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Suzy Giordano's "The Baby Sleep Solution"
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Teacher_EW




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Oct 26 2014, 3:27 am
I am in middle of reading Suzy Giordano's "The Baby Sleep Solution" (aka 12 Hours by 12 Weeks) and was wondering if anyone implemented it and saw success with it. The premise is amazing; getting your baby to sleep 12 hours at night, and eat 4 large feedings during the day.

My baby is 3 months old (15 weeks) and naturally gives me between 6 and 8 hours at night, and eats every 3-3.5 hours during the day. I would love to turn that into 12, I just want to make sure it's safe. I am exclusively breastfeeding, but I do give her 1-2 pumped bottles when I'm at work.

Thanks!
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amother


 

Post Sun, Oct 26 2014, 4:48 am
Do you mind posting more about the premise? I used The Baby Whisperer but never got that stretch. She usually gives me one 4-4.5 hour stretch in a 24 hour period and before I went back to work last week was pretty much sleeping 12 hours at night besides for feedings (but would go right back to sleep or even sleep through some of the feedings) and I can't seem to get her back on track now that the babysitter messed up her schedule (not her fault, I'm gone till too late Sad)

Forget 12 hours, I'd be happy with 8 or even six hour stretch straight. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. She'll be 12 weeks tomorrow. Will she miraculously give me 12 hours on her 12 week birthday??
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Teacher_EW




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Oct 26 2014, 5:45 am
Not at all. I wish or was that simple! The book goes through a process of weaning the child off their nighttime feedings and spreading the daytime feedings so that the baby eats less often, but more each time. According to the author it can take up to four weeks to fully "sleep-train" a baby.

She recommends starting the process when the baby is at least 8 weeks old and and eats 24 oz in a 24 hour period. Her claim is that if a baby eats 6 oz X 4 feedings, it's just as good as 3-4 oz X 6-8 feedings.

I love the idea, I just don't know if it works or if it's healthy.
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amother


 

Post Sun, Oct 26 2014, 5:56 am
I can't imagine it's not healthy. And I should get that book! I've been having an issue with my baby not being interested in her bottle by several of her feedings and I'd love for her to make up for it at her other feedings, particularly since she has started looking thinner (I'm not overly concerned just yet because she was off the charts in both height and weight and she's gotten taller and thinner...I don't think it's the end of the world if she gets back on the charts but I don't want her to be starving...then again I give her whatever she wants and she's happy so I can't imagine that's the case but it's our job to worry lol). Sounds like this method is my next best step. Going to order the book now.

BTW, how much and how often do you feed your baby? I love how she says the magic number is 24 ounces. My kid has been taking upwards of 5 ounces a feed for 8 feeds a day though lately she only takes 1-3 ounces by some of those feeds. On the logic of the book she should be having 4 6 ounce feedings. She would be starving on that and def not sleep through the night!
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Teacher_EW




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Oct 26 2014, 6:17 am
Wow... that's a lot! My baby eats every 3-3.5 hours. I breastfeed, so I'm not sure about oz, but when I pump, I get between 4 and 5 oz. She is satisfied with that from a bottle. I feed her 7 times a day (5:00, 8:00, 11:00, 2:00p, 5:00p, 8:00p, and 11:00p). Once in a while (aka twice) she has skipped the 5:00am feeding.

She is not a major pudge, but not scrawny either. She has consistently gained about a pound and an inch each month (except the first month when she gained 2lb)
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Teacher_EW




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Oct 26 2014, 6:19 am
Also, I don't think 24 oz is the max, it's the minimum they should be eating before you try to sleep train
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amother


 

Post Sun, Oct 26 2014, 6:24 am
Teacher_EW wrote:
Wow... that's a lot! My baby eats every 3-3.5 hours. I breastfeed, so I'm not sure about oz, but when I pump, I get between 4 and 5 oz. She is satisfied with that from a bottle. I feed her 7 times a day (5:00, 8:00, 11:00, 2:00p, 5:00p, 8:00p, and 11:00p). Once in a while (aka twice) she has skipped the 5:00am feeding.

