You can connect with other Babywise moms!
Social Networking
These are my two favorite social networking options:
- Chronicles of a Babywise Mom Facebook Group: This groups is a very hopping place. It is full of a variety of moms, from seasoned moms who have teenagers (even some with grandchildren!) to moms who are expecting their first child. If you are on Facebook, this is a must-join.
- Chronicles Google Group: This group has over 4,000 members. In this group, you have access to my spreadsheets I use to problem solve with my children, as well as other helpful documents. It is a very active group with lots of helpful moms. Moms range from first time mothers of newborns to experienced moms with multiple children. All you need to sign up is an email address. The group is private and you need approval to join, but we get members in quickly.
There are also other options:
- This blog on Facebook
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- Chronicles of a Babywise Mom Email List
- Christian Family Heritage and Beyond on Facebook
Websites
Here are some websites to get real information about Babywise:
Babywise-Friendly Networked Blogs
This is a group of blogs who have grouped together as a Babywise-Friendly network for parents to turn to.
- Christine Keys
- Chronicles of a Babywise Mom
- The Journey of Parenthood
- Let’s Be Brave
- Mama’s Organized Chaos
- Team Cartwright
- Twin Mom and More
If you have a community online and you want to share it, please leave a comment and let me know. I will add it to the list.
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I cannot seem to find the entry on dresses for children in africa with a dress pattern given as well. Please direct me? Thanks!
Yep, here it is:https://www.babywisemom.com/search/label/givebackI put it under a label "giveback"
Hi Val,I know you have a ton to answer as well as your family…plus a new baby on the way so I'll keep this short. Our 3rd is on the way…Due June 1st. My oldest is 5 and the middle is 2.5. I'm trying to rack my brain around a schedule for the baby once my oldest starts Kinder and I'm struggling…can you help? I know a lot can change before September, but I just need a peace that it will work out. My oldest will start just after labor day so the baby will be 3 months. The school hours are 9:15-2:15….I know, terrible times right in the middle of normal nap routines. I plan on waking the baby early so that he can go down right after we get home, but then another nap will be around the time I need to pick the oldest up. Do you have a simple idea that I can work with to get him on that schedule before september? Thanks for your help and congrats.Melody
Hi I am very new to this websiteand babywise does anyone have experience with starting these methods with an 11mo old? I am overwhelmed!
Melody,I think a hard thing with planning it out is that babies can be so different. For example, Kaitlyn had a short feeding period–I can't even remember exactly which one it was. Let's say it was her "10:30" feeding–she always wanted to eat at 10. So that was her feeding time. I assumed McKenna would also have a short feeding period at that time and planned her schedule as such, but it was not short for her at all. She went the full 3 hours.Plus you don't know if the baby will be one with longer or shorter waketime needs AND if baby will be more of a natural 1.5 hour sleeper, 2 hour sleeper, or 2.5 hour sleeper. So this is what I would do. You can figure something out, but I think we should wait until your baby is here and you get a feel for the personality before setting out the schedule.In the meantime, I would encourage you to think about your options that are a bit out of the ordinary. Do you have a neighbor that would either come over or take a baby monitor while you picked children up from school? Do you have someone you could carpool with to alleviate number of disruptions?I understand your worry. I will be in a similar situation. I will have dance drop offs and pick ups, piano, school…It is a lot.
Unknown,I don't know anyone specifically who started at 11 months, but there are people who start late–at various ages. I would start by having predictable eating times and sleeping times and waking up times. Get to that point and we can get your next step 🙂
My baby is 7 weeks old and has been on Babywise since Day 5 of life. We started right away with CIO for nap time, but only because it was fairly easy (10-15 minutes of fussiness and then asleep.)Schedule: First wake time of the day 6am, feed 9 am, feed 12 pm, feed 3 pm, feed 6 pm, feed 9 pm (very little wake time), 12 am is the last time we wake him up and there is no wake time. Just feed, diaper back in crib 12 am, Wakes up on his own between 3 am and 4 am. Naps during the day are and hour and a half.Goal: Start to drop his middle of the night feeding that is anywhere between 3 – 5.Questions: In the evening, should I change his schedule from 6pm, 9pm, 12 am to 6pm, 8:30pm, 11pm to tank him up? I've been reading that a dream feed is best between 10pm and 11pm.When he wakes up for his middle of the night feeding, he is legitimitly hungry and eats a couple ounces. Will he readjust naturally and eat more at the other feedings once we start CIO? BTW, he is formula fed.One other thing to mention, he has woken up at 5am before (1 hour before his 6 am wake up time)and although he doesn't go back to sleep, keeping a pacifier in his mouth tides him over until his 6 am wake up time.Do you have any other thoughts or tips on what our plan is? I know he is only 7 weeks, but I really think he is capable of sleeping from 12am to 6am, plus I have to go back to work soon and more sleep would be really helpful.
