Starting Babywise Late Guide

The steps you need to take to get started with the Babywise method and get baby on a great schedule. You can start late and still have great success!

Sleeping baby

Hi there. You are new to On Becoming Baby Wise. For whatever reason, you haven’t used any of the principles yet and you want to now. You are ready for great night sleep, daytime naps, and a predictable daily schedule.

But you don’t know where to start.

I was there once. Despite the fact that a friend told me all about Babywise when I was pregnant with Brayden, my oldest child, and it sounded like a good idea to me, we hadn’t even read the book when he was born. We figured our natural instincts of parenting would kick in and everything would be peachy.

But they weren’t!

And so after a month of Brayden’s life (which seemed like an eternity to me), we decided to go buy the book.

I read the entire book in one evening and started slowly implementing different principles. We saw immediate improvement. We fumbled our way into figuring things out and continued to see improvement for several months.

Eventually, Brayden was a textbook Babywise baby.

I started late, and you can too. I know that no matter the age of your child, you are going to be worried you are too late to use Babywise successfully.

No matter the age, you are not too late! Your baby (or child) is not too old. Let’s get you started.

Starting Babywise Late Guide. The steps you need to take to get started with the Babywise method and get baby on a great schedule. You can start late and have success!

Steps to Starting Babywise Late

So how do you get started? I think that there is no one right way to go about it, but here is my way. Read through it and see how that works with your personality and adapt it as necessary to make your own way.


Starting a schedule with an older child? Be sure to also check out my post 5 Steps To Get Your Child on a Schedule


Step One: Do the Reading

You can’t implement something if you don’t know what you are implementing. Read through Babywise and read what you can here so you can know what it is you are trying to accomplish and how you will try to accomplish it. I know you have a little one who is not sleeping, so this might seem really difficult. I read On Becoming Babywise in 1-2 hours my first time through–you can read it quite quickly.

I know I have a TON of posts here. I have been writing this blog since 2007. I am sure it is incredibly overwhelming to come here and have all of this information before you. Let’s get you started with the basics.

I have a post with all of the basics you need to know to do Babywise successfully. This post links to other helpful posts for implementing On Becoming Babywise. Read: How To Successfully Do “On Becoming Babywise”

If you have a young baby (or are pregnant), see this post: Must-Read Posts to Prep for Baby

Utilize the Blog Index and the Index By Age. Those will help you find posts relevant to what you are trying to find out about. There is also a  search function at the top left of any page.

If you have an older baby, do still look through information for younger babies. The ideas of Babywie build on each other.

Don’t start with your 7 month old baby and expect to jump in where the average 7 month old Babywise baby is. You will need to start at the basics, get those down, and then work toward the other things. I have a post that can help you with the basic idea: The Gist of Babywise.

Get your Babywise books here

On Becoming Pottywise
On Becoming Teenwise
On Becoming Preteenwise
On Becoming Childwise
On Becoming Preschoolwise
On Becoming Toddlerwise
On Becoming Pre-Toddlerwise
On Becoming Babywise Book 2
On Becoming Babywise
On Becoming Pottywise
On Becoming Teenwise
On Becoming Preteenwise
On Becoming Childwise
On Becoming Preschoolwise
On Becoming Toddlerwise
On Becoming Pre-Toddlerwise
On Becoming Babywise Book 2
On Becoming Babywise

Step Two: Make a Plan

As you read the material, decide on a plan of implementation. Start with basics. The basics are eating, sleeping, and playing. The most basic things to worry about are eating and sleeping. Write down the goals you have for your baby and figure out ways you can meet those goals.

It is helpful to look at how other people structured their day. See my sample schedules post for the first month of life. From there, you can link to detailed posts for every month of the first year of life for baby.


Read: Must-Follow Tip for Starting a Routine Late


Step Three: Follow the Pattern

When I started late, I started with the pattern of eat, play, sleep. Eat, play, sleep. That was my first area of focus. This is what I suggest to anyone I advise who is starting late. Don’t worry about how or where baby is sleeping, just get the pattern down. Baby eats. Then baby plays. Then baby takes a nap. Then baby eats. Then baby plays. Then baby takes a nap.


