nap was, but after his bath he knows he gets pj's and then nurses. Hang in there, the first few sleepless months are hard.

[CandaceDianne]

Ironically, she slept great last night...the first time she really slept terrific during the night in a while. We tried to put her down for an hour and finally we fed her and put her down around 9:45PM. She woke up every 2-3 hours after that wanting 2oz (I ff at night) instead of 4oz and woke up for the day at 8AM and then she napped from 10-12 and is now napping again.
I am not going to go by the Baby Wise book. The critics on the book is terrible!
She sleeps well through the day, with 2-3 hour naps a few times a day. Can you bathe a baby everyday? I dont want to dry her skin out. We usually bathe her every 3 nights or so. We are not cosleeping because I would NEVER fall asleep. I would be terrified of rolling on her.

[chrisam143]

I'm pg with my first, so I don't have any firsthand experience. I do have a couple friends that swear by the book the Baby Whisperer. I'm planning on buying it and reading it before the baby comes and then see what parts, if any of it I want to try. My friends that have used it, have their babies on great sleeping schedules and are such happy babies, so I figure it can't hurt to try it. My mom said I was a terrible sleeper as a baby, so I am worried that my little one is going to pay me back for how I was to my mom

Good luck!

[jbhonea]

I had the same problem with Lilah. My girlfriend used Babywise with all three of her children and she swears by it. After some research I decided it wasn't for me. Personally I feel that at such a young age babies cry because they need something, whether it's food, a diaper change, or just the security to know that Mommy and Daddy are there for them when they cry.

so, it's been a long road, and those first two-three months were the hardest nights of my life. Lilah would cluster feed so I would spend 3-4 hours on the couch bf, and then as soon as I would lay her in her crib, she would pop right back up. I was crying every night and dreading the moment the sun would go down.

I would say whatever you decide, be consistent! Lilah's night looks like this. We have a schedule, and when we're out and about and it's time for her bath, she knows and starts fussing. She knows that bathtime leads to bedtime and she's finally gotten to the point that she'll nurse for a while and dh will put her in her crib awake, she rolls to her side and is in dreamland in seconds.

She still wakes up once to feed, but then she's right back down without a problem. She actually slept from 9:00p.m. to 4:00a.m. last week. Scared me to death!

Our method is slow going and takes lots of patience, but Lilah has never had to CIO and we're all getting decent sleep now.

[CandaceDianne]

Yea. I dont think the Baby Wise method is for us. I have heard the Baby Whisperer is good too. We are working on a schedule, just taking it day by day and doing trail by error.

[Jennifer-Jacob's Mommy]

What we are doing i think it is from the baby whisperer... but I didnt know i was doing it already til i read it, lol its EASY

E-- eat
A--activity
S--sleep ( nap_
Y-- to tell the truth i have no idea what the Y stands for lmao..

i usually after 4 or 5, I didnt let Jacob nap very much.. I was BF and around 6-8 he clustered feed, he go down at 9 and would sleep til like 2-3am...

now my schedule ( him being 13 wks old) is he gets up 6am for a feeding,,, we go back to bed til 10am, feed, activity,,, at 1230 he goes down for his long nap...til 330-4... then he feeds, and activity, around 7:30 he feeds, and hes down for the night til 6am..

[amazing_love]

The "Y" stands for you time I do the EASY schedule as well and it has been SO much better than before we started it. I immediately saw amazing differences, but Camden used to never sleep in his crib during the day and only fell asleep while BF so it was extremely difficult. Now he ONLY sleeps in his crib (unless we're out and about), typically falls asleep by himself, and is a happy baby when he's awake I definitely recommend reading the baby whisperer if you need more routine!!

[~* Liss *~]

Very interesting thread!! Thanks for sharing! i will look into the baby whisperer

Candace, Nikolas was having bad nights but i think he has it down now. he usually eats about 10:30-11pm and then bed, sleeps til about 3:30-4am - bum change, nurse and back to sleep until about 5:30-6:00 (this morning was 7am). He sleeps in his swing til 8:30am

[Oreobaby]

Hmmm...I'm going to have to check into the baby whisperer. Rayanne is relatively ok...but am still trying to get her into a routine. I am trying to bath her every night, and just put a little baby oil in the water to keep her skin from getting drier, and loation her up after the bath. She has really started to like her baths, which is good, because a few times of screaming was nuts!

