Many of you know about our love for Babywise.  Some of our dear friends, the Bryants, introduced us to this before James was born, and Lora has been my go-to Babywise expert since then.  🙂  This book has been a HUGE blessing in our lives, and I wanted to share it with anyone who may be interested.

I stumbled upon the following Babywise summary on another mom’s blog so decided to quote it here.  Of course I can’t endorse everything that may be on her blog, but with this she is spot on.

“Basically, the book promotes a flexible schedule that is organized by a 1) feed, 2) wake, 3) sleep cycle (occurring in that order).  Typically this routine occurs in 3 hour cycles from beginning of feed to the beginning of the next feed.  This can be less for newborns, and the time will increase as the baby ages.  This order of activities ensures that nursing is not used as a sleep aid, making your infant dependent on you every time they need to fall asleep.  You feed your baby, play with them, and then put them down for a nap when they show signs of tiredness, and let them fall asleep on their own.  From a VERY young age, they are able to learn the skill of falling asleep on their own without the constant help of Mommy… this is a huge deal!

A second benefit of this cycle is associated with sleeping through the night.  Research has shown that sleeping through the night is typically not expected to happen in the first few months of life.  In fact, it’s not unusual to hear that babies are still waking in the night several times a week until they are upwards of 2 years old.  By sticking to the feed, wake, sleep cycle explained in Babywise, babies are expected to sleep consistently through the night by 3 months of age, and most will do so even earlier.  Sleeping through the night is considered 7 straight hours of sleep during the evening hours.  Essentially, this cycle helps to regulate the baby’s metabolism, and ensures that they are getting sufficient nutrition during the day time hours in order to sleep through the night.

My first daughter began doing this around week 11.  My second daughter, (who is now almost 10 weeks old) has been sleeping through the night (10 pm to 6am) since she was 8 weeks old.  I call this a blessing because I am thankful that God has given me this information to use as a sleep training tool, and that it works, allowing me to get the sleep I need to be an alert and well rested Mommy.

Truthfully speaking, this full method explained in this book cannot be explained in a single blog post.  It is a complex, but easily understood method that needs to be personally read in order to understand and implement properly.

I know that there has, and continues to be a lot of controversy surrounding this book, however, anyone I know who has actually took the time to read it through and use the method PROPERLY has been significantly blessed with a good sleeping baby.  It takes a lot of effort, perseverance, thoughtfulness, and patience to do the Babywise method, but it’s well worth it!  If you are considering this method for you and your baby as a sleep training tool, please take the time to read the whole book cover to cover first… there’s lots of important information that you may need/want to know before attempting the Babywise method.  In fact,  I still refer to the book often when I have a question or concern, and find the material to be very helpful.

Praising God today for an infant and toddler that are both amazing sleepers.  God is good.”

WE have thanked God many times for the help of this book over the past few years as well, and have given away numerous copies.  Every time I would buy another book to replace mine I would come across someone who desperately needed Babywise and would give it away.

James slept through the night at a very early age (8 weeks) and although Anna took a little longer, she is doing very well now too.  We are a MUCH happier and healthier family when everyone is sleeping well.

When James was still an infant I discovered there were other ‘Wise’ books.  Since the first one had worked so well for him, I decided to buy several others to use down the road.  That day I ordered Babywise 2, Toddler Wise, Potty Wise, Preschool Wise, and Child Wise.  (There’s also a PreTeen Wise and Teen Wise, I believe.)  We have used many of the concepts in these books with James and they have all worked beautifully.  Like the blogger mentioned above, it does take a lot of effort, perseverance, thoughtfulness, and patience to implement some of these ideas, but in the end it is SO worth it!

For anyone out there looking to help your kids sleep better, structure their day more, or just need new ideas with parenting, please check out these books.  I pray they will be a blessing to your family like they’ve been to us!

Today I am praising God for an infant and toddler that are both amazing sleepers.  I’m also thanking God for Lora who introduced us to Babywise!