Read: Why An Eat/Wake/Sleep Cycle Works to Get Baby Sleeping


Now, older babies won’t follow this pattern exactly. As babies get older, they drop naps, so not every feeding follows sleep. Here is a basic age break down. They can vary, but this will give you a good idea of where you should be.

0-4 Months Old:

  • Baby will take 4 naps a day
  • Baby will go to bed around 7-8 PM
  • Baby will benefit from a dreamfeed
  • Baby might wake in the night
  • Get baby up in the morning around 7-8 AM to start the day
  • Baby will be able to be awake anywhere from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours during this time period before needing another nap (this includes feeding time)

4-6 Months Old

  • Baby will take 3 naps a day
  • Baby will go to bed around 7-8 PM
  • Baby may or may not have a dreamfeed
  • Baby might wake in the night (and if you are just starting out, there is a good chance baby will be)
  • Get baby up in the morning around 7-8 AM to start the day
  • Baby will be able to be awake anywhere from 1-2 hours at a time before needing a nap during this time period (this includes feeding time)

6-8 Months Old

  • Baby will take 2-3 naps a day
  • Baby will go to bed around 7-8 PM
  • Baby may or may not have a dreamfeed–most drop the dreamfeed in this time period if they still have it
  • Baby might wake in the night (and if you are just starting out, there is a good chance baby will be)
  • Get baby up in the morning around 7-8 AM to start the day
  • Baby will be able to be awake anywhere from 1-2 hours at a time before needing a nap during this time period (this includes feeding time). Most babies will be able to be at 1.5-2 hours

9-12 Months Old

  • Baby will take 2-3 naps a day–most take 2
  • Baby will go to bed around 7-8 PM
  • Baby can soon stop waking in the night (if you are just starting out, there is a good chance baby will be waking in the night still)
  • Get baby up in the morning around 7-8 AM to start the day
  • Baby will be able to be awake anywhere from 1.5-2 hours at a time before needing a nap during this time period (this includes feeding time). Most babies will be up for two hours, down for two hours, etc.

13-15 Months Old

  • Baby will take 2 naps a day
  • Baby will go to bed around 7-8 PM
  • Baby is old enough to soon stop waking in the night (if you are just starting out, there is a good chance baby will be waking in the night still)
  • Get baby up in the morning around 7-8 AM to start the day
  • Baby will be able to be awake anywhere from for about 2 hours at a time before needing a nap during this time period (this includes feeding time). Most babies will be up for two hours, down for two hours, etc.

15-18 Months Old

  • Baby will take 1-2 naps a day–most drop the morning nap in this period
  • Baby will go to bed around 7-8 PM
  • Baby is old enough to soon stop waking in the night (if you are just starting out, there is a good chance baby will be waking in the night still)
  • Get baby up in the morning around 7-8 AM to start the day
Babywise Late Guide Pinnable Image

Step Four: Write Things Down

Keep track of what times baby ate, how long baby was awake, what baby did to play, and how baby slept. This will help you see patterns and help you problem solve. Do not overlook the importance of this step! I did this with all four of my babies and it helped immensely.

You can create your own logs, or you can purchase mine here.

Step Five: Start Having Naps in the Right Place

Once you have your pattern down, it is time to start thinking about where you want baby sleeping. In Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, Weissbluth states that the most restorative sleep is sleep that is in a stationary place, like a crib. That is my recommendation.

Put baby down for naps and night in the crib.

Your baby will likely wake up after a short nap. You want naps to be anywhere from 1.5-2.5 hours long (except for the last nap of the day if baby still has 3-4 naps; the last nap of the day is often 30-60 minutes).

.

If baby wakes early and is not hungry, have a plan for what to do. I recommend holding, rocking, the swing, etc. As your baby learns to sleep independently, she will not easily fall back asleep on her own when she wakes early. That day will come, but she needs to have the tools to fall asleep first. So for now, help her fall back asleep. You are taking baby steps here.

Your baby will sleep the longest for the nap if the nap starts at the best time. That means baby is awake for the right amount of time. I call this “optimal waketime.” See this post for more: Optimal Waketime Lengths


Read: My Sleep Hierarchy for Newborns


Step Six: Have Patience

This is not going to be a simple, quick fix. You need to have patience through the process. Ages for abilities are averages and what is most frequent–they are not absolutes. Your baby is a human and will have variations.

