EASY baby- baby whisperer-routine at night

cubbie

Sun, Jan 17 2010, 1:53 pm

sunny90 wrote:

But do you find that you have to pat them back to sleep in the middle of the night?
I tried, when I fed him at 5:20 this morning, to put him back in his crib, but he was restless and wouldn't fall back asleep so I just had to take him back into bed with me so that he'd sleep again! Is it like that every time they wake up in the night or is it just because it was close to morning?

Sunny90 - as I said in the post above - let him be restless if he's not crying and if he is crying, try the paci, pat him, whatever, but unless you don't mind him getting in the habit of getting into your bed in the middle of the night, do whatever it takes to keep him in his bed until "morning"

cubbie

Sun, Jan 17 2010, 3:11 pm

sunny90 wrote:

Aaaah!
Wish me luck--I guess I'm gna have to be sleep deprived for a while... Rolling Eyes

Firstly you're doing great!
secondly I promise you that by working hard, sticking to this and helping him learn to sleep by himself in his bed you will be sleep deprived for a much shorter time than if you give up and go for the quick fix.
My oldest (now 5) slept through the night (12 hours) with dreamfeed at 6 weeks without dreamfeed at 5 months
My second (now 3) slept through the night with dreamfeed at 10 weeks without dreamfeed at 5 months
My baby (now 12 weeks) has been sleeping through the night with dreamfeed at 10 weeks and the past couple of nights without the dreamfeed. (I don't usually attempt to drop the dreamfeed until they're on 3 meals of solids a day, but on Friday night I fell asleep and didn't wake up to df and she still slept through, so last night I tried not giving her the df and same thing, so I'm going to continue with this, and if I find it's not working and she starts to get hungry in the night I'll give it again until she's eating solids like I did with her sisters)

cubbie

Sun, Jan 17 2010, 3:22 pm

Of course if he's not tired you dont' need to put him to bed - when you get the book, you'll see that the whole idea of the baby whisperer is that you're not watching the clock but getting to know, understand and read your baby, and while time helps because there are approximate timings for different age babies, nothing is set in stone. On the other hand the smaller they are the less time it takes from them to go from awake to tired to overtired and missing the window by 5 minutes could be the difference between getting them to sleep in 5 minutes to having a screaming baby on your hands. So keep a close eye on your baby and as soon as you see him start staring into space or the first yawn, get him to a dark room swaddle and start getting him ready for sleep.

cubbie

Sun, Jan 17 2010, 3:33 pm

sunny90 wrote:

Oh yeah--and I was also wondering: won't he just get used to being patted to sleep? What will cause him to learn to fall asleep by himself?

Believe it or not he just won't, as he takes less and less time to fall asleep you'll need to pat him less, until you are just patting him until he is calm and then you'll be putting him in and he'll already be calm.

sunny90

Sun, Jan 17 2010, 3:38 pm

Thank you!
Is it detrimental to this whole thing if I don't exactly catch him before he falls into a light sleep (because I didn't notice or someone else was holding him) and just swaddle him etc without particularly trying to keep him sleeping and he just calms down in about 2 seconds and only needs about a minute of patting?
That is what just happened, DH was holding him and before we knew it he was asleep!

cubbie

Sun, Jan 17 2010, 3:46 pm

sunny90 wrote:

Of course not, neither is it detrimental to this whole thing if you totally miss the window and have him screaming, you just carry on where you left off!!! Think of it like a journey, sometimes you leave the path a little while looking at the scenery, but you can never go so far that you can't go back on. Take everything in a calm way, enjoy it, don't get stressed and when you have your second, you'll realise what a piece of cake a baby is compared with the older one!!!

shabri

Mon, Jan 18 2010, 4:23 am

Just wanted to reiterate what Cubbie said b/c its really the basis of the whole thing. Yes you might be sleep deprived for 2-3 days b/c you have to shh pat or whatever, but then you will be getting much much much more sleep than ppl whose kids are getting up 2-3 times a night at 6/8 months. The whole routine is based on consistency and going for the short term fix is not going to help the long term solution.

