can anyone help me with the baby whisperer???? dont' have time to read all of these books!!

[cchavez]

I have just re-read the no cry sleep solution, in the process of re-reading Weisbluth, skimmed thru Sear's Fussy Baby Book, and trying to start reading the Satter fedding book......then i hear all the good things about establishing a routine with the baby whisperer....but unfortunately dont' have time to read it...from what i have heard her basic premise is eat, sleep, play....i am trying to implement Ds naps by Weisbluths 2 hr rule but since he only sleep for 30 minutes at a time......he takes tons of short naps thru out the day...can anyone give me the gist of baby whisperer....or should i really try to read it??? TIA

Wish they made cliff notes!! LOL

[alleyoop]

I can tell you what I got out of the BW Book:

- The main thrust of the method is Eat, Play, Sleep. She doesn't like that most babies go to sleep after eating as it doesn't teach them how to go to sleep on their own. Of course, she is big on looking for the sleep signals (yawns and eye rubbing).

- Somewhat modified CIO. Go in, and pick up if necessary in order to calm baby, but do not rock to the point of sleep. Pick up as many times as you need to before the baby finally goes to sleep, but beware of going in too quickly.

-"Do as you mean to go on” Meaning, don't start your baby in a habit (like needing to be rocked, fed or held to sleep) unless you plan to do that for years to come. She thinks that it is easier to teach your child to go to sleep on their own now, then to do it when they are 18mo or 2.

These are the things that I took away from the book, and tried to implement with my DS. Switching to 'eat, play, sleep' was helpful for me, as I had a hard time separating out the hungry from sleepy cries. When I started, I believe that DS was about 12 weeks old, and it only took a day or two to get him on the method. I still let him determine how much he ate, played or slept, but just always kept them in that order. For the first couple months I believe that we ate, played only about a half hour and then he slept for about 30-40 minutes on average.

To be honest, I still rocked him to sleep for the naps, and he fell asleep at night during the last bottle. Around 5mo, I started putting him down while he was nearly asleep, but not totally out. Little by little we worked on this. It took a good six weeks for me to teach him to go to sleep on his own, but by then I knew he was ready for it and could implement without CIO (something I don't have the nerves for).

Does this help? Of course, this is my bastardization of the book, but I did find parts of it useful, and believe that the EPS method has been very good for DS.

[lizajane]

i think heather did a great job of summing it up. i really liked this book. one more point i would mention is the "treat your baby like a PERSON." she says to tell your baby if you are going to do something, like lift his feet over his head for a diaper change, because you would never go up to a grown up and throw their feet over their head without warning them first! sounds a little silly at first, but as she says, who knows exactly when they start to understand something!

i just did the pick up, put down method. worked like a charm. first day-nap one, 23 pick ups in one hour, nap two, 11 pick ups in 1/2 hour, nap 3, 3 pick ups in 10 minutes. the next morning, nap one only took 6 pick ups in 20 minutes and for nap 2, he fell asleep in his stroller (sitting still) without any fuss at all! and this morning, i put him in his bed and he cried for less than one minute before going right to sleep. (i let him cry for 1 minute or less between pick ups)

the 3 yawn rule worked really well for us- you have to get the nap started by the 3rd yawn. if you see 2 yawns, get him in bed. if you wait 20 minutes after the 3rd yawn, you will get a fit.

imho, focus on one book at a time. they are all different and it can be so confusing! i think babywise and baby whisperer go well together, and they both are quick reads.

edited to add: if he is only sleeping 30 mins at a time, he probably isn't really ready to get up. try the pick up put down thing after the 1/2 hour wake up. he may go back to sleep for a while. (happens to us sometimes.)

hth

liza

[cchavez]

Thanks everyone!!! He slept a bit longer for naps today but I we still need some help...hopefully the pick up rule will help but I may need to get the book and read the section on esp.......