Author Topic: Will this book work for me?  (Read 2294 times)

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Offline Isaiah's_mom

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Will this book work for me?
« on: January 14, 2006, 00:45:17 am »
My son is 6 months and has no schedule. I let him eat whenever and sleep whenever. I didn't know any different. He doesn't go to bed until midnight and DH and I are always so tired.
He is already on solids so I don't now if that will compilcate scheduling.

Is it too late to schedule him?

Offline Deb_in_oz

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Will this book work for me?
« Reply #1 on: January 14, 2006, 02:37:54 am »
hi there - it is not too late, but...

do you have the BW solves all your problems? if not i recommend you read it through in order to trouble shoot as you attempt to get your lo on a routine.  If you already have it / read it i suggest you read through pages 39-46 about starting EASY after 4 mo old as it goes into key points for a routine at that age and also has a plan to implement to put your lo on EASY.

if you read through this and the BW books and feel EASY is the way you want to go - please come and ask specific questions and myself and the other EASY mods can help you through the process.

not to scare you off, but rather to give you Tracy's realistic viewpoint on doing this i thought i woudl share a quote from the book
p. 42 "the thing to keep in mind when introducing a routine for the first time is that there is rarely overnight miracles - 3 days, a week, even 2, but never overnight. when ushering in a new regime to a baby of any age, you're going to get resistence. ... you have to take certain actions, you have to be the monitor and guide, at least until your baby gets on track. Especially if your baby hasn't ever had a routine, you may have to forfeit something for a few weeks - your own time"

HTH and if you want to work on this we are here to help you.  :D
Debra - a New Yorker living in Australia married to a Brit

dd1 - Textbook/Angel, born July 2003
dd2 - Spritied through & through, born Feb 2005

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Offline Isaiah's_mom

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« Reply #2 on: January 15, 2006, 01:54:57 am »
thanks.
My baby doesn't take naps at all. Not even if I rock him or put him in the swing.
He's still awake now (he doesn't go to bed until midnight). He has been up for 12 hours straight.
Is this normal for a baby to not sleep for 12 hours? Well, it will be 14 1/2 hours by the time he goes to sleep tonight. I am always so exhausted.
How can I get him to sleep if he's not sleepy?
I read about the pick up put down but if he never sleeps, I don't see how he's going to start.

Offline Deb_in_oz

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« Reply #3 on: January 15, 2006, 02:28:07 am »
OK - i will enllist the help of he other moderators and ask them to read your posts and maybe we canhelp get him started - yes he shoudl have daytime sleep. that is why he just stays awake the whoole day - once he is overtired he must just go into a "zone" where he no longer can give in to sleep.

must get him started with daytime sleeping for sure!

will post back as soon as i can
Debra - a New Yorker living in Australia married to a Brit

dd1 - Textbook/Angel, born July 2003
dd2 - Spritied through & through, born Feb 2005

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Offline branwen

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« Reply #4 on: January 15, 2006, 02:54:00 am »
Hi there!

I am a sleep mod  :D .  I will try to help you as much as I can! 

I started my baby at 4 months on EASY.  She did not really take naps at all during the day, and if she did it was in odd places, I was going crazy and I found BW and it really saved me. We were both very miserable.  You will need to work on the Pick Up/Put Down method to establish daytime naps.

The thing you have to realize is that because you are starting late it will be very hard.  Expect lots of crying.  In the beginning of PU/PD you may have to pick up over 100 times or go the whole 2 hr awake time before you even get a nap.  But it IS worth it. 

Questions:

 :arrow: Where does your baby sleep when he goes to bed?  When will he wake up in the morning?

 :arrow: What is your babies mood?  Look in the book and see if you can identify his "type".

I know it may seem as if your baby isn't tired but I think he is probably very overtired...and gets those second winds, just as we adults do when we stay up too long.   The reason he is not going to bed until 12 is because daytime sleep actually creates better night-time sleep.  Once you get him sleeping during the day you may find he needs an earlier bedtime.

Suggestions-

1) before you start the transition track your baby for a couple of days. write down all eating/ milk and solids and amounts and how often.  Write down all the sleep times.  Then you will have a sort of road map.  You can post it back here and I can try to pull out some patterns for you.  This REALLY helped me when starting out.