Step Seven: Dedicate Some Time

Once you start napping in the crib, dedicate some time to the process. It is wise to just stay home for 1-2 weeks while you get this nailed down. You will be able to have flexibility at some point, but your baby cannot be flexible if there is no starting point and no point to return to after a disruption. See this post: Establishing Consistency–Make Sacrifices and this post: Getting a Consistent Schedule and Understanding Flexibility.

Do always remember: Let Your Schedule Serve You: You Don’t Serve Your Schedule (Don’t Stress)–but you first need to establish the norm.


Read: The Key Element to Starting a Baby Routine


Start Babywise with Older Baby Pinnable Image

Step Eight: Decide On Sleep Goals

Decide what your sleep goals are. Do you want baby to fall asleep on her own? If so, how are you going to meet that goal?

There are many roads to get there. You will need some form of sleep training. You can do cry it out, you can follow advice from The Baby Whisperer, or you can try The No-Cry Sleep Solution. See my sleep training resources for help.

If you don’t mind helping your baby to fall asleep, go ahead and do that–just move baby to the crib once she is asleep. Personally, my preference is for baby to fall asleep on her own in her crib. Once you know your goals, make a plan and implement them.


Read: Sleep Training According to Babywise


Step Nine: Be Ready for Curve Balls

Things will come up that you weren’t planning on. Know that and expect it. Address them as they come up. Search for a solution and problem solve. See this: Just When You Got It, Everything Changes.

Step Ten: Expect Baby To Be Behind “Schedule”

With Babywise, there is a list of milestones of when your baby will likely achieve certain goals (like sleeping through the night). If you start late, know your baby will likely take some time to catch up to those goals. Some take to it faster than others. We started Brayden full on at 9 weeks and he wasn’t fully caught up in milestones until he was 6.5 months old.

In other words, you need patience. Celebrate the improvements and victories.

Conclusion

No matter how you go about it, break down your goals into manageable steps. Add one thing at a time to make it easiest on you and your baby. Best of luck to you!

Sleeping baby

Starting Babywise Late Guide

Prep Time: 3 hours
Additional Time: 1 month 25 days 14 hours
Total Time: 1 month 25 days 17 hours

The steps you need to take to get started with the Babywise method and get baby on a great schedule. You can start late and still have great success!

Instructions

  1. Read the book and www.BabyWiseMom.com
  2. Make a plan
  3. Follow eat/wake/sleep pattern
  4. Write things down
  5. Start having naps in the right place
  6. Have patience
  7. Dedicate some time to the process
  8. Decide on sleep goals
  9. Be ready for curveballs
  10. Expect baby to be behind the normal milestones

Notes

You should see improvement immediately. Expect 8 weeks for things to really be amazing.

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Frequently Asked Questions for Starting Babywise

  • bwidgie: HI! I have an 8 week old, and we just started babywise this week. Although we have not adjusted totally to our new schedule, I find that he is sleeping a lot! A lot more than he used too, but I am wondering if it is too much? Each of his naps is about 1:45-2 hours long, on a 3 hour cycle. Does this seem to be consistent with others his same age?

    Plowmanators: Yes, that sounds perfect! Just enjoy it and know that the napping is what is best for his little brain and body right now.
  • NMH: I just started my 9 week old today and it was awful. First nap she was so tired (not a morning person)so she barely fussed. Second nap she cried for 30 mins and then only slept for 40 mins. Third nap she cried for 50 mins and slept for 30. For the next two naps she didn’t sleep at all and cried the entire time. I check on her and pat her and kiss her every 20 mins. I kept her wake time at 30 mins bc she would start getting fussy. We are doing a feeding every 2 1/2 hours. She was used to breastfeeding to sleep and feeding on demand so maybe shes just pissed shes not getting those things anymore. But I’m in tears and exhausted. Any advice? NMH: I meant her playtime was 30 min. So hour of wake time total. 🙂