Hello. I've just come across your blog and it's one of the best things i've found on the internet! It's an amazing resource for information and support and I think it's great that you are helping so many mothers. I have an issue i'm hoping you can give my our advice on. For the past few weeks my 10 wks old daughter has started waking up from most of her naps after 30-45 minutes. Her first nap is always 2-3 hours but the other 3 naps she takes the rest of the day are short. I've read all your posts on the 45 minute intruder, troubleshooting and what to do when baby wakes early but I couldn't find what I should do to keep them on a 3 hours eat play sleep schedule when they wake up after 45 minutes. For example her wake time is about 1hr 15 minutes, she naps for 45 minutes so then I have 1 hour left before her feeding time. If I play with her until her feeding time I will be on a wake, play, eat schedule right? I won't have time to play with her after eating because she would've already been up an hour and her feedings take about 30 minutes. I'm trying to do what I can to fix the 45 minute napping but in the meantime do you have any advice on what I should do about her schedule? Thank you so much!!
Do you reccomend sleep training/CIO and getting rid of swaddle cold turkey at the same time? My daughter is 4 months old and we are beginning sleep training on Monday. Thank you!
Meg,Tanking up is a good idea. 10:30 might be better than 11.
sooze, Are you sure it is not a growth spurt?I would go to a 2.5 hour schedule instead of 3 if baby is not hungry and sleeping 45 minutes.
cpar, I don't think I would do it all at once, but I think some moms would. I like to do one thing at a time beause some babies aren't ready to drop the swaddle when you try it, and you wouldn't want to wonder if the crying was just CIO or if the swaddle should still be there.
I have 9 week old twins that I've been trying to sleep train for about a month now. They've been on a 3 hour feeding schedule since birth. They eat at 6, 9, 12, 3, 6 pm and then we do bath and bedtime by 8:00 pm. Then I wake to feed them at midnight in hopes they sleep from midnight to 6 am. I have several questions. The first is about nap time. One twin is a pretty good sleeper. I can put her down drowsy and she cries a little and then falls asleep and will usually sleep the whole naptime. The other baby will cry off and on for a whole 2 hours. Am I supposed to just let him cry the whole time and eventually he will learn to fall asleep? Or am I supposed to go in there to pat him after so long? I'm so confused because of all the different things I read. I want to be consistent with him but it just seems like he is never going to learn to self sooth!Then my next question is for when he wakes in the middle of the night. He has been waking at 4:00 am and I don't feed until 6:00 am. I know he is capable of going from 12:00 am to 6 am. He's done it before and this schedule was recommended by our pediatrician. So what do I do when he wakes at 4 am? Do I just let him cry and not go in there at all or should I go in and pay him every so often? I've done both and nothing seems to help. He just keeps screaming until I pick him up for feeding time. He's also waking his twins sister and I want to try to avoid that but I know they need to learn to sleep through each others crying.
Tara, my post "newborn sleep heirarchy" will answer your first question.I personally would self-soothe him back to sleep in the night when he wakes, but some moms would do CIO. Do what you think is the best. You might also want to consider doing the 12:00 midnight feed earlier–like 10-11. Later feeds like your midnight one often result in a baby waking in the night because it disrupts normal sleep patterns.
Hi I am a new mom of a 4 week old and I am a very routine/schedule type of person so am interested in looking into babywise to start my newborn on. Right now I am pretty much feeding every 3 hrs but not on a time schedule, I dont wake him up from naps, I havent gotten that figured out yet, just feed him more as he is hungry now. I had a question about night time, how do I start putting him down around the same time every night. I would like to start feeds around 8pm and put him down around 830-845ish, but what if he just ate at 7pm or what if he is sleeping from 6 on, do I wake him up from nap to start feeding him at 8- would he go back to sleep if he took such a late nap?
Hello, I just found out about the babywise technique and my little guy is 6months old. How would you suggest starting this routine? Maybe a sample routine? I am reading the book but a little lost because the book starts from the time of birth and I am obviously past that. Thanks so muchSarah
I do have a couple of posts on starting late if you need help on that.Six months can vary based on if you are doing every 3 hours or every four. She will most likely be up for 1.5-2 hours. No longer than two. Then.a nap. So she will get up, eat, play, and go back down for a nap after having been up for 1.5-2 hours (including feeding time). Ten she should nap for 1.5-2.5 hours, then repeat.
