Here is a great story on the success of Pre-Toddlerwise and Toddlerwise.
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Since you have so many success stories from parents using Babywise, I wanted to share ways we have benefited from Pre-Toddlerwise and Toddlerwise. For starters, you must know that we started Babywise from day one with the eat, wake, sleep cycle. Our baby was sleeping through the night 7.5 hrs. by 6 wks and 12 hrs by 10 wks. We saw many benefits to Babywise such as structure, routine, independent play, and knowing our baby that are foundational to her growth now as a toddler.
My daughter is now 2 and here are a few things I have appreciated about PTW and TW and what they encourage:
Transitions – I had no idea how to transition from baby food to real food, how to transition from two naps to one nap, or how to transition from independent play in a pnp to blanket time and room time. These books (along with BBC moms) have helped me set right expectations and ease my child through transitions and routine adjustments. My baby was no longer a baby, I had to adjust to the toddler world with her.
Sign language – all of the signs such as “all done”, “more”, and “please” were helpful. The best sign we taught our daughter was “help.” We notice she was having mini-fits and needed some way to communicate her need and frustration. I would have never thought through this if it wasn’t for the why v. how perspective the books gave.
Obedience – Let me start by saying we are not there yet in this department! But I have learned so much! Some key things that the books help me keep in mind were the principles of instruction. I get a glimpse of what my child would be like without these when I’m not consistent in following them. Two big ones that have helped are eye contact (still in process) and “Yes, Mommy” which started out as a head nod. I think these helped her give us respect as parents and it helped us to process with her as she is learning morals.
All of these things have helped us as parents know how to parent “in the funnel.” When we first started this adventure I had no idea that my child would need boundaries and limited freedoms that can be extend when she was ready.
Thanks to the Babywise series and Val’s blog we feel like prepared (not perfect) parents.
Rene’