BW Sucess Story

And yet another Babywise success story!

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Several years before we had children I remember 2 women in my Sunday school class talking about this book, Babywise. They were raving about it so I put it in my memory banks for a later date. When I was pregnant with our first another woman at our church asked if I had my copy of Babywise yet. I knew her well and her children so that only lent force to my desire to read it which I did about 2 months before my DD was born. I even sent it to Afghanistan for my husband to read before he came home from deployment 🙂 I am a by the book kind of girl and was initially frustrated with some portions of babywise, not becuase I thought the book was wrong but because my DD wasn’t doing what the book said she should! Eventually I re-read and re-read again the portion about how no baby is ever exactly “by the book”! I had 2 wonderful BW friends from church who I believe I called every day for the first several weeks to keep my spirits up and talk me though this.

I never really felt like things were going that great until at 6 weeks at my sister’s wedding (after a 2,500 mile car trip!) a couple remarked about how “lucky” we were that our baby was awake and not screaming. “The book said people would say that” I remember remarking to my husband! From then on I knew we were on the right track. She started STTN at 8 weeks and we dropped the DF at 12 weeks; people remarked constantly about how alert she was and how lucky we were.

There will still plenty of bumps along the way, like moving to a 4 hour schedule. After figuring that out on my own I finally read BWII where it explains the exact situation I was in. I thought ahead and read TW before my DD turned 1 and I am so glad I did. I am constantly told how happy my baby is and how lucky I am. I am quick to tell people that it is because she sleeps well and I keep her on a schedule. I give BW to all first time moms that I know and tell them that I am convinced my DD is the way she is because of the knowledge in this book!

In addition to being a huge BW fan, I am also a fan of your blog and the Google Group. I have learned a great deal from your posts and from conversing with other BW moms. I just switched my DD to a 1 nap schedule the day after she turned 14 months. I was so reluctant to do that b/c the book says 14 months is the earliest they should go to one nap. Well, after talking with several moms on the Google group who had the same issues with their LOs not taking a second nap I decided we would try it and it has been great! She sleeps later in the morning and after only 2 weeks is sleeping between 2 -2 1/2 hours for her nap.

Number 2 is due in October and many people have commented on how this next kid will be a terror compared to my “easy” first baby. But, I wonder if these are the same folks who told me that I couldn’t put a baby on a schedule and that I was just lucky she slept so much (of course luck has nothing to do with it, they weren’t there during the CIO weeks!). We are really excited about having 2 kids close together and I know that the principles in BW will make our whole family well rested and happy.

Thanks for allowing me to share,
 
Erika

1 thought on “BW Sucess Story”

  1. Wow, I loved your story, Erika. I have a 10 1/2 month-old baby and have been wanting to get pregnant again. Your story has encouraged me to do so! Like you, I have heard from people I will regret to want to have two kids so close together… but then again, as you put it, these people are the same ones who said I was "lucky" to have such a calm first child – yeah, they definitely weren't there during the CIO weeks! = )

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