Hi! I love your site! My son is on the brink of 6 months old, and my husband and I are sold on BW! I'm a little lost now though. He is still doing well overall and I know we can't complain, but I wanted any thoughts you may have. H had been STTN (7p-5:30a/6a)consistently with no problems and then he started to roll from back to tummy at about 4 months which messed with him for a bit since he liked to practice at night 🙂 He finally decided to become a belly sleeper, and has never looked back. We contributed random night/early wakings to that but it's never really gotten better. We worked on the time change for several weeks before and he has done well with it thus far. Here is his current schedule(he is at a pretty consistent 2 hour waketime each time):6:40am/6:45am – Wake7am – Eat bottle, then solids8:45am – Nap (or 2 hours after waking)10:30am/10:45am – Wake11am – Eat bottle, then solids12:30pm/12:45pm – Nap (2 hrs after waking – this is normally his best nap)2:30pm/2:45pm – Wake3pm – Eat bottle, no solids4:30pm/4:45pm – Short nap5/5:15pm – Wake 7pm – Eat bottle, then solids7:45pm/8pm – bedtimeHe goes down great for bed, but it's like his little body is stuck to only sleep consistently for 9 hours and that's it. I know it's not a food issue. He had an earlier schedule before this and we moved it along with practicing for the time change to hopefully kill two birds with one stone. He used to sleep 7pm – 4am and we would insert paci and he would go back to sleep very close if not right at desired waketime. Now, he does 8pm – 5am!! I HATE having to give him a pacifier to go back to sleep, and we've never really made him CIO because it is close to start of day and he is the type that will CIO for 2 hours, so if he is overtired at that first waketime, it messes up our whole day. I don't get it. I do work so I've sacrificed my frustration with the early waking/paci insertion for my sleep! Any thoughts? Anything would be appreciated at this point!!! He's not ready to drop that 3rd nap, which I guess doesn't happen for another month or so? Thank you SO much for the valuable information on this blog, it is priceless!!
Hi there, I have a 12 week old daughter and I have kept her on a fairly consistent 3 hour feeding schedule from the beginning. She experienced some awful gas pains and GI trouble from 2 weeks to 10 weeks. This caused us to be unable to really do CIO because she would just cry for hours, whether she was held or not, until she could finally have a bowel movement. So she is finally regular now and the crying has decreased substantially. She is on a 3 1/2 hour feeding schedule last feeding at 8 and bedtime at 9, plus a dreamfeed at 11. She does GREAT with her daytime schedule. Puts her self to sleep at every nap. Sleeps for the whole nap every time, and if she wakes can put herself back to sleep and she is getting full feedings every time. Our trouble begins at around 10 o clock. She eats her last feeding at 8, then we do bedtime routine and put her down at 9 awake but sleepy and she puts her self right to sleep. She sleeps till about 10ish ( somewhere between 45-60 minutes) and then wakes up with a scream. From then till her next feeding she proceeds to spit up a lot ( 7-8 times) and is fussy. Then I feed her at 11 and she goes down perfectly after that. She is still waking up for a night time feeding anywhere between 4-5:30am. Then we get her up for the day at 7:30am. She is exclusively breast fed and has had GI issues from the beginning so Im afraid its something she might have to grow out of. This is literally the only time of the day she cries. So I have never even had to attempt CIO and when I try during this time, she spits up all over herself every 3-5 minutes so I have to go in to take care of that. Just wondering if you had any advice on what the problem in the late evening could be. Thanks!
SO SO SO excited to find this website! I have been looking everywhere for advice, and haven't come across anyone that could help. I've been waiting for days to get into the Babywise site on baby center, and was becoming desperate! I have been loosely applying the Babywise philosophy with my daughter. I say loosely, because there are times when her schedule forces me to put her to sleep right after eating. She is currently 8 months old, and her schedule is: 7am wake, eat, nap 8-9:30, eat 10:30, nap 11-12, eat 2, nap right after until around 3:30, eat 5:30, then bed at 6:30pm. She sleeps solid through the night (12.5 hours). However, the past two days she has been getting up at 6 am, not hungry, just getting up. We've tried a later bedtime, but she can't make it, so we realize that one of her naps needs to go. Her feeding schedule is perfect, so I want to keep that the same, but I have no idea how to change her naps. I was going to try to do one at 8:30, then one after her 2:00 meal. I tried it today, and she only slept from 8:30-9 because she was so overtired, so I left her in her crib until 10. I was going to keep her up until her next nap, but she actually feel asleep sitting up playing. I feel like an 8 month old should definitely be down to 2 naps, but I don't know where to begin…advice???