    Plowmanators: NMH, that sounds pretty normal for a baby who is used to things one way and gets things switched up–even the short naps. Read over the CIO bootcamp post for lots of guidance on going through it. Things should improve rather quickly.
  • Alicia Michelle D’Altilio said: I have a 7 month old and I would like to start using babywise, do you have any suggestions? I Have always followed the eat-wake-sleep pattern. We also put her down for naps and let her CIO. She started sleeping through the nights at 2 months but then stopped at 6 months. She now has awakes 1 or 2 times a night. Now she is also not interested in morning naps… I lay her down and she plays for 30-45 mins. DO you think this has to do with her being extra tired from not sleeping through the night? I look forward to your response.
    Babywise Mom said: Alicia,Be sure to read the book. At that age, I would read BW one and BW two. It sounds like your daughter is ready for longer waketime before her first nap. Try adding 5 minutes. It that doesn’t work, another 5, etc. When they do that, it often is because they need a longer waketime, and 5 minutes can make a huge difference.So read the books and be sure to check out the index on this blog. There are tons of posts here–plenty of reading for you 😉
  • MiracleBaby said:

My question about my little guy: He’s 8 weeks old today and we started BW when he was 4 weeks thanks to a dear friend who told me about it. He’s had a lot of breast feeding trouble and then we found out I had an oversupply & foremilk/hindmilk imbalance and we are taking care of that by doing one-sided feedings. About 2 weeks ago he started experiencing terrible gas (maybe silent reflux???). He spits up alot and then swallows it (we use a paci). He was doing great on a 3 hour E/W/S cycle and started sleeping about 7 hours a night and worked his way up to 9 hours (9pm-6am).

For the last 3 day/nights, he been WAY off of his normal schedule and I can’t figure out why. His total wake time is generally 1.25 hours with 1.75 hours nap time and then a 9 hour sleeping night. Because he’s had so much gas, he’s refusing to eat more than 5-10 minutes and I’m having a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance again which is perpetuating the problem. His wake time has gone from 1.25 hours to less then 40 minutes every time. He still sleeps to complete a 3 hour cycle during the day, but is no longer sleeping through the night. I now have a wide awake baby at midnight and he’s waking up at 5am! Any suggestions? I know it’s a lot of information on him, but it seems like so many factors play into it.

We’re being proactive as far as the gas (cutting certain gassy foods out of my diet, elevated mattress for him, colic tabs, gripe water, Mylicon, etc…) but nothing seems to be helping! Help! How do I get my precious LO who was E/W/S so peacefully and sleeping through the night back to the way he was?? Thanks!!

PS. I forgot to ask: Could this be day time/night time confussion? I have to wake him from every nap and he ALWAYS doses during his feedings, no matter what I try to do to keep him awake…

Babywise Mom said:

You would want to look at what has changed for him. You say his waketime is shorter, but his naps are still long. That could be the reason for being more awake at night.

He could also just be unable to soothe himself since you use a pacifier and is waking more often at night now. Many babies go through this, though usually closer to 3 months old.

So look to what is different about now and back when it was good and see what has changed.

  • Judy said: My baby will be 19 weeks in 2 days. She started sleeping through the night (9 hours) on her own at 9 weeks. At about 12 weeks she would sleep between 10 and 11 hours continually. But the past month or so she’s only sleeping 9-9.5 hours at night at the most. She goes to bed between 8:30 and 9pm and wakes up between 5:30 and 6. If i put her to bed any earlier in the evening, she’s just up earlier. When she wakes up at 5:30/6 she’s not hungry but won’t go back to sleep on her own, so I put her in bed with me and she goes back to sleep until 7:30, when our day starts. I’ve tried CIO when she wakes up at 6 and only once has she gone back to sleep on her own until 7:30. She has 2 long naps and one (sometimes two) short naps during the day. They say she should be sleeping about 12 hours at night by now? I should mention as well that in the last couple weeks she has woken up two nights in the middle of the night (I know that’s not alot but she hasn’t woken up in the night for months!), but I have attributed that to 4 month sleep issues.

    Babywise Mom said: Judy,I would rock her to sleep and then put her in her bed rather than your bed. She is at an age when babies will wake and talk to themselves; it sounds like she is crying instead of just talking.