[KDD]

I have several friends who used it and swear by it - and they were exclusively BF'ing. But, having said that, what works for them, may not work for you.

[ca_dawson]

Lexi's been a great sleeper, almost since birth. We never really tried to schedule her, we pretty much followed her cues and she got herself into a schedule. Now she's in bed by around 9 pm most nights (sometimes a little earlier or later depending on how she napped during the day.) And only wakes once, maybe twice to eat, usually between 2-4 am and then if she wakes up the second time its usually a 5-6 am feeding (which is what time I feed her on the mornings I work.) You said you FF at night, do you BF during the day? It might be easier for you both if you BF at night. With Lexi as soon as she starts to stir I feed her and she never really fully wakes up, which helps because then I don't have to work at getting her back to sleep. I think it would be much harder on both of your sleep if you have to get up and make a bottle. Also I know you said you can't cosleep, but maybe if she sleep close, like in a basinett next to the bed? We started out with Lexi in her pack and play by the bed, but eventually ended up cosleeping and we both sleep alot better this way. I would get so scared with her not next to me. When we started cosleeping I could feel her breathing on me so I slept better not worrying about SIDS all night! I never thought we'd cosleep either, but it is the best experience of my life! I was afraid of rolling on her too, but I'm so aware of where she is it isn't even an issue (even when I'm sleeping hard!) I hope you find something that works for you. We figured out within the first two weeks what works and what didn't work and have been sleeping great ever since. Just try different things until you find something that works for you both! Best of luck to you!

[KCMomma]

I don't really remember much but I do know that we read that book and used bits and pieces from it and it worked wonders for us. Baby Wise is NOT about a super strict schedule it's about having some sort of schedule but also being flexible with it. I EBF for the first 2 months then EP from there and it worked for us. I'm a very schedule oriented person so that really helped. I also feel like being consistent is what is key! At first we gave her a bath every other night for fearing drying out her skin...however I will tell you that she now has exema (sp) and the doc actually advised us to give her a bath EVERY SINGLE NIGHT!!!! He said maybe you don't have to wash her every night, but to let her soak in the bath every single night. It has actually helped. The beginning is so tough and you will get so many conflicting advice or suggestions. DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!! No matter if you are EBF or EP or FF...it doesn't matter!!!

Oh and I will give my about cosleeping...I'm 150 million percent against this!!! With my job, I've seen way too many people that have accidentally rolled over on their baby and smothered them. I know they have co-sleeper things for babies to sleep in, but I still don't agree with any of it. It just scares me waaaay too much. Just my opinion. Plus I feel like why have the headache later of switching them to the crib...it's a real struggle once you've gotten them used to something. Just not a good situation.

With all that said, you are in survival mode at this point. We wanted paige to sleep in her crib from day 1...well, we tried and tried...but the only way we could get her to sleep was in her infant carseat in front of the bathroom with the exhaust fan on...no joke! You have to do what works best for you, but the best overall thing I did was develop a consistent bedtime routine. Hope I've helped some.

[CandaceDianne]

Thanks everyone for your advice! We are finally on a rountine, praise the Lord!! I nurse during the day (until I go back to work and I may stop nursing or just on the weekends/evenings) and ff at night. Its honestly better for us to do it that way. She downs 2-4 oz in no time and usually goes right back to sleep. The past few nights she has woken up for a few hours with gas, then she gets hungry. She still wakes up every 2 hours until late late night, then sleeps from like 3-7 or so. She goes to bed around 8PM and is up around 9AM.
We are just doing what has worked best for us. Some of you said that the baby needs a good nap during the day, so I make sure she gets in a good nap most days (today she didn't though). We are using a wake/feed/play/(may need a feeding)/sleep system. Sounds confusing, but it works for us.