Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Babywise, or Babyretarded?

First, I must say that I am so blessed with a very "easy," incredibly patient, so-cute-he-makes-everything-worth-it baby. I was all geared up to be up all night walking my kid all over the house until I could walk no more and then put him in the car to drive. Nope. None of that. Actually, I pretty much flat out refuse to stand up with my baby if that is what he'd like. Call me Rosa Parks...I expect to sit where and when I'd like. Not to mention he seemed to get it on the first night home that NO ONE MESSES WITH MY SLEEP, and if I don't want to be woken up, it usually takes some effort.

When I was expecting baby, I started getting educated in the raising of infants. I read 2 books. Thats enough, right? One was "The Secrets of the Baby Whisperer" by Tracy Hogg and the other was "On Becoming Babywise" by Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam (funny that they are both guys). I started out trying the Baby Whiperer routine, but when questions arose and things got more complex, there just weren't enough resources. So, at about 1 month, Archie and I made the switch to Babywise. Didn't hurt that they are very similar concepts. But, even though it seems that there are lots more people around that implement Babywise and with the constant research I do on the Chronicles of a Babywise Mom blog (which is SO helpful!) I always seem to have some questions. Is there any one out there whos like a Babywise Pro, that I can bug with all sorts of silly questions? Like running errands with him asleep in the car seat...does that count as a nap really? And I think I'm doing it right, but should my baby really be sleeping this much (like mother, like son. He loves his sleep)? You know the people who like to tell you how to raise your kid...They think that its "unhealthy" to sleep this much. Wrong! Right? I need some reassurance that I am "on the right track."

Here is Archie's little routine that we aim for:

7:30 AM Up Feed
9:00 AM Nap
11:00 AM Feed
12:15 Nap
2:30 PM Feed
3:50 PM Nap
6:00 PM Feed
7:30 PM Bed
9:30 PM Feed (right to bed)
11:30 PM Feed (right to bed)
7:30 AM Up Feed

I understand that 7:30 AM is too early to wake up for most "normal" people, but I'm hoping he gets in the habit of getting up early because, although I don't take advantage of it myself, I feel like early morning time is a productive time to, say, go to the gym, take care of your chickens, finish projects...

Heres how lovely my Archie is.

4 Comments:

Blogger Jake and Julia Miller said...

I remember when Rhett was first born and I was reading those books and feeling so freaking confused. Honestly I think they have good points...but take them with a grain of salt. The one thing that we found that really helped was not letting Rhett stay up for more than 2 hours between naps. Now that he's older it's between 2 1/2 and 3 hours, but same idea. Just follow Archie's lead. If he naps in the car it's because he needs it. I try to run my errands right when Rhett wakes up from a nap and I try to limit it to an hour or hour and a half of errands. I would just say learn his signs for when he's getting tired and follow his lead. He'll get on a schedule that suits him soon and then it will be easier for you. :) P.S. Archie is beyond cute.

March 9, 2011 at 3:30 PM  
Blogger Kristi said...

I'm a babywise fan and both my kids had schedules just like Archie's when they were little. With Marina I made sure that her naps were always at home in her bed. With two kids, or with a busy day, that's just not practical. Drew often took his first nap in the carseat (and still does sometimes). I think as long as the baby doesn't forget how to fall asleep in a crib, then occasional naps on-the-go work fine. Hope this helps! I'm no expert but you can call me anytime with questions. :)

March 9, 2011 at 3:57 PM  
Blogger Justin and Ashleigh Smith said...

I'm a babywise/baby whisperer mom and i lived by the babywise mom.com- that lady is a genius. I think his schedule looks great and it seems like you have a super easy baby to already be sleeping 8 hrs at night! I think Ellie was around 9-10 weeks old when she started doing that. I dont think there is a problem with running errands with him sleeping in the car seat. I tried to stop doing that though when I sleep trained Ellie- around 5 months old. I then wanted her to get used to napping in her crib. She was waking up easier and couldnt fall asleep as well with all the racket going on in the car seat by that age anyways, I dont care what people have against babywise- i think it's awesome, my kids are AMAZING sleepers and i have been one sane mama thanks to it!

March 9, 2011 at 6:34 PM  
Blogger Lisa said...

ummm first off, lets just acknowledge the miracle here of a baby sleeping through the night. You are soooo LUCKY. both my kids didn't sleep through the night until they were over a year old, yes, ONE FREAKING YEAR of waking up multipe times. My boys were anti babywise and baby whisperer, and everything else i tried. So anyways, I envy you.

and as for everything else, dont' stress. If he's sleeping great and he's happy, whatever you're doing is working!! And you can NEVER get too much sleep!!!
oh and most importantly, he's beautiful ;)

March 11, 2011 at 10:28 AM  

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