28 thoughts on “Starting Babywise Late Guide”

  1. I just wrote a long response to this post and it was deleted when I was asked to sign in. 🙁 We did BW with our first son with great success. (STTN starting at 7 weeks and we dropped the DF at 5 months.) Son #2 is a week younger than Brinley, and though we've done our best to implement BW from the start, he's turned our lives upside down. Son #2 came home from the hospital already on a great schedule – feedings every three hours, put himself to sleep and was only up twice during the night. He developed reflux around 4 weeks and his naps went from being 2 hours long to 20 minutes and there was nothing that we could do to get him back to sleep when he woke up. (Believe me, we tried everything.) Started Zantac and though it helped with his awake times, naps only lengthened to 45 minutes. Then we ran into problems with him not being hungry when he woke up because it was too close to his last feeding, so I started keeping him up longer even though it made him OT. His naps have only started improving in the last month, (1.5 hours long instead of 45 min) and though he's had two separate weeks of STTN (one week around Christmas and one at the end of January), he still isn't doing it consistently. Our entire family has been sick since October now, (I swear we've caught every virus out there) and I know that my milk supply has taken a hit many times. He is currently finishing up antibiotics for double ear infections and a lower respiratory infection, and we've held off switching him to formula until he's finished. (That means that I've had to feed him two times per awake time for the last week because I'm not making much milk at all anymore.) We're switching on Saturday and hoping that it helps with his sleeping. He's also recently started solids and is now eating up to half a jar, three times a day.Basically, it's a mess. I feel like I've messed everything up and that he's never going to STTN. I guess I'm just looking for reassurance that we can still make BW work for him and that he will eventually start sleeping better. Do you have any advice?

    Reply
  2. Hello there! Your blog has been so very helpful to me. I feel like it has been a total God send! I started BW about a month ago. Your Brinley and my Gabriel are close to the same age. His bday is August 19th, 2012. There have been many ups and downs. I've done a lot of reading, trials and errors. I wish I would have done BW with all my children. I also have a 10 year old boy and a 5 year old girl. I have so much to say! Let me know if you want me to contribute my experiences!

    Reply
  3. I tried babywise; but my baby did not fit at all even though we tried to force it. My son now 10 months only slept for 30 min from day 1 to 3-4 months. He started taking 45 min naps at 5-7, and from 8 to now 10 he takes anywhere from 45 min to 90 min naps. He also wakes up between 5:30 and 6 am, a lot of your blogs talk about waking your baby up at 7-8, but our son wakes us up EVERY morning way too early for us. I also work full time so we leave the house by 7:30 everyday. He's a good sleeper, sleeps from 7pm-5:30 which is a full night sleep, we plan to have another child so I'm just trying to figure out how to do this if you baby doesn't take long enough naps, otherwise they eat every hour (I didn't want our son to get use to snacking).

    Reply
  4. Gabriel actually reached for his crib at his morning nap today! I have done exactly what you said to do in "Starting Babywise late". I have found that being consistent and writing everything down helps A LOT. I have been able to distinguish between his different cries and cues so much more accurately! He is a much more happy baby! How do you deal with baby being sick and teething without succumbing to nursing to comfort? Also how do you deal with it when you're sick and your milk supply goes down? These are the times I find it the most difficult to remain consistent.Also, I have found it hard to do CIO….. He really seems to be hungry/not tired when he cries really loudly and persistently.He is still not STTN. On good nights he wakes up once or twice. I just feed him b/c he takes in a full meal and that's the only way he'll go back to sleep.

    Reply
  5. DD is 3.5 weeks, and for awake time she's up between 35-60 minutes, depending on when she starts showing signs of tiredness. My question is that for some naps she takes up to 45 minutes (sometimes an hour) to fall asleep. She looks around, or she may close her eyes for a few seconds, then they pop open again. I do the 4 S's, close blinds, white noise, and I put her down drowsy but still awake. I don't think it's overtiredness since I watch for cues and she isn't up for more than 60 minutes (and it's usually less). Since I put her down drowsy, I assume she should go to sleep at least fairly quickly, but that doesn't always happen. Sometimes when she takes forever to fall asleep, she only has a 45 minute nap, sometimes she takes a good nap. There's nothing consistent that makes it easy to figure out why she takes so long. Could it just be that she's still learning how to put herself to sleep? Some naps, esp when she's had a short nap prior and has been awake longer than normal, she goes to sleep w/in 15 minutes. I'm a bit confused!

