Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Baby wise or not so baby wise?
I was watching the show "The Doctors" on tv the other day and they were talking this book "On Becoming Baby Wise", they were talking about how controversial it is. I had heard about this method of parenting a few years ago but never researched it. They were saying on the show that parents who followed this plan had more of a chance of having malnourished and underweight babies. So I decided to go on Amazon and buy the book and read it for myself. I wanted to know what the big deal was, it couldn't be that bad. So I just finished reading the whole book today and I really don't see what the problem is. If you've never heard of this technique, it's basically a schedule you follow to help your baby get on a very consistent "feed, wake, sleep" cycle. You nurse the baby, then you play with them and let them have some awake time then you put them down for a nap and then feed etc. Most moms do the opposite, feed, wake, feed, sleep. I know that's what I did. thinking that you should always feed the baby right before you put them down so that they take a longer nap. The book says not to do this because all babies should be a 2 1/2- 3 hour feeding schedule and that if you keep to this schedule they should get enough feedings in to regulate there blood sugar and make it so they can take a nap with out being fed. They also say to never put the baby down for a nap while they are asleep, always while they are awake so they can learn to go to sleep by themselves. They do not encourage letting your baby crying it out, in fact they say many many time that if your baby is hungry before the 2 1/2 hour mark then feed them. Never deprive the baby. So basically, it's just a strict guild line on how to get the baby on a regulated "Parent Directed Feeding" schedule. Thus, helping them to sleep through the night sooner. It's interesting. I wanted to see who else has heard of this and if they've tried it and if it worked. I don't however agree with the attitude this book has that this works for every baby and every mom and if you can't get it to work then you are doing something majorly wrong. They've never seen a baby like my first!! I've seen how bad it can be and I can guarantee that this wouldn't have worked for me at that time. Some babies are just difficult and don't sleep. I think this book offers some great advise and I learned a lot from reading it but I wanted to see what other people thought.
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6 comments:
When it came to sleeping, yes Kellen always slept better if I put him down awake. Then I did the progresive wait method. If you don't know what that is, aks me and I can go into more detail. As for the eating, when he was hungery I fed him. But he wasn't one of those babies that just eat because they see food. I never let him fall a sleep nursing though, I would wake him up before I layed him down that way he new where he was. I have read lots of books on parenting, and I think you have to take it all with a grain of salt. The same thing won't work for every child. Intresting none the less.
My SIL let me borrow her copy cause she loved the book, and now I swear by it. Having this schedule totally helped Bradley and I. I would really recommend it. Bradley wasn't perfect, he still woke up at times during the night, but he takes naps and goes down on his own great. I say try it, it couldn't hurt.
I LOVE this book! My aunt gave it to me before Paige was born and although I was never super strict with it, I did use the basic guidelines and ALL of my babies were sleeping through the night by 2 months, some even 6 weeks! I always had very happy babies and I think a lot of that is due to the fact that their "hungry, grumpy" period happens while they're sleeping. If you think about it, in most schedules that happens while they're awake and that's why a good portion of babies are grumpy when they're awake. Oh, and none of my babies were ever malnourished. :) I swear by this book, too! I say try it and see if it works for you! I'll be interested to know if you do try it and how you think it's working for you and baby, so keep us posted!
i never read the book but I basically followed the same idea on my own and it was amazing. Cru was so much better of a baby then other babies his exact same age were.
I started to read it, but didn't care for the method. I know some mom's swear by it (like those who commented), and so try it and see for yourself. But I didn't like the attitude of "I tell you when to eat and when not to eat." But again it's all based on preference. My little girl has been a pretty good sleeper so i don't know if I can chalk that up to her being a good baby or not using this method.
I totally loved this book, and it worked for my little guy- I don't know if it would work for EVERY baby, but so far all the friends I have recommended it to have loved it also. I combined the soothing techniques in Happiest Baby on the Block with this Baby Wise Schedule, and it seemed to work really well- Good luck!!
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