We Are Sleeping

Everyone always asks with an infant if you are getting much sleep. To be honest, we are! During the first few weeks we got less (we all know you are up all the time with a newborn), but as the weeks went on we and our sweet little boy become more well rested! Everyone will think you are so “lucky!” I read the book while I was pregnant and it just all made sense. Everything I shared with my husband seemed to be very logical, but I do admit I was a little skeptical of an 8 week old baby sleeping 8 hours and a 12 week old baby sleeping 12 hours. It sounded too good to be true…little did I know!

We started implementing BW pretty consistently around 2-3 weeks starting with laying him down awake for naps. He would fuss on and off for 5-10 minutes and then would go to sleep. I was amazed! At 3 weeks old with little to no crying our son was starting to take regular naps. As the weeks went on his naps continued to increase in length with little to no crying. We didn’t have to hold our breath and tippy toe out of his room! Our “schedule” just seemed to fall in place. Every week he would sleep one hour more at night. It was so nice to hit the 8 hour mark (that’s when you start to feel like a human being again)! Everyday we would work on a consistent wake time (7 am). Everyday I would wake him up after three hours. Every week I would “tweak” his routine to make all his waketimes and naps fit into the day. There was a lot of effort involved in the very beginning, but its so worth it!

He is 13 weeks old and is taking 4 naps (about 1.5 hours to 2 hours), breastfeeding 5 times and a “dreamfeed” before bed. He is awake for about an hour or so each waketime. I LOVE his waketime since he is so happy and fun to play with! Most of the time when I go in to get him up he is still asleep. If he is awake he rarely cries out but instead lays in bed quietly. He almost always wakes up happy! Waking him up is one of my favorite parts of the day, especially when you get a huge smile! Melt.my.heart. We have had our “moments” when I put him down too soon or he was too tired, but most naps are cry free and he sleeps 11-12 hours at night. 

So…reading the book and Valerie’s blog, the disicpline it takes to feed every three hours (we will be moving to a combo 3.5 and 4 hour schedule soon) and lay down an awake, happy baby for naps and waking up a sleeping baby was crucial to our success. In the end it is worth all the effort to have a well rested, happy baby! Is BW worth the effort? You bet ya! You will have one happy baby! 

Top 5 Reasons why we love Babywise: 

5. Having everyone be amazed that you and baby are getting sleep!

4. Predictable schedule to plan your day around 

3. A well rested baby equals one happy mama

2. A baby that sleeps 12 hours at night

1. Being able to share about BW and help other mamas!

 

Jennifer

2 thoughts on “We Are Sleeping”

  1. Go you! It worked well for me, too, but I was not quite as consistent as you. However, we are thinking of baby #2 now, so maybe I will have another chance and get it right this time. 🙂

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  2. Ok I am more determined to get to this place that everyone is getting sleep. I don't understand what I am doing wrong. I feel I am doing everything right. I am for sure having trouble with first nap and not STTN. My DS is 16 weeks old. He has STTN about 4 times. I don't know what I am doing wrong. Any insight?

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