    Reply
  6. Brittany yes you can! You and your baby have been through a lot. Reflux is a whole different story. Be sure to read the posts on reflux on this blog. There are many parents out there who do BW with a reflux baby, and while not all are the "stereotypical" picture of BW perfection, it is still MUCH easier than it would be if you weren't doing BW. You just need to adjust your "yardstick"–in other words, don't measure your baby's success compared to other BW babies (including your first). Measure it only against where your baby as in individual would be without it.

    Reply
  7. Carlee, could your baby be waking early from hearing you get ready in the morning? Have you looked through the Nighttime sleep issues revised and updated post?My oldest woke on his own each day between 7-7:15. Some babies are just more naturally early risers. The plus side of this type is when school starts, you don't have to fight them to wake up in the morning 🙂

    Reply
  8. Kelly, my babies have all been fine with just me or my husband comforting when sick or teething. Some people do nurse for comfort, and that is fine if that is what you want to do. It may or may not be a battle once the sickness is over.If you get low supply from sickness, try any of the following;1-nurse more often for a few days2-pump during the day3-take fenugreek or other supplements to help supply

    Reply
  9. lwicks,My guess would be waketime length is not right. I would stop going by the cues you are going by right now. I would try set wake time lengths and see what happens at the different lengths. So try 45 minutes and see how naps go. If that isn't perfect, try 50. And so on. Typically, if a baby is not crying in bed but takes a long time to fall asleep, I say the baby needs a longer waketime length, BUT 60 minutes seems plenty long enough for a 3 week old. It could also be stimulation levels, so pay attention to what happens during playtime and how baby naps after that.

    Reply
  10. Thank you for this blog. It is really helpful. I just got BW and read about sleep training. I have a 12 week old girl. We started sleep training today. I have few questions about it and hope to get some advice from you. Thank you in advance.1. I am doing a 2.5h feed/wake/sleep schedule now. She follows ok but sometimes she does not eat both sides or she would eat one side and refuse the other. After I change her diaper, sometimes she will eat again; sometimes not. Should I extend the 2.5h schedule? I feel she wont be able extend it to 3h.2. She can only take 30 min nap. The first two naps of today, she cried about 20 -30 min before fell asleep on her own. She took 20-30 min nap each time. For her third nap, she just would not go to sleep. She cried for 1h. Then, I patted her and picked her up. I burped her and rocked her to sleep. She only slept for 20 min. She started cry again but that is still 30 min away from her next feeding. I tried to rock her but she just wont stop crying. what should I do? I worry that she will be over tired and wont go to sleep later. Since I am using CIO, should I just let her cry and dont pick her up at all?3. At night, she started to sleep between 7:30 – 11:30pm, woke up at 3:30 and then 5:30 am for food. Last night, we started to CIO and she slept by herself. She woke up at 1:30 and then 6:30am. Should I wake her up for dreamfeed at 11pm? I feel she would wake up more often if I do the dreamfeed. Can I just do 1:30 and 6:30am feeding?Thank you.

    Reply
  11. Boy do I have questions…I'm a first time mom, my son was born 5 weeks early, healthy, with no health problems other than mild jaundice. When training with babywise, do I go off how old he actually is, or base everything off of his due date? We have the day time routine down pat. Eat, wake, sleep every three hours on the dot. But the evenings are a bit dicey and I never know when hes going to wake up, to an extent. Last night I put him down at 9:30 after feeding, and he woke up at 12:15, 3:30, 5:30, and up at 8:30. And each time he was very sleepy and hard to get to eat. So I'm wondering at this point if he's capable of going longer without a feeding, and how I make that happen. Also, is 8:30a too late for a start feeding?

    Reply
  12. Hello, what do you suggest if baby won't go to sleep on their own, or won't go back to sleep after night feeds? Wechavevbeen trying for three weeks, Leo is 5 weeks old. He will scream and cry on and off for over an hour and still not sleep. We have a sound machine, he is swaddled, and is on a three hour schedule. He is only up for about 40 minutes…but won't cry himself to sleep.