She is not a major pudge, but not scrawny either. She has consistently gained about a pound and an inch each month (except the first month when she gained 2lb)

My baby gained 3.5" and 5lbs 2 ounces from her two week visit to her "2 month" 8 week visit lol guess that explains why! (though in four weeks since her 8 week visit I don't think she gained more than 2 pounds and another inch). She's equally tall and heavy so I guess she just had bigger growth spurt earlier on and it's evening out now. If you get 4-5 ounces pumping though she's probably eating slightly more than that as baby sucking does a better job than the pump.
Either way, I just read a few pages on Amazon and while I ordered the book I'm not sure how I can implement it. My baby is used to 8 feeds a day I can't suddenly cut that in half! Does she give tips for doing that? I'm guessing that's what most of the book is about so I'll have to see but I can't imagine it will work.
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Teacher_EW




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Oct 26 2014, 6:30 am
What I like about the book is that it talks about slowly weaning or training a kid. It's not a quick fix. It doesn't promise results in 2 days. She says that it can take up to 4 weeks to fully train the kid, but once you do, it works!

I can't imagine that you should be cutting down on what your baby naturally eats, but I don't know. I would ask a doctor before doing that. You could, however, implement the scheduling aspect of the book, but modify to fit your baby's needs.
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SYA




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Oct 26 2014, 6:31 am
Was told by a PA that before 6 months baby should have one 5 hour stretch at night and then be woken up to eat very 3 hours thereafter if exclusively nursing. Otherwise, you can stretch the baby's stomache. Did not have time to find out the details.
Never asked about after 6 months as my kids all followed that schedule on their own till after a year.
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amother


 

Post Sun, Oct 26 2014, 6:37 am
Teacher_EW wrote:
What I like about the book is that it talks about slowly weaning or training a kid. It's not a quick fix. It doesn't promise results in 2 days. She says that it can take up to 4 weeks to fully train the kid, but once you do, it works!

I can't imagine that you should be cutting down on what your baby naturally eats, but I don't know. I would ask a doctor before doing that. You could, however, implement the scheduling aspect of the book, but modify to fit your baby's needs.

I'm noticing specific feeds where she seems less interested in eating and I'm wondering if I should be trying to cut those out entirely. For instance her 3am feed she often only takes two ounces. The problem is I don't know if I can get her to sleep without those two ounces and since me and dh both want to sleep we just give it to get her back to sleep but that's gonna lead to a long time of waking up at 3am for nothing. Also, when we feed her after 2am she doesn't seem interested in her 7am feeding so only takes an ounce or so and is then still uninterested in the feeding when I try again at 8am so only takes 2 ounces or so. At that point I usually make her wait the 3 hours till her 11am feeding (would be 10 if she ate at 7) and then she'll take a full feeding. I wish I knew which part I was doing wrong. It's a shame to bother when she's not hungry but she doesn't speak English very well so I can't know! If she wakes up in middle of the night and has diaper changed and is still up and pacifier isn't helping I'm assuming she's hungry but when she's really hungry she finishes the 5 ounces in 15 min or less and sometimes wants (and gets) an ounce or two more. She's clearly not hungry those times so hopefully this book will help me figure it out!
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Teacher_EW




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Oct 26 2014, 6:37 am
I have also seen reviews online where mothers implement the nighttime 12 stretch, but continue to breastfeed every 3 hours. As with every book, it's important to read it, but modify to your baby's needs.
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amother


 

Post Sun, Oct 26 2014, 6:59 am
My baby is 6 months old and just does NOT sleep more than 3 hrs and I am starting to go crazy! He only sleeps latched on. Would this book help or too severe? Are there other books? Just started solids this week.
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Teacher_EW




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Oct 26 2014, 7:00 am
amother wrote:
It's a shame to bother when she's not hungry but she doesn't speak English very well so I can't know!


This line made me laugh... Are you waking her up? Or is she waking up on her own. I never wake my baby up in the middle of the night. If she wakes up I try to put her back to sleep without feeding, but if it doesn't work, I feed her. Usually she doesn't need the food.
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amother


 

Post Sun, Oct 26 2014, 7:05 am
Teacher_EW wrote:
This line made me laugh... Are you waking her up? Or is she waking up on her own. I never wake my baby up in the middle of the night. If she wakes up I try to put her back to sleep without feeding, but if it doesn't work, I feed her. Usually she doesn't need the food.

As directed by The Baby Whisperer I feed on schedule during the day every three hours 7, 10, 1 and 4 and start doing it every two hours after 4 for "cluster feeds" which are supposed to give the baby enough calories during the day so they don't have to wake up at night. So schedule continues from 4 to 6 and 8. She then gets a "dream feed" which is feeding her before we go to sleep but hopefully before she wakes up! and keeps her sleeping longer. I sometimes wonder if I should give her a second dream feed to get her to go through the whole night but the point is to really get them off all nighttime feeds. She then wakes up hopefully only once during the night at about 3:30. She doesn't sleep as well after that though and may be up again an hour later to strain for a dirty diaper or just because but will sometimes go until 6 or 7 on her own. We can often stretch it to 7-8 if we take her into bed with us.
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Teacher_EW




