Babywise Made Motherhood Not Just Do-Able, But Enjoyable

My name is Shea Moses, and I am a mom of a 28 month old and a 4 month old. Both sweet baby girls that our Lord blessed us that have made our lives so much more meaningful.

I started my first few weeks of motherhood with my head in the sand. I had no idea what to do with this precious gift that came home from the hospital with us, but left her instructional manual there. She was so tiny (4 lbs 11 oz) born at 36 weeks. We had her unexpectedly early due to intrauterine growth restricition. I should have known she would surprise with arriving early, because the pregnancy was an unexpected surprise as well. I was no where near prepared for parenthood and had no idea what to expect.

When Anslee was 6 weeks old, I was one tired new mama. She slept like a champ all day long. Falling asleep while feeding every time, and since she was so tiny, needing to eat every 2 hours. Thank goodness for facebook. I posted on my status one day something about how to work on STTN and when I could maybe expect that to happen. Some veteran mama’s commented about babywise. I had never heard of it, but after reading several comments about the wonders it worked in their homes, I ran as fast as I could to the nearest book store to make the purchase. I think I read the entire book all the way through by the next evening. Every word lined up with our belief system and how we wanted to parent. It just made plain sense to us and so off we started on our babywise journey.

I had been trying desperately to keep Anslee awake all day in hopes she would sleep at night. At that time, that made sense to me, I mean thats how my body operated, right? Well, you can imagine my surprise when I learned the day sleep induces night sleep success. I stopped stressing out about how to keep her awake and realized the importance of naps. Wow. What a difference. It took 3 days of working on establishing a good healthy routine, and what would you know? We had our first full night of 8 hours of sleep. By 12 weeks, she was at 12 hours every night and we never looked back. I was turned babywise believer literally overnight.

Her first year was a dream. She was what Hogg would call a textbook baby. I knew without question when growth spurts were happening. I never questioned what her fussing stemmed from, whether that be from teething, to hunger, to needing a nap. Babywise really helped me learn to be the parent. It almost forces you to be confident in your parenting choices. I have to say that is my favorite thing about the philosophy. You have to make the decisions best for your baby using what education you have and instinct. I love the “begin as you mean to go” theory too. Isn’t that a theory we should use in our lives in general? I believe so.

I now have an almost 2.5 year old that values a good nights rest, behaves and minds (well, as best as a 2.5 year old is capable of), and is a delight to be in the same room with. She adjust easily to new places. She had not one problem welcoming in her newborn sister 2 days before her own 2nd birthday. She learns quickly, and I attribute that to having order in her day. Her mind can classify different things in an orderly fashion because she lives in an atmosphere that accommodates that. 

I could not be more thrilled with the way babywise guided us into parenthood.

My 2nd child is a different story. She would be what Hogg would call the spirited baby. She was severly colic for the first 13 weeks of her life and so we did not have the typical newborn phase with her. We had a much more difficult start to her life. During this time, we had to just go with what would comfort her and get to her to calm, but a babywise friendly routine has always been a part of her life. She is now 21 weeks and sleeping 10 hours a night. She is taking regular naps. She is happy now, smiling non stop. She loves her crib. We are getting there with her and I am clearly seeing how sticking with babywise through a really hard time has paid off for her. It has taken her much longer to get there than DD#1, but that is ok. We also are more on the go with her since big sister has places to be and things to do during the day.

Thank goodness for my DD#1 being such a wonderfully babywised baby while we dealt with a difficult newborn. I don’t know what I would have done if I would have been up all night with a newborn AND a toddler. My toddler slept right through our sleepless nights with DD#2. I never worried, because even if she did wake up, all I would have had to do was tell her to go back to sleep and she would have followed through. Her routine stayed the same. It made the adjustment to a new sister easy and pleasant, it was nice to not have to worry about her while we tried to our wits end to comfort the new baby. Her having been “babywised” made having a hard newborn a little bit easier. Thankful, I am, to say the least.

That is our story. We consider babywise a blessing. I, myself, consider this blog to be a blessing. Its a wonderful reference, and I use it daily. I appreciate both the book and this blog combined. It has literally made my parenting journey one to enjoy and love!

www.themoseshome.blogspot.com is the story of our life as it happens! Feel free to check it out in your down time! 

4 thoughts on “Babywise Made Motherhood Not Just Do-Able, But Enjoyable”

  1. Thanks for sharing your story! I love the title and think it is so true. I know other ladies who have kids similar ages as my daughter and some older that did not enjoy the infant stage. I think Babywise has helped make it enjoyable!!

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  2. I needed to hear your story today…I have a 2 1/2 year old daughter who sounds exactly like your older one. She did great with babywise and is a superb kid. Our second daughter is almost 3 weeks old and is SO, SO, SO different. She had a rough start as well with a milk protein allergy and severe tummy issues. Now that those are ironed out, I'm trying my hardest to get her on a babywise routine while still tending to my older daughter. Luckily, she goes with the flow and doesn't mind (too much) that I'm dealing with a touchy newborn. I'm just praying for the stamina and strength to get to the point that you're describing because it is so hard right now. I truly needed to hear your story today though- it gives me hope that things will get better as long as I stick with it. Thank you!

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  3. I dealt with a fussy newborn due to a milk, egg, and peanut allergy, although I didn't know that was the problem at the time. It wasn't until my son was 9 months old that we figured out his multiple food allergies. Once I found out what the problem was, I found this site called Kids with Food Allergies. They have been tons of help. There are parents on there with all different parenting philosophies, but all their food allergy advice has really gotten me through these past 3 years. I highly recommend checking out that site!

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  4. I enjoyed reading your story Shea. It sounds like my story almost exactly! Isn't it funny, I see other people have commented that too. Daughter #1 was the easiest Babywise baby. Then came daughter #2 who threw us for a loop. Same thing as yours. Six months later I also really see the benefits of sticking with BW even in a hard time. I am so glad we did! Maybe it made it easier having the 1st one be so easy bc it gave me faith in BW to hold on to for my second. Thanks for sharing!!

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