    Reply
  13. Hello, just want to say how helpful your blog is. I feel like I comb through it everyday along side my babywise books to gets helpful tips for little one. I do have a question though. I'm sort of starting late… Meaning, my daughter (7months now) was born low birth weight and is still small for her age. I feel like I can't get her to go 4hrs between feedings like baby wise says, and I feel like I can't imagine her just having 2naps a day. It's like she is always months behind the "babywise baby". We do the WEP system and she goes down without being rocked I. Her own crib, but I just struggle with a schedule that works. I know she can sleep through the night because a month ago she went a whole week sleeping about 10hrs a night…. The we went back to waking at 2and then 5am. She has gotten into the habit of starting the day at 6am so I'm trying to figure out how to just have 5-4 feedings and 2-3 naps in a 13 hrs time frame. She stays up for usually 1.5-2hrs at a time for wake time. I was just wondering if I could see a visual schedule I could try for my little one starting at 6am and bedtime nursing at 7:30pm. She does eat 3meals aday of solids too. Thanks and I hope my post isn't scatter brained. Lol. Rough week!

    Reply
  14. Ok, I've looked all over your blog and think I found what I needed. I just need to be more strict with my day time schedule. 6am are time works the bat for her so I will work with that. Thanks for a great blog!

    Reply
  15. Hi! I've been looking all through your blog for the past couple of days, trying to figure everything out. There is so much to look through!My baby boy is six weeks old now and I decided to start him on Babywise not because of sleep problems, but because he was fussy ALL of the time. It seems to have really helped me to figure out his fussiness and he has been a LOT happier just the past three days we have been using the eat/play/sleep schedule.So, now that he's been happier, I'm more concerned about his night time sleeping. Before doing babywise, he was already sleeping anywhere from 6-8 hours through the night. Because I am changing his daytime nap schedule, I'm concerned that he won't sleep as well during the night. My biggest concern is the last nap of the day (so before the late-evening feed, or dreamfeed). I think the reason that DS has been sleeping so well during the night is because DH and I make a conscious effort to keep DS awake before we put him down, between 9 and 10pm. Will he wake up more now that we will be putting him to bed earlier?My second concern is with his daytime naps. I think I am pretty good at catching his sleep cues and putting him down because he will only fuss for about 5 minutes before falling asleep in his crib. Sometimes he sleeps great! But other times he will wake up fussing before it is time to nurse him again. I try to put him back to sleep, but he just won't. He will fuss in his crib, but settle as soon as I pick him up. Then when I lay him down, he will fuss and fuss until I pick him back up again. Eventually, I will bring him out to his bouncy seat and he will sit there smiling and laughing. I don't think he is hungry because he is so happy when I get him out of his crib, but should I nurse him anyway? Is this wake time going to mess with the eat/play/sleep schedule? I just don't know what to do, because other times I will have to wake him up from his nap to nurse him.Some advice, please?

    Reply
  16. I have a 7 month old baby and we are on the every three hour feeding schedule. She is doing pretty well and only taking 2 naps during the day with a short 3rd one sometimes…..I am putting her down at the same time every night and some nights she sleeps through the night….but majority of the time she is waking 1 to 2 times before her wake time of 5:30am. I am a nursing mother and have pretty much stopped feeding her in the middle of the night. I feed her at 7pm (solid/ nurse)and lay her down at 8pm. Should I wake her again around 10pm and feed her to ensure she sleeps through the night or is she really hungry? I guess my question is she waking several times through the night out of hunger or simply wanting comfort? I have one night this week gone in and picked her up and fed her bc she was screaming so bad and that was pretty abnormal. When I picked her up and fed her she nursed about 10 mins and then fell asleep. I laid her back in her bed and she screamed another 15 mins before going to sleep. Just trying to figure out why she is not sleeping 8-10 hrs through the night without waking up like most babies her age. Help!

    Reply
  17. Hi and thank you for this post. I have just began babywise with my 7 week old baby. So far, she feeds every 2 hours during the day despite my best efforts to help her go longer. Is a 2 hour cycle ok? Also, her naps are usually very short which throws off the whole cycle. Sometimes, she wakes in the middle of her nap due to gas and despite my best attempts, i cannot get her to go back to sleep. What would you advise?

