Here is a success story from a first time mom.
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I picked up Babywise after hearing about it from a friend years before I ever got pregnant, and my goal in implementing it was to get my daughter to sleep through the night. However, as soon as I opened the book, I loved all of its principles. I love how it says to make marriage a priority, how the book explains breastfeeding and milk supply, how it gives advice to handle the 45 minute intruder, how it says that sometimes nothing you can do will calm your screaming infant and they need to cry. It’s just an awesome book and prompted me to buy Babywise II when my daughter was about 4 months old and we were ready to start solids.
My daughter started STTN 6-7 hours at 8 weeks, and by 12 weeks she was going 10 hours per night. When we dropped the dreamfeed at around 5 months, she started going 12 hours. She is now 9 months, and although we’ve had some rough patches with her daytime sleep, she is taking 2 naps of 1.5-2 hours a day. I am so glad BWII explained to me how much sleep she should be getting, so I could have an idea and not freak out over if she was or wasn’t getting enough! Everyone always comments on how happy and alert she is and how she pays attention longer than other babies. I smile and think to myself, as Ezzo says to in the book, that I know it’s because of my hard work that she is like this. I know may Babywise babies get comments like this.
When she started solids, I followed the advice found in BWII for highchair training, and I am amazed at how well it works. I can actually see my daughter’s face in contemplation over whether or not she should reach for the spoon or bowl, and often times she stops reaching or touching her face! She knows what the signs “more” and “all done” mean and gets excited when we read her cues right and sign to her.
The final thing I’d like to share my success with is Independent Playtime (playpen time). I was honestly hesitant to start this with her, as at first I felt kind of guilty leaving her in there for 5-10 minutes. We started her slowly at about 4 months, and now she is sitting pretty well and is up to 20-30 minutes twice per day. She loves it. I cannot begin to explain to people how much she loves it. Sometimes when I stand near the playpen she practically throws herself out of my arms to get in there. I can hear her making new sounds, I can tell she’s trying to problem-solve (trying to figure out how a toy works or how to get a toy she dropped), and she laughs and has so much fun. On days where we don’t get it in, she is not as happy as she normally is, and she actually seems more clingy. I’m so thankful that I’m teaching her these skills at such a young age.
As a new mom, I am so thankful for the Babywise books and plan to continue in the –Wise series, as it has been so beneficial to our family so far.
Thanks,
Amber Eberhart
