A Joy For Our Family

I am a mom of 2 (24 months, and 3 months) and have implemented
Babywise with both of them from the beginning. I was originally
introduced to the book while taking an Early Childhood Development
class in college. (I have a degree in Early Childhood Education)
Everything in the book made sense, and I decided it was something I
wanted to use when I eventually had children.

We had our son 2 years ago, and began Babywise from the beginning.
Our son was a great sleeper at night from the start, and he was
sleeping 8 hours at night by 6 weeks, and 12 hours at 13 weeks. I
also breastfed my son successfully for 13 months. We frequently got
comments on how pleasant and alert he was. He was and is not a
perfect baby, but he has definitely been a joy to our family. We had
several bumps in the road (that dreaded 4 month sleep issues phase
rattled us a little!), but he is now a very well-adapted, pleasant
two-year-old. We have implemented many other principles in the -wise
series as well. He is able to play independently in his room every
morning for an hour, is characterized by first-time obedience, is a
great eater, and is very enjoyable to be around. Some of these things
may be attributed to his laid-back nature, but I believe many of it
can be attributed to the principles we implemented with him from the
beginning, as far as having a routine and structure to our lives, as
well as consistent training and discipline.

The transition to life with two children was very smooth, despite all
the warnings from our friends on how difficult it would be. While I
was pregnant (and tired and sick!), as well as in those newborn days,
it was nice to know that I had times in the morning (independent play)
and the afternoon (nap) when I could rest as well. Adding our
daughter to the family has been just as enjoyable as adding our son.
The first few weeks were rough, as she seemed to have day/night
confusion, and I thought we’d never get to STTN. After about 2 weeks
(of a LOT of daytime effort of waking and feeding), she was waking up
only once at night to eat. By 8 weeks she started sleeping 8-9 hours
at night, and has done amazingly well for naps, going down on her own
and sleeping the duration until her next feeding. She also is
exclusively breastfed, and I have had no supply issues. Already we
are getting comments on how alert and pleasant she is. Sometimes it
is frustrating to hear people say we are ‘lucky’ to have such a good
baby when we know all the work we’ve put in to help her get on a good
routine and be well-rested. Having two children has been a complete
blessing and joy to our lives, and we can thank the principles of
babywise (and subsequent books) for helping it to be that way!

Something that babywise (and this blog) has brought to me is
confidence. When my baby cries, it is usually very easy to determine
the cause. I don’t feel like I need to second-guess myself and always
offer a feeding. I am able to think logically and objectively about
the situation, as well as each child, and meet their needs without
drama. I have looked to the blog often for ‘troubleshooting advice’
and have found the confidence that I need to do what is best for my
child(ren). I am also thankful that my children have predictable nap
and bed times, so my husband and I are able to enjoy our evenings with
the entire family together, as well as just with each other. I love
the first chapter of babywise that stresses the importance of the
husband-wife relationship, and have found it to be so important. I
also feel that we are all able to be better rested and therefore enjoy
each other more. Babywise has many benefits beyond getting your child
to sleep through the night, including allowing child to learn
independence, boundaries, and respect. As the book says “STTN is not
the end-goal of parenting, but we believe it represents a good start!”
(not sure of the exact quotation!)


Jessie

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