Our baby girl is 8 months old and has been a BW baby from day one. She's done great with it and has been sleeping from 7 pm- 7 am from about 3 months. We recently were with family over the holidays and all the sudden started waking up 2-3 times a night. I hoped that this would stop once we got home, but it hasn't. She continues to wake up at least twice a night wanting to nurse. She has been taking her naps just like normal- it's just the nighttime sleep that has been affected. I don't know how to get her out of this cycle and back to normal. Advice???
I have two boys, a two year old and a 7 week old. I have done baby wise since both were one week old. My first son was a great eater and did a 3 hour schedule and woke twice at night to feed. My 7 week old is on this schedule 6,9, 12, 3, 5:30, and 9. He wakes around 2 to eat and then sleeps until 6. He very rarely eats 3-4 ounces, usually 1-2 ounces at best, which is exact opposite of my first son. At his 9 feeding, I can hardly wake him to eat at all, the milk just dribbles down his face and he refuses to eat, waving his arms around and flipping out if you try to put bottle in his mouth. I wanted to know if you consider 1.5 ounces a full feeding bc this is complete opposite of my first son who loved the bottle. My first son loved to eat and had a long CIO period. This baby loves to sleep (rarely cries at nap) and is not a big eater. Should I consider changing my schedule due to his lack of eating much at feed times or should I keep schedule at 3 hours even though some feedings are poor and can take up to one hour to get him to eat 2 ounces?
I started researching the BabyWise method when I was pregnant, and I love its methods. I've heard great things about it! My baby is 3 weeks old, and since the day he was born, I've tried so hard to get him on somewhat of a routine, at least with his feedings. For about the first week of life, he was doing really well at eating every 3 hours (roughly). However, since then, feeding him has been a nightmare because he never seems to be fully satisfied! (He's breastfed by the way, with occasional ounces of formula to supplement.) I don't know if I'm just having trouble reading my baby's hunger cues, and maybe feeding him when he doesn't truly need it? We've tried letting him cry it out a little bit, but oftentimes food is the only thing that seems to console him! Do you have any suggestions for me? Are there any ways to help me start training my baby to get a full feeding every 3 hours?
I am having a hard time applying to the google community. I select the apply for membership option but it redirects me to the same apply for membership option. I can not get beyond this point.
My son recently turned 4 months old. His first couple of months he slept predictably from 630/7-1030/11, sometimes 12 and then woke up every 3 hours. The past 2 months he wakes up at least every 3 hours and it's wearing me out. We have had a bedtime routine since he came home from the hospital. Unfortunately he had a cold for about a month, that turned into his first ear infection. He also stopped eating during the day. He goes to daycare and will sometimes go 8-10 hours only drinking a few ounces. We have tried changing nipples, only using specific bottles, milk from that morning(I pump), etc. I'm hesitant to let him go through the night because I'm afraid he is truly hungry. Is there a way I can encourage him to eat more during the day to hopefully increase his need during the night? Also, the doctor said his gums are "tight", implying that he may start teething soon. I put him to bed very sleepy, but awake and have even worked with him on going to sleep more awake, gently fussing himself to sleep. I'm honestly hoping for a miracle so that he doesn't have to cry and will sleep through the night.(all I need is 5-6 hours!) He naps fairly well during the day and we do the EASY (eat, activity, sleep, you thing). I'm just not sure what else to do. Any suggestions are appreciated.
I love your blig. I read it when I wake up Ito do night feeds which is part of my question. I've been doing babywise since birth. My baby's routine is like this:6am feed8am sleep10amfeed12pm sleep2pmfeed3pm sleep4pm feed5pm sleep6pm feed8pm sleep10pmfeed10:30pm sleep2am feed2:30 sleep4am feed4:30sleep6am feedMy question is…how do I merge feelings? I would limeik merge the 2am and 4am to 3 am. I just don't know how to do it. Thanks so much for your blig. I love it!!!
I love your blig. I read it when I wake up Ito do night feeds which is part of my question. I've been doing babywise since birth. My baby's routine is like this:6am feed8am sleep10amfeed12pm sleep2pmfeed3pm sleep4pm feed5pm sleep6pm feed8pm sleep10pmfeed10:30pm sleep2am feed2:30 sleep4am feed4:30sleep6am feedMy question is…how do I merge feelings? I would limeik merge the 2am and 4am to 3 am. I just don't know how to do it. Thanks so much for your blig. I love it!!!
How old is your baby?
