This story is from reader Danielle L. You can check more out of her at http://www.lairdspot.blogspot.com/.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ah, Babywise. Just that one word alone can elicit a strong response from the Mom community. Usually, this response is not a positive one. I first heard of Babywise when a co-worker of mine had just had a baby, and everyone was asking how she was doing, and was she sleeping through the night. He said she was, at what everyone else seemed to think was a very young age, and he said it was because of Babywise! Later, when my husband and I were talking about starting our own family, a stay-at-home Mom friend of mine let me borrow her Baby Whisperer book, and I loved it! I bought my own copy of Babywise, and was amazed to see how similar the philosophies of the two books were. I had my husband read it, and we decided before our son was born that we would go Babywise!
With Babywise, we had a plan. We knew what our goals were, and what routine we would reinforce in order to get closer to those goals each day. We also knew WHY we were doing these things, why they were good for our child (I learned later that how and why are key Babywise principles).
The hardest time, hands down, was the first three months of our son’s life. Why was it so hard? For a few reasons…first of all, having a newborn is hard. I think your first child, especially, really shakes up your life and your routine, not to mention your identity. I think one issue was that I was intent on Babywise working perfectly, all the time. This is not reality. I would freak out if my son woke early from a nap, or if he didn’t seem hungry when I thought he should be hungry. This was not a problem with Babywise theory and techniques — this was a problem of my implementation, and learning to hone my mom instincts, and trust my judgement. But — Colin started sleeping through the night at 7 weeks, and was sleeping through every night at 12 weeks! A well-rested mommy is a much calmer, happier mommy! We did Cry it Out for naps, and going to sleep at night, checking on him every 15 minutes, and there were definitely some rough times with that process. But — it got better and better, and after about 7 or 8 weeks, there was NO crying before naps! Even now, at 10 months, Colin talks and plays himself to sleep, and I KNOW he will go down for his nap and get the rest he needs.
Now, as well as for throughout Colin’s little life, we are told constantly that he is a happy, intelligent, well-behaved child. He is extremely healthy and eats well, being in the 95% for weight, and off the charts for length. He rarely cries, and that has been true for most of his life, except for the CIO sleep training period. Each day has a plan, and because of that I know that he is getting the sleep, food, and playtime that he needs. And because those things are taken care of, I get to focus on having fun with him, and watching him learn and grow! I don’t have to waste time and energy wondering if he’s tired or if he got enough to eat. Through Babywise II and the Pre-toddler Babywise, he is starting to learn self-control and obedience, and is learning to obey my voice commands. I feel confident looking toward the future, knowing that we have a plan, we have goals, and we will always keep working towards those goals.