2) as you track other info also watch your son like a hawk- look for any "sighing" (could even sound like cooing high pitched) or rubbing of the eyes, whimpers, yawns, or maybe he stops playing with toys or pushes them away, maybe he wants to then eat again (another sign of fatigue- to eat again for comfort and to increase energy).  write all these times down and next to them subtract 20 minutes, this is when you should start trying for your naps.
Branwen
Mama to Eirwen 1/22/05


Offline Isaiah's_mom

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« Reply #5 on: January 15, 2006, 04:20:41 am »
Thanks SO much for helping me out!

I looked at the book, and I think he is the spirited type. Does this usually mean that's their personality when they get older too?

He loves to play and I think he doesn't want to sleep because he would rather play. I have seen him try to fight off sleepiness. I had commented to a friend today that he would play in his exersaucer for hours if I let him. It seems that is all he wants to do. I'm not sure if that's because of his age or what.

He sleeps with DH and I at night but we are wanting to switch him to his crib especially if it makes it easier for him to be on a schedule. Do you think it is too late to switch him to the crib?

He wakes every morning at 6:00 and takes an 8 oz bottle. We usually go back to sleep so I can sleep in since that's 6 or less hours of sleep. But I am willing to get him up if I need to.

When he was a newborn, he had mspi (milk soy protein intolerance) which can be worse than colic.  He is over it now that he's on the allergenic formula. But when he was a newborn he never slept. He cried ALL night long. I don't know if now he's not used to sleeping or what. During those times we held him all day and rocked him all night just trying to calm him down. 
He does however sleep through the night now. He's no longer fussy like he used to be. Now it just seems like he would rather play than sleep.

I wrote down the times he ate today. He didn't take any naps. I spent many hours today trying to get him to wind down and nap but he wouldn't.  Sometimes he will take a small catnap if it's in the swing.  He is not on any type of eating schedule either. I have always just fed him when he's hungry.I guess I still do that out of habit since I used to nurse on demand. (now he's on formula)

Offline JennŠ

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« Reply #6 on: January 15, 2006, 05:10:24 am »
Hi there!!  I have no further thoughts for you at the moment.  So far the info you have been given is great.  Just wanted to add a touch more support for you.  It won't all be easy, but this is doable. :D   Try not to get too overwhelmed, and definitely get hubby involved.  I would have him read stuff too.  It beats the "sum up" I had to do.    :roll:
 When you're soaring through the air, I'll be your solid ground.  Take every chance you dare.  I'll still be there when you come back down.

Offline corrina01

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« Reply #7 on: January 15, 2006, 09:50:01 am »
First of all {{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}}}}} to you and your DH.

As Branwen says after a couple of days, post your (sort of) schedule, we can take a look at it, and come up with some suggestions.  It will take time, if you keep being consisent (it will hard) but it is worth it in the end.  Try to keep giving him his naps, I know I have said this before, it will be hard, but his body has to get used to these changes.

Once again {{{{{{{{{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}}}}} to you all.
Corrina
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A very spirited toddler with a touch of angel



Offline Isaiah's_mom

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« Reply #8 on: January 16, 2006, 13:40:44 pm »
Thanks everyone!

I tracked what he did Saturday an Sunday. On sunday he woke up at 6:30 for a bottle and I didn't let him go back to sleep. Can you believe he took a nap that day (1 1/2 hours) and went to bed last night at 9:45!!
I think you all were right- he was overstimulated.

I had planned on starting this morning but he woke up at 5:30 am for a bottle (8oz). I guess since he went to bed early,he was hungry earlier. So I guess I'm going to have to do a dreamfeed? I haven't read about that in the book yet. I've just seen it mentioned here.
After that bottle, he went back to bed. We woke up at 7:40. I set my alarm for 7 but overslept.
So now since we are already off track, is there any point in starting today?


Also I wanted to ask-
Since he is used to sleeping with us, should I try to do naps (and bedtime) in our bed until he gets on a schedule then try switch him over to his crib? Or should I just go ahead and start him in the crib?
I was thinking that he will associate our bed with sleep because he really has no idea what his crib is for.

Offline corrina01

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« Reply #9 on: January 16, 2006, 20:22:39 pm »
Congratulations on getting to nap and bed earlier.   :D

You might want to start off with a little "A" time  every awake time in the crib so he starts getting used to it and then a few days later start with naps and then finally bedtime.
Corrina
Mum to Faith
A very spirited toddler with a touch of angel