This is probably not the best forum to ask my question, but I guess I'll ask anyways! My little boy is going on 4mos old. He sleeps from his bedtime (8:30), through a dream feed (@ 10pm) till 5/5:30 when my husband gets up to get ready for work. When I feed him @ 5 I do it really quickly and put him right back down just like you would a night feed and he sleeps till 8am. I think our little guy is ready to drop the 5am feeding, only I don't know if that's possible given noise levels. Our bathroom is right off of our little boys room, so my husband has to walk thru his room, and then there's some noise that comes thru the bathroom even with a fan. Should I 1) Try over a weekend to get him to sleep through the 5am feed and hope he doesn't wake right back up on Monday morning, 2) Make his bedtime earlier and start our day early (ugg!), or 3) Just keep feeding him like it's a night feed and hope he'll always go right back to sleep? Eventually, I'm guessing when he's older he won't go back to sleep as quickly and easily as he does right now, so I dread having our day start at 5am with a toddler…thoughts?
I'm struggling for a solution and don't want to give up on babywise but can't seem to find an answer anywhere I look. Our LO Is 10 weeks old. He has been on the feeding 2.5-3 hours since birth. We have not established a specific start and finish time for the beginning and end of day. Primarily because he has such a hard time going down. He has been a very alert baby from the beginning. Every day is a challenge to make sure he gets At least 13-15 hours of sleep per day. Once he finds his groove with sleep he really does well. He's just very curious and happy but we can tell he gets seriously over fatigued if he doesn't get enough sleep throughout the day. Our dilemma is getting him on a schedule because once he does fall asleep we don't want to wake him. He rarely sleeps more than 2-2.5 during the day. Mostly 1-1.5 hours. He has done well at night giving us longer stretches (3-5.5)and not a big crier. I am going back to work part time and would like to be more on a schedule so it is easier for my family (his caregivers) and of course him as well. Again i am so scared to wake him due to his difficulty falling asleep.Any feedback would be wonderful. Thank you!
Part of it is you just needing to have some faith in the process–if you wake him each day at the same times, then he will get used to that and sleep better. I would start with a consistent morning wake up and bedtime. Then work on waking from naps.
Not sure if you're still answering questions here, but I couldn't figure out where else to ask you a baby wise scheduling question! My daughter is 2 days shy of 5 weeks old. We started baby wise late (about 5 days ago). Right now she is on the same schedule Brinley was at her age: 7:30/10:30/1:30/4:30/7:30 are her eating times. I aim to have her nap (swaddled) 40-50 min after each feeding, but frequently she lays there awake for up to an hour later, quiet but with red eyes and yawning. Once she falls asleep she sleeps until we wake her for the next feeding. What gives? I feel so badly because she looks exhausted! Secondly, after the 7:30pm feeding things seem to fall apart until she finally crashes around midnight. She eats and has awake time, going back down around 8:30/9, but then only sleeps max 1 hour and wakes not knowing what she wants. She's sometimes fussy and always WIDE awake and alert, and will only eat an ounce or two at a time for the next couple hours when she finally falls asleep for the night. She then wakes around 3:40/4:30am to eat before waking for the day at 7:30. The rest of the schedule seems to be going well except for this evening period. Suggestions?
For naps, she probably needs a slightly shifted waketime length. So try 55 minutes and see how it goes. If that doesn't work, try just a little bit more stimulation during her playtime. It might just be that she is learning how to fall asleep on her own. For the night, it sounds like witching hour. I have a post on that so be sure to read it. Good luck 🙂
Hello! My son is now 15 months old. I tried starting CIO when he was 3 months old, with no success. I was determined, however, and decided to press on. Three weeks later we learned that he wasn't gaining weight. I resolved to figure out the milk issue first, and return to CIO after he was in a good spot with eating. However, once he was getting enough to eat, the CIO was a nonissue – I could put him down awake, and he would fall asleep without crying. If he woke up in the middle of the night, he would usually turn over and go back to sleep unless something was truly wrong.Here we are at 15 months and that is no longer the case. He's teething like crazy, but also SO needy. It seems like he needs me to fall asleep and that has never been the case before. I'm not sure if it's the teething that is making him so needy, but I'm afraid that this is our last chance to do CIO if we're going to do it (before toddler beds make for a whole new challenge). Any insight or advice you have would be SO appreciated!
Try teethingn remedies first. I have a post on survivingn teething. It is totally normal to have sleep issues during teething. I would wait out the teeth before going to CIO. But I would also really try to not start new habits. Good luck!