    Reply
  18. Hi, like everyone has said, thanks so much for your blog, advice, and encouragement! I started with your posts on beginning babywise late but have gone on to read many more. I have tons of question but will stick to a few regarding starting late for now. I read BW 2 a little over weeks ago when my son was about to turn 11 weeks old (born 3 weeks early if that matters.) We started to implement a few of the principles that Monday when he turned 11 weeks. We got on an eat/play/sleep pattern, stretched his feedings to 2.5 hours apart (previously I had been demand feeding every 2 hours or less), and he started napping in his crib with CIO. (He was already sleeping in is crib at night). All of these things are going really well, or as well as can be expected for being new and late and hating to hear him cry! But now he's down to usually crying 10-20 min before a nap with the exception of the witching hour which he won’t always sleep through. He only naps 45 min but before there would be says when he would hardly nap at all and other days when he seemed to sleep all day. This week, 13 weeks old, we are working on really nailing down the schedule and I plan on staying at home for 2 weeks to get consistency.My questions are:1.) I didn't start him on the schedule for an 11 week old because he was still waking up once in the middle of the night to feed and feeding about 9-10 times a day. I started with the 3-6 week old schedule that has 8 feeds including a middle of the night feed. Does that sound like a good place to start?2.) In terms of merges and moving to the next schedule do you recommend I just follow what is outlined in BW as if he were a 3-6 week old moving to the 7-10 week old schedule? (For example just wait for the night when he sleeps through the night etc.?) Or are there other things to consider or try because of starting late? (How did you get your son to catch up, or did it just happen naturally?)3.) Since I’m following the schedule of a 3-6 week old does that mean I should follow your recommended wake times for a 3-6 week old as well, which would be 40-60 minutes? He seems to do best when awake for 75-90 minutes depending on time of day, which falls into the waketime lengths recommended for his age but then doesn’t leave time for a 1.5-2 hour nap in a 2.5-3 hour cycle. He can’t sleep that long yet anyway, but I’m hoping one day he will. Maybe by the time he can sleep longer he’ll be caught up to the correct schedule and it will all work out?

    Reply
  19. Hi! My daughter is 10 weeks old (was 6 weeks early) and we are just starting Babywise officially. She naps only in arms right now and I desperately need to fix that. I have two older children and schedule is a must! I was reading your post about getting on schedule Bd then naps in the bassinet/crib. Does that mean I nddd to continue to hold her for naps now? My in-laws were here and my mother in law basically held her for every nap for two weeks and now we are stuck. She won’t nap in a baby seat or her crib and it makes her tired and she falls asleep while nursing. Also overnight her big stretch is 8-1/2. We haven’t been dream seeding, sounds like we should add it in?
    Thanks
    Jessica

    Reply
  20. Hey Valerie! Hope this note find you well. I’ve been following Babywise for a couple weeks now with my 9 1/2 week old son. We only started at around 7 1/2 weeks but your articles have helped so much. I have a few questions. He started to only wake once a night (hooray!) and it was getting more consistent, but now he’s back to 2x. He’s not hungry at the second wake up, but we can’t seem to get him to go back to sleep in the bassinet, only on us. Any suggestions?Which brings me to my next question – he’ll only sleep for 45 minutes in the crib at nap time. He falls back asleep on me usually (not for the last nap of the day). I’ve read your short nap articles, swaddled him differently, moved where he’s sleeping (from the living room to his crib), adjusted awake times beforehand and nothing seems to work. Do I just let him continue to sleep on me? I know he’s little, but I don’t want to create a bad habit. Thanks so much for your help!!

    Reply
  21. Hello. I have an 8 week old son that I have a few questions about. Your help would be appreciated. He eats every 2.5-3 hours. Goal bedtime is 8pm and morning is 7am. My first question is how many naps is he supposed to be taking? I saw in your blog that at his age 4 naps- but I don’t see how this lines up with 7-8 feeds in 24hours. If he eats at lets say: 7/10/1/4/6/8 and dream feed at 10 that is 5 naps.
    Are all of these supposed to be 1.5-2hrs long because right now I can’t get him to sleep more that maybe 20-40min after crying for over 1 hour in his crib. He is swaddled, white noise and black out shades. He prefers to be held, but I cannot hold him for every nap.
    He sleeps ok at night. Last feed is usually between 10-and midnight and he stretches until 6ish.
    Thank you

    Reply

Leave a Comment

Skip to Instructions