In terms of knowing if the baby is tired. Of course don't put the baby down if he is not tired--its all baby centered. However, many ppl don't realize that the baby is tired until the baby is overtired and then will have a really difficult time getting to sleep. Once you get the book, you will see that she says at the first yawn, 2nd the latest get the child into the bedtime routine. Once the 3rd yawn hits and for sure once his eyes are droopy etc its too late--you have an overtired child on your hands who will have a hard time falling asleep and not have a good sleep.

Cubbie, when I have #3 DD1 will have just turned 3 and DD2 will be 20 mos iy"h. Still think it will be easier?

sunny90

Mon, Jan 18 2010, 4:47 am

I realize that, but when he just cries and cries and won't fall asleep no matter how much I pat him or keep sticking the paci in his mouth, what then? What did you do if that happened?
Did you start your babies on it from birth?
We're living by my in-laws for the time being so it was very hard at the beginning to even think about starting a routine or whatever because everyone has their own opinions! And being exhausted and PP and hormonal didn't help, so I'm only starting it now. Last night he just would not fall asleep and kept crying his hungry cry so I fed him, he only finally calmed down once he had the paci but then woke up at 1:20 hungry again and then would not fall asleep no matter how much I patted/shushed/rocked him. How long am I supposed to let him cry?

shabri

Mon, Jan 18 2010, 5:01 am

sunny90 wrote:

Could be he is going through a growth spurt...I think you said he was 5 weeks last week which makes him 6 weeks this week. So he is prob having his 6 week growth spurt and needs more food. She suggests nursing longer during the daytime feeds over the next few days to build up more milk. Also cluster feeding before he goes to sleep at night. meaning feed at 6 & 8 (or 5 & 7 I forget what schedule you are on) After 2-3 days your supply should catch up to his new demand and he should be better at night.

Totally fine you are only starting now. Its good to start a birth but you can start at any time and 5/6 weeks is a good time to start.

Don't let him cry at all. Do what you can to sooth him (assuming he is not hungry/dirty/gassy etc and then take care of that) But the point is to soothe him with your presence and voice so that he learns to fall asleep on his own. If he is really hysterical def take him out and shush pat him in your arm until he calms down a little and then put him down continuing to shush pat an continue the shush pat until he is asleep.

shabri

Mon, Jan 18 2010, 5:03 am

Seraph wrote:

Ok, so today, so far so good. Shmaya woke up at 7:15, nursed till 7:30, went to sleep at 9:30, slept till 11:30, nursed... So whens the next time he should be sleeping? 1:30?

assuming thats when he is tired, yes should be around then. Try to keep him sleeping for 1 1/2-2 hrs. And good for you for a good start to the day

sunny90

Mon, Jan 18 2010, 5:22 am

I was also wondering--for their daytime naps you do the same thing right? swaddling, shush/patting...if they keep waking up do you just keep going in, putting the paci in, and patting til they fall asleep for as long as their nap? DS wakes up when the paci falls out, unless he's in a REALLY deep sleep.
Sorry for all these questions, they just occur to me as I go along...

shabri

Mon, Jan 18 2010, 6:53 am

sunny90 wrote:

yes. and if they wake up too soon--shh pat to get them back to sleep for a full nap. Its all in the book and mostly on the boards. Don't mins answering your questions but until the book arrives you should check out babywhisperer.com and the boards for the basic info

amother

Mon, Jan 18 2010, 9:56 pm

My baby is almost four months old and I would love to try the EASY baby routine except my baby does not believe in naps during the day. I am lucky if he sleeps for an hour straight during the morning and fifteen minutes in the afternoon and he is typically up at least three times during the night. I usually put him to sleep around nine and he wakes for the day between seven and eight o'clock. I know he is over tired but how am I supposed to make him go to sleep if he doesn't want to? he also still wants to eat every two hours when I am around and will eat every three hours by the babysitter. Help!