Hi I have a 14wk old. He is having trouble sleeping through the night. He use to wake up only once at that was at 4-5 but now he wakes up about 2-3 times a night. I still only feed him though at the 4-5am. He got sick and we also went out of town and then after that he started waking more. I don't know how to help him to get back to where he was only waking once to eventually get him to not wake at all. When he feeds now at night he doesn't seem like he is as hungry as before. I actually started only feeding him 2ounces vs the 4ounces because he didn't seem interested in the bottle when he wakes at 8am. He still does that sometimes at the 8 am feeding with only taking 2ozs. He has a bedtime at 8 and I also do a dreammfeed at 10 but with that dream feed he barely takes 1 maybe 2oz cuz it's nearly impossible to wake him. He has 7 feedings through the day and I have tried skipping last nap of the day to see if it helped him through the night. So with that he gets 3 naps a day. His naps are 2hrs long. He is on a 3 1/2 schedule because when he was on a 3hr he would take an ounce then scream taking the rest. He still sometimes does that even on 3 1/2 schedule. So I didn't know if I needed to maybe do 4hr schedule but with doing that he can't last longer than 1hr &30 min wake time. So that would put him taking longer than a 2hr nap. See I thought I would try 4 hr schedule and up feeding to 5ozs but not sure if I shld because of him not sleeping through the night and not being able to stay awake longer than 1hr & 30 mins. Also when we have church he doesn't get in bed at 8. One church night we got home around 10 at dream feed. I feed him 4ozs and he only woke once. That night he only took a short cat nap and then was awake the rest on time but I don't like the idea of not having bedtime at 8 cuz I want him to get use to that being bedtime. So I really don't know what to do to help he get down to only waking once then eventually not at all during the night. I don't know if he isn't getting enough food during day or to much. Is he not getting enough sleep or to much sleep. I'm just at a lose here of what to do. Last night when he skipped last nap( he took a 30min cat nap) we have him a bath. He ate 4oz went to bed at 8. We did dream feed at 10pm but he only ate 1oz. He wouldn't wake up. He still with doing that woke up at 2am then again around 4or 5. So what should I try doing to help him. Also what should I do about the schedule during the day ( with him sometimes not wanting bottle).
In your situation, I would go ahead and try a four hour schedule in the day. He is already waking several times a night, so it is kind of a "what do you have to lose" situation. Many moms say things improved with a 4 hour schedule, so that might improve things for you, too. Just do 1.5 waketime and 2.5 hour naps.
Thank you so much for your blog! I'm starting BW with my 6 week old. She's a great eater and is sleeping 10-7 at night with one feeding, usually around 3 AM. Our big issue is that she's a terrible daytime sleeper. She fights sleep at all costs and is usually overtired and grumpy until she takes a long nap, 2-4 hours, in the late afternoon (when I think she can't fight it anymore). I did CIO today and she cried hard on and off through most of her naptimes, leading to a still overtired, grumpy baby. I just saw your post on newborn sleep hierarchy. Does this mean I should ignore CIO for now and just do whatever I can to get her to sleep during scheduled naptimes, even if it means driving around or holding her (two ways to sometimes get a nap)? Also, for example, if she eats at 10 am and never naps before her 1 pm feeding do I just feed her at 1 and do playtime like usual?Thanks so much for your help!
Mrs Long, sleep is most important. I would try to get CIO figured out, but if she can't fall asleep, I would do a swing to help her out. Focus on figuring out waketime length. The thing you need to be careful of is avoiding sleep props. You don't want to create a total dependency in being rocked or driven around. So still work on helping her self soothe, but keep in mind an overly tired baby won't be able to fall asleep on her own. See this post also:http://www.babywisemom.com/2008/01/waking-early-from-napswont-fall-asleep.html?m=1In your example, if she didn't sleep, I would just feed her and put her right down and let her sleep until the next feed.
Thanks so much. It's been one week and I've seen huge, wonderful results already. We've had a few naps in the swing and one or two in the car but she's sleeping more during the day, great at night with an earlier bedtime, and is much happier. Thanks!!
