Thursday, April 10, 2008

This Book Works


My neighbor friend recommended this book to me, probably after seeing me looking haggard in my bathrobe one too many times. It's having a newborn. Whenever she called, she said, "Oh I'm sorry did I wake you up?"
I wish I had been sleeping! No, my voice just sounds like it's 4 a.m. all the time. My profile photo? That was sleepwalking.
Anyway that was 2 weeks ago. Fast forward to this week. Now when she calls my voice is happy and strong, chipper even. I get dressed and I don't feel like I'm sleepwalking all day. Why? It's from following the suggestions of this book. We have been "training" Cannon to have somewhat of a schedule--one that includes sleeping more at night. Here it is. He eats at 10pm, 1am, 4am, 7am, 10am. etc. this isn't because we are religious clock worshippers. It's just worked out that way! And how great it is to have some order to replace the chaos, an extra few hours of sleep when before there wasn't any. And it gets better, in a few weeks he'll drop one of those nightime feedings, and by 8-12 weeks he should be sleeping through the night?!
How can I keep from singing...
Here's the meat and bones of it all: Feed baby every 2 1/2-3 hrs during the day then keep him awake for awhile of playtime, then let him fall asleep. That's it: FEEDING, WAKE-TIME, NAPTIME. Except for at night you just put him right back to bed after feeding. Babywise parents = blissful happy home.

5 comments:

Megz said...

I'm a believer too. I have been trying to convert Cold Cocoa for, hmmmm, the past FOUR babies to stick to a feeding schedule. Maybe you're more likey to persuade her than me. (Hi Cold Cocoa! Just commenting behind your back.)
Glad it's working for you guys and that you are sounding chipper. I've been sleeping well, but there is this one neighbor that always aplogizes for waking me up. I don't have a croaky voice, do i?

cold cocoa said...

I just don't get it. I would do a schedule like that if it worked out. Problem is- it doesn't. This kind of book makes me MAD! Doctor says it too: "just put him down not when he's asleep, but sleepy, and he'll fall to sleep". What baby does he have? Samuel quickly learns he's not all the way asleep and starts screaming. My babies run like this: sleep, wake, play for 10 minutes, get grumpy, get grumpier, I'll feed them when I can take the crying any more. Sometimes Sam goes 3 hours. It all depends on the length of his nap. And at night? I have to feed him to get him back asleep. I don't want to rock him to sleep. I'm too tired.
You've opened a can of worms Laura. And Megan just doesn't understand my pain.

LC said...

Oh my! I had no idea-- I just read it because I was at rock bottom desperate for sleep. I was so excited tha it actually started to work for us! I do have to say that BD is the strong one that allowed Cannon to cry for 10min. one night before doing the full checkover then putting him back down to cry for another 10 min. Just when I couldnt' take it any more he stopped and I woke up 4 hrs. later.
The next night it was 5 min. of crying. So, in our case it helped that BD read it too.

cold cocoa said...

Laura, I read my comment and it sounded a little more real mad than joking mad. Of course, I am mostly serious, but not mad. I haven't read that book but we like "Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child" and that tells us to start sleep-training at 4 mo. It is so hard to let babies cry, though! Russell is better at that than me.

LC said...

Hey what are blogs for except to express our raw emotions and opinions. It's all good juicy fun!