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Oct 26 2014, 7:13 am
amother wrote:
As directed by The Baby Whisperer I feed on schedule during the day every three hours 7, 10, 1 and 4 and start doing it every two hours after 4 for "cluster feeds" which are supposed to give the baby enough calories during the day so they don't have to wake up at night. So schedule continues from 4 to 6 and 8. She then gets a "dream feed" which is feeding her before we go to sleep but hopefully before she wakes up! and keeps her sleeping longer. I sometimes wonder if I should give her a second dream feed to get her to go through the whole night but the point is to really get them off all nighttime feeds. She then wakes up hopefully only once during the night at about 3:30. She doesn't sleep as well after that though and may be up again an hour later to strain for a dirty diaper or just because but will sometimes go until 6 or 7 on her own. We can often stretch it to 7-8 if we take her into bed with us.


Technically, she is giving you a long stretch, from 8p until 3:30 (7.5 hrs!). I keep my baby up until 11p, then I bathe, feed and put her to bed. She usually sleeps until about 6:30 (the same 7.5 hrs), but often I wake her earlier to get her on my work schedule. I just started not feeding her at 6:30, but taking her into bed with me and pushing her until 7:45/8ish.
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busymom




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Oct 26 2014, 7:13 am
Teacher_EW wrote:
I am in middle of reading Suzy Giordano's "The Baby Sleep Solution" (aka 12 Hours by 12 Weeks) and was wondering if anyone implemented it and saw success with it. The premise is amazing; getting your baby to sleep 12 hours at night, and eat 4 large feedings during the day.

My baby is 3 months old (15 weeks) and naturally gives me between 6 and 8 hours at night, and eats every 3-3.5 hours during the day. I would love to turn that into 12, I just want to make sure it's safe. I am exclusively breastfeeding, but I do give her 1-2 pumped bottles when I'm at work.

Thanks!


Your baby is exclusively breastfeeding and gives you between 6-8 hours at night?! That is absolutely amazing. I hope you appreciate how unusual such a long stretch of uninterrupted sleep is! And quite frankly, I would not push that. Twelve hours without eating for a baby is too much, imo. Their stomach is too small to hold enough food to carry them over for that long.
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Teacher_EW




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Oct 26 2014, 7:17 am
busymom wrote:
Their stomach is too small to hold enough food to carry them over for that long.


Do you know how much a 3 month old stomach holds? Or how long that lasts? This is the kind of information I am looking for, before fully implementing what the book says... I'm scared to starve her, but the premise seems to promise something amazing!
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mandr




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Oct 26 2014, 7:27 am
My pediatrician as well as dr sears say o sleep train only once a baby is four mos old. I would never ever ever attempt to cut out all night feedings for a twelve hour stretch before 6 mos at least. Especially because as babies reach the second half of the first year, they are such distracted eaters by day that they need a nighttime feed where thy have zero distraction.

Also to the moms comparing ounces, there is a huge difference between 24 oz of breast milk and 24 oz of formula. Breastfed babies need much less per feeding.

My baby is one and I dream feed before I go to bed and then I still wake up once for him so he gives me two 5 hr stretches and then a 1-2 hour stretch till morning. I ignore anyone who tells me m crazy. My baby is in a low percentile for weight so I'm not over feeding him!
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mandr




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Oct 26 2014, 7:30 am
busymom wrote:
Your baby is exclusively breastfeeding and gives you between 6-8 hours at night?! That is absolutely amazing. I hope you appreciate how unusual such a long stretch of uninterrupted sleep is! And quite frankly, I would not push that. Twelve hours without eating for a baby is too much, imo. Their stomach is too small to hold enough food to carry them over for that long.


I'm glad you posted that because people think mothers are insane if they let their child wake up for night feedings.

My baby actually did 6-8 hr stretches when he was 6-10 weeks old. When I went back to work it all stopped! I think it was because of his tongue tie. It wasn't exciting to eat wih such a restriction so why wake up?
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busymom




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Oct 26 2014, 7:30 am
Teacher_EW wrote:
Do you know how much a 3 month old stomach holds? Or how long that lasts? This is the kind of information I am looking for, before fully implementing what the book says... I'm scared to starve her, but the premise seems to promise something amazing!


Sorry, I don't have that information. However, I remember reading in general terms about a baby's small stomach and why they need frequent feedings. They grow so rapidly in the first year and need the nutrients, yet their stomachs are still so small. Why don't you ask your pediatrician? I never heard of this book before, but 12-hour stretches of no feedings seems way too long for a baby this little.
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