Babywise - It's My Thing

Skogen is feeding himself breakfast this morning.  For some reason he threw a tantrum when I tried to feed him, so I handed him the spoon and told him to go to town.  He's now COVERED head-to-toe in blueberry oatmeal, but at least he's happy and fed.  :)  I have a feeling a morning bath will be needed soon.

For the past several weeks I have been watching a friend's baby.  Baby N's mom and dad have a very different parenting style than I do (I think every parent does things a bit differently) and I've had to learn and adapt as I go.  Sometimes I feel like such a failure at trying to mother Baby N during the day because I'm so used to how I did things with my two babies.  Other times it has been a positive thing to explore with a different parenting style than my own, and has been a good way to experiment with things that I could maybe implement when I have a third one of my own.

One thing that this experience has taught me is how much of a Babywise parent I am.  I thrive as a mom by having my kids on a schedule.  I didn't start Maida on Babywise until she was three months old, because I really thought that I was more of an attachment/feed on demand mother, however I got burned out really fast on that method.  I started Skogen on Babywise before we even left the hospital and it was such a blessing.  I really feel like the schedule made my babies happier babies and made me in return, a happier mother.

The one thing that I appreciated about the Babywise method is that I always fed my babies every three hours, so they never cried because they were hungry.  They knew that as soon as they woke up, they would eat.  They wouldn't have to cry or whine or kick and scream before I could figure out that they were hungry.  I provided what they needed before they really needed it.  They also never got overly tired because I knew exactly what time they should go to sleep, according to when they ate.  I also knew exactly how long they'd sleep because they would sleep until the next feeding, which I'd already have ready for them before they woke up.  With this method, my babies hardly ever woke up crying, they woke up happy because they knew they were going to get to eat!  Nighttime was a bit different than the daytime on the Babywise schedule because I would never wake them up to eat (like most mothers probably do), I'd just let them go as long as they could and then feed them as soon as they woke up.  Skogen was sleeping 6-7 hours by two weeks old, 9 hours by 9 weeks old, and at least 11-12 hours a night shortly after that.  It was great!  I have to admit that there are some things of the Babywise method that I didn't use, one of those being letting your baby cry it out.  I have never been able to do that!  However, I adapted The Happiest Baby on the Block and The No Cry Sleep Solution together with Babywise to make what we called, "Karawise," which I used in the situations where I couldn't get my babies to go to sleep.

Another thing that I really appreciated about Babywise is that it carries into the toddler years, too.  You save a lot of temper tantrums by knowing what your toddler is going to need before he needs it.  Examples: if I know that Skogen is going to need a nap at 1:00, then I stay home at 1:00 and give him a nap... if we're out at a playdate at 10:00 in the morning and I know that's when Skogen eats a snack, I'll bring a snack instead of letting him have a meltdown first, and then going, "Oh, I guess he wants a sanck, maybe I should have brought one."  I feel that it taught me the ability to anticipate the needs of my children before the needs became out of control.

The only complaints I have about Babywise is that it can get stressful trying to keep your baby on a schedule and it's not always the best method for premature or smaller babies, or babies that may have eating issues.  However, for the bigger babies (like I had!) it is totally worth it.

Anyway, you can read more about Babywise on the internet, or buy the book in any baby store, if you are interested.  It has really been a sleep saver, tear saver, sanity saver for me as a mom and I know that as soon as baby #3 makes his or her arrival, I'll probably be more apt to lean on this method again.  I just hope that baby #3 adapts to it.  I know that every baby is different and responds differently to things, though.  What kinds of methods have other moms used and had success with?  Have any of you had success with Babywise, too?

By the way, 100 people have read the blog between yesterday when I posted and when I posted this post.  I just wanted to remind you all to vote on our baby poll!  I think it's interesting how the boy and girl votes keep tying with each other!