Really need some advice!! My son is almost 5mo old & has been sleeping 9-10hrs since 10wks. We've done Babywise from the beginning and it's been such a huge help. He was on a great 3-hr schedule until he started STTN & now nurses every 2-2.5 hours during the day (he sleeps 9:30-7:30 every night). He still takes 5 naps a day (ranging from 40min – 1hr 15min) and his optimal wake time is about 1hr 10min – 1hr 20min. At what point will he stretch out those daytime feeds? He has refused a bottle since day 1 and is EBF and I'm dying for more than a 1hr break. I'm assuming when he can stay awake longer, he'll drop a nap too? Ideally, I would love longer naps maybe 2-3 times a day and then feeding every 3 even! His pedi says we need to keep the 7 feeds during the day to maintain his weight and with him sleeping so long at night, I understand why he's feedig so frequently during the day. I guess I am just wondering at what point that will start to stretch out & how to get him to nap longer & less frequently. I'm assuming they're all connected?? Here's his schedule:7:30am-7:45am – wake & feed9am – sleep10am – wake and eat11:15am-11:30am – sleep12:30 – wake and eat1:45 – sleep2:30 – wake and eat 3:45 – sleep 4:45 – wake and eat 6:00 – sleep 7:00 – wake and eat8:00pm – bath time / stories / songs9:00 – last feed9:30 – sleep
I would love some input and help! I just read your post on starting Babywise late, and realized that didn't necessarily apply to the situation, so I still don't know what to do. I technically started Babywise from the beginning, just without CIO. My daughter is now 6 months old. She ate 2.5-3 hours on schedule (unless hungry, or slept over a little bit) since a couple weeks old. I did Eat-Play-Sleep with her from the beginning, kept a log so I could observe her natural schedule, and then tweaked it. I would say I was relatively flexible with her, because I was desperate to find what was best for her but still kept it pretty scheduled (for example: experimenting with changing wake times or bedtimes, tweaking the bedtime routine, adding/removing dream feeds and cluster feeds, etc.) She started sleeping longer stretches pretty early and at 3 months I could count on getting a 6-7 hour stretch, but every once in a while she'd go 8-10 hours without a feeding. Then we hit 4 months and although I tweaked and adjusted, she started waking up every 3 hours and would not settle unless I fed her. We would work for an hour, sometimes an hour and a half, but she would not go to sleep unless I fed her. I obviously didn't want to starve her if she needed it so badly, so I would observe and see if she would fall asleep without eating, but then would feed her if she wouldn't. Despite tweaking and shifting and adjusting and trying to find the best schedule for her needs, I am not at 6 months old and still being lucky to get a 4 hour stretch of sleep from her at night. Yet during the day, she will sleep through feedings until the 3.5 hour mark. We started doing CIO for naps and she is doing great with that, and getting around 3 naps a day for 1-2 hours each. She is putting herself to sleep on her own a lot more often in the past week. We even do CIO for bedtime now, and we go in if she's really worked up, but for the most part she will put herself to sleep initially. YET, last night even still, she woke up every 2.5-3 hours and wouldn't go back to sleep unless I fed her. We let her CIO for 30-45 minutes in the middle of the night before I gave in and went in and fed her. I don't know what to do anymore and I'm desperate for tips. I've scoured your blog for the last 6 months and gotten really good ideas that I've experimented with, but the fact that she is still not STTN is really discouraging. Yet during the day she seems to be wanting to move to a 4 hour schedule?! What do I do??
For the past 4 or so nights, my 10 1/2 week old daughter has been waking up every hour or so (until I give up and put her in the swing, then she sleeps until about 6:15-6:30 am). She had been sleeping quite well, going from about 11 until 3, 4, or 5 am before waking to eat. We have tried nighttime gripe water to see if it's gas that's waking her up. I'm wondering if it might be that she's developed a dependence on the swing for sleeping, because I've been putting her in it each nap so that I can get some of my stay-at-home job done. Or could she be starting the process of teething? She's been drooling more, but I read that drool kicks in at about 10 weeks. I'm also wondering if she has developed the habit of expecting to be brought into bed with me and that's why she wakes at 6:15-6:30 since I had been bringing her into bed around then when she'd wake because I just couldn't bring myself to take the time to get her back to bed otherwise. If she'd be crying enough, I would feed her back to sleep in my bed. Got any suggestions for a mom who wants her good night baby back? At least for a little while before the upcoming sleep regression?
I used baby wise with my daughter (now almost 2 1/2), and it worked wonders. I have a newborn one week old boy who is proving much more difficult and I would like to ask some questions. Is this the best place to do that? Or do you have an email address that I can send questions to? Please, I need help ASAP! My email is [email protected].
Hilliers,Ask on this blog. Or you can ask on the hash it out Monday posts on Facebook or on the Facebook page. I answer on this blog first usually though.
Hi there,We are about to start merge 1 with our two week old. He is fed bottled breast milk. Do we need to increase the amount of milk per bottle to compensate for the merge?
