Here is a story from a mother of two who had a rough go of it with her second child.
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I am so thankful to find your blog when I did. I have 2 children 3 yr old daughter and 1 yr old son. My daughter was picture perfect when it came to babywise sleeping 6-8 hr stretches within the first 2 weeks and never did I have an issue with naps or bedtime. Even now she sleeps 8pm-7am and takes 1 3 hr nap a day.
Then came my son. I did the exact things with him….put him down awake, swaddled, didn’t let him sleep in swing or bouncy seat, fed on a 2-3 hr schedule. At first it seemed to work until about 1 week old and pardon my language all hell broke loose. You name it and my child had it: colic, acid reflux, ear infections leading to tubes, asthma, intolerance to soy/dairy in my milk. It was a rough 6 months. The only thing I relied on was this blog.
I determined if I kept his world as normal as possible all the sickness would eventually go away. Although sometimes I did what I had to do to survive I look back now and wondered how did I do it? I would turn to the blog for every question and kept him on the eat, wake, sleep cycle and sleeping in his own bed. At that point that was all I could focus on because he was just so sick all the time.
Once we got a handle on his ailments about 6 months the structure I had tried to stick to paid off. He started sleeping through the night and napping at scheduled times throughout the day. It was amazing and I definitely attribute that to Babywise. Now, I look back and know all the tears (yes from me and him) sweat (stress does this to you) and hard work was all worth it and would do it again in a heartbeat. I have now a 12 month old who sleeps 7pm-8am and takes 2 3hr naps during the day. He will crawl to his bed and shake the slats to get in…boy does he love his sleep. Weaning was so easy as well as transition to the sippy….all due to he knows what to expect from me and himself.
I recommend everyone to Babywise as well as this blog. There were times my husband thought I was crazy reading your blog but that was all the sanity I could find….knowing I can’t control the sickness that is not my job but controlling his environment…I can do that and eventually will succeed. And succeed I did.
Thank you so much for all you do….I will be eternally grateful especially after hearing horror stories from other moms who go with the flow and have told me they physically have to hold their son down until he falls asleep and he only eats snacks….I am thankful I listened and “started as I meant to go” because I treasure the bouncy happy little boy I have now because he is well rested, healthy (thank goodness), and just loves life!
Amanda
Thank you for sharing all of these stories but ESPECIALLY this one! I'm currently struggling with a little baby who has colic and bad acid reflux. NOT PLEASANT! So hearing that I just need to stick it out gives me hope! I was beginning to feel like a Babywise failure but I know that I can do it! I loved that she said that we can't control our baby's sickness but we can control their environment. I'm going to stick with it and I know it will work!
Please tell me what did for the acid reflux. I am struggling right now and need some help/encouragement. My daughter is 4 weeks old and is on acid reflux medication. My 2 year old did babywise perfectly, but with this one I've had to make many exceptions.