Being a new mom I wasn't exactly sure what to expect and what to do. Luckily, I had some friends introduce me to BabyWise. This method isn't for everyone, but it was definitely for me! I loved it! I'm a schedule person. Not every one is, which is understandable, especially with those who work and have different baby sitters watching their little ones. I'm a stay at home mom and was able to maintain the schedule and work with my baby each and every day to get the hang of this curious world he now lived in. This also is the only way I was able to get my baby to sleep through the night at 10 weeks.
This has to be decision that you are your husband agree to, the best thing about it was I had his support. We decided together that we were going to establish the principles of BabyWise with our first and we've supported each other with that.
Here are the basics:
1. YOU SET THE SCHEDULE! This is hardest part for some people because they believe that when their baby is crying it means they are hungry and they have to feed them immediately, and it could be that he is hungry, but that's not always the case. BabyWise helped me to know exactly what my baby was wanting. 10:00 AM rolled around and I knew he was hungry, 11:30 approached and I knew he needed a nap. Growth spurts come and go and your baby may need more food during that time, FEED HIM, this schedule isn't meant to leave you feeling bad because you are starving your baby.
2. BE FLEXIBLE! You don't have to wake your baby up right at 1:00 and put him to sleep right at 2:30, if you want to you can, but life happens and your not always home right at those times, or your baby is still sleeping at 1:00 and you know they are exhausted, let them sleep and get back on schedule at the next cycle. Babies are more resilient then you think. There were times we went to visit family and it was four hours before I could feed my little guy, he was perfectly fine! Hungry, and he ate a lot, but he was perfectly fine.
3. LAY YOUR BABY IN THEIR CRIB AWAKE FOR NAPS. This can be hard because they cry and it breaks your heart, but it helps them learn to put themselves to sleep. I give him 10-15 minutes of crying and then I will go comfort him. I did this very consistently for the first 4 months and when he reached 4.5 months it was a sure thing after 10 minutes of cooing or a small amount of crying he was asleep.
4. ALLOW NATURAL SUNLIGHT DURING THE DAY. This helps their internal clock understand day from night. And that's why it's important to wake your little one during the day, but not at night (depending how old they are). That's all there really is to this principle.
5. CONSISTENT MORNING FEEDING. Pick a time every morning to wake your baby to feed him. I'm a morning person so 7:00 AM was the time we picked. Before he was sleeping through the night I would usually feed him at 3:00-4:00 AM and he would usually sleep till 8:00 AM, being a new mom, healing from delivery, I needed the sleep so I allowed it, but once he started sleeping well, I would wake him up between 7:00-7:30 AM.
6. ADJUST THEIR SCHEDULE TO FIT YOURS. Just realize you can always change the schedule to fit the needs of your family. If you need to begin your schedule at 8:00 AM, then do it. If you need to change the schedule for just a day out of the week, babies are resilient and will adjust.
7. NIGHT TIME FEEDINGS.
- Allow at least 15-20 minutes of crying, some babies wake up crying in the night but are able to go back to sleep. My little guy never really cried, he kind of just made noises, like grunts. If he was still awake after 20 minutes (tops) I would go nurse him back to sleep. I made a huge mistake the first few weeks by not letting him cry long enough before going to feed him. As I waited a little longer he learned to put himself to sleep and he would sleep longer and longer every week.
- When you feed your baby during the night, keep it strictly business. Keep the lights low, pick them up, nurse them (or bottle feed them), no talking or playing and put them right back in their crib. Do a diaper change before you feed them, mine is usually gets drowsy when I feed him anyway so if I changed him after I fed him it would just wake him up more.
8. DON'T BE DUMB. Don't ignore signs that your baby is in distress, or in pain. You have a Mother's Intuition for a reason. You can read your baby better than anybody else. You know what he needs, don't withhold from him.
I will add more things are I think of them, but for now, that seems like the basics.