Hey there! This blog is a godsend and I frequent it often. Thanks so much.Question for you..My 6 week old son seems to have a tough time from 3am to 7am.This is our current schedule (been following it since about day 5)7AM: wake and feed8AM: go for nap10AM: wake and feed1130: go for nap1PM: wake and feed2PM: go for nap4: wake and feed5/5:30: cat nap6: Feed7: Feed and bedtimeWakeups in the middle of the night vary. Usually 11:00/11:30 then 2:30 or 3. That is on a good day…sometime he gets up sooner at 10PM or 1030PM, then the rest of the night is thrown off.From 3-7 though he has been getting up almost every hour. It's super frustrating and I feel like I am doing something wrong. Any advice?
I have a similar situation with the same exact schedule. What did you end up doing and did it work?
HelloI was so happy to come across your blog.You seem to have all the answers. I was wondering if you can help me I have a four month old little girl who has been on a eps schedule that has worked out pretty well. We ran into our refusing naps but thankfully overcame that. Now we have moved to a 3 nap schedule that worked out perfectly for a week. Now she is waking up at 5:30 sometimes will put herself down sometimes not. I am struggling here, her schedule is way off and i have a 2 year old son was well. I need sleep…this is killing me. I don't know how to fix this. I would like her going to bed at 8 she would wake up once to eat and then wake up around 7:30 for the day.Please help
Hi Natalie–this post should help you out: http://www.babywisemom.com/2013/07/5-6-am-night-wakings.html?m=0
HelloFirst of all, thank you for making this blog, it has saved my husband and I many times as we are learning our new baby boy and just how exactly to do this!!We are starting to teach him how to fall asleep on his own, and my question is, when he wakes up early from his nap, how do I know if its something to implement the "4th S" the pat a shh, or if he is waking early because of something else and I should feed or hold him?Thank you for all of your help already!!Lana
Wow this site is amazing and I am so happy to have found it! I would love a bit of help in how to deal with missing the window of opportunity between wake time and putting down to nap or bed. My little girl will be 4 weeks in 3 days and I'm about to embark on this baby wise journey. I have found in keeping her on a feeding schedule these first few weeks that 30 minutes seems to be her ideal wake time in order to go down to sleep easily and sleep well. I have been changing her diaper when I first get her up, feeding her, and then putting her down after. My issues are a few 😉 She screams bloody murder every time I change her diaper so it gets her worked up. She then calms a bit while eating until she either has a bit of reflux I believe or she has to poop, which takes her quite a bit of time and appears to be painful to her as well so she starts crying and eating at the same time. Since she pooped, I then have to change her diaper again and when this all happens, I miss my 30 minute window and I am out of luck on getting her down to sleep easily. I am then calming her down and trying everything to get her to sleep. Any suggestions or advice on any of the above is so greatly appreciated before I begin my sleep training journey. I am not sure how to stay in my window if these other factors keep occurring. Thank you in advance!! Sincerely, an anxious and concerned first time mom!
Hi guys I hope someone can help, I have 2 daughters. First is 15 months was raised with baby wise slept through the night at 8 weeks and now sleep 12 hours at night and naps no problem. My second daughter is 4 weeks on baby wise and eats every 2.5/3hours she is consistent on her schedule first feeding is at 7 last of the day at 10:30 ( she can't make it to 11pm ) …. Then she does 1am 4 am … My first daughter merge those feedings at 3 weeks with a 3 am one and I am worsening with this one is not merging yet I know the book says 3/6 weeks but I just wanted to know if there is something I can do to help her if I should be worry and when I can expect her to merge those feedings ;( help !!!!
My LO just turned 7 Weeks and we are on a consistent 2 1/2-3 hour schedule during the day. At night he wakes up every 3 hours to eat and is clearly hungry. Each night the times are different so it is very inconsistent. However, many times he will only take a partial feeding ("snack") and will not want anymore. Sometimes he'll wake up an hour later and want more, other times he will sleep until the next scheduled feeding time. Do I try and get him to take the full feeding, or do I leave the snack in hopes to wean him off the nighttime feed? Waking up hourly is exhausting! Any advice would be appreciated.
Hi! First of all, thanks so much for this website! I used it in training my daughter who is now 18 months old and sleeps like a champ! I now have a four month old who, although I said I'd be better prepared, has developed some sleep associations and doesn't nap/sleep well. First, she doesn't eat well (5-15 minutes total, breastfed). So, when I do the EPS cycle, I worry that she's starving by the time she goes to sleep. I have tried endlessly to get her to eat more at a feeding and she won't. Any words of wisdom? Also, she cluster feeds at night, making it difficult to know when she's really full or just falling asleep on me.Also, what do you do if the baby doesn't sleep for two hours (making the whole schedule off)? She currently takes 4 naps because that's the only way I can keep her from being awake too long.Any advice you can give would be much appreciated!!