by Cindy
The most frequent things we hear from other people are “Your son is so happy!” and “He is the happiest baby we’ve ever seen!” While some of this may be his temperament, we firmly believe it’s because of Babywise!
After the first few weeks of just getting to know our newborn son, we started focusing on eat-wake-sleep cycles, full feedings, and prioritizing sleep/nap times. That meant I tried not to let him fall asleep while nursing (although many times he did and I just tried again the next time). It also meant that we focused on finding optimal wake times, looked for sleep cues, and placed priority on making sure he napped/slept when it was time for sleep.
I knew that our diligence in paying attention to his cues, and focusing on establishing a routine would be hard at first but would pay off in the long run.
Of course, we dealt with most of the typical setbacks that many babies’ experience – growth spurts, short naps, teething problems, sleep regressions, a tough transition from a bassinet to a crib, etc – but following Babywise principles helped us through each one.
I held and rocked and cuddled and loved him lavishly, but also helped my son learn how to fall asleep on his own. As the Babywise book says to do, I fed him when he was hungry, held him a lot to show him love, and gave him the gift of sleep.
One of my favorite Babywise bonuses is our son’s flexibility! We travel a lot as a family – our son’s first airplane flight was at 8 weeks – and he’s been able to easily adapt to changes because we maintained a predictable schedule regardless of our physical location. If we miss a nap or stay up late for one reason or another, it’s not the end of the world and we have a routine that we can get back to. He’s now 18 months old and an experienced traveler who sleeps 12 hours each night with a predictable 2 hour nap each afternoon. Babywise has been so helpful for our family!