Chronicles of a Babywise Mom Reader Week 2018

Chronicles of a Babywise Mom Reader Week 2018. Connect with other Babywise Moms.

July is a different month here on the blog. We do a big BFBN week, a success story week, and a reader week. What is a reader week you may ask? Well, you are in it. It has arrived.

This is my eighth year doing a reader week in July on this blog. This is the week we focus on the readers of the blog. I love to help readers connect and to help each other out. This is a week when you all get to contribute to making this blog a valuable resource. 

My posts are helpful to you all, yes, but so are your comments and contributions. It is one thing to see one mom (me) doing Babywise, but quite another to see how many moms do it. Something I love about reader week is that it adds a myriad of experiences to the mix. I haven't experienced 

every parenting issue that can come up and I consistently learn new things from readers. For example, I never knew about a tongue tie until a reader told me about it. There is great value to working together and collaborating. That is why I continue to host this week year after year.

I so appreciate you readers and all you do to contribute to this blog! Even your questions you ask me contribute because it helps me know what your common concerns are and what information will be most helpful to you. 

Here is the plan for the week:

11 Reasons to Love Babywise

Eleven Reasons to Love Babywise. Why 11 moms love Babywise and how they have found success by using it. 

I have loved reading the different successes from people this week! This is our grand finale. These eleven moms are sharing their own success with Babywise. Thanks for a great week! 

Babywise Gives the Gift of Sleep for Any Child

Babywise Gives the Gift of Sleep for Any Child. Babywise works for all types of babies. 

I have six children. Five of those are mine by birth and all five of those I have had the privilege of parenting since birth have been raised with Babywise and the subsequent books (Pretoddlerwise, Toddlerwise, Preschoolwise, and Childwise). In fact, I am overdue to read Teenwise for my now-10 year old! 

I cannot say enough what a blessing this book has been to me and my kids! I find over and over again that when I follow the principles my children are happier, calmer, and just more fun to be around. Because, let’s face it, tired, cranky babies aren’t nearly so fun as well-rested ones! And obedient(ish) toddlers are far more enjoyable than disobedient ones.

My youngest baby is now 7 months old. He was my latest to sleep through the night (defined as sleeping from at least a 10pm dreamfeed until 7am), but even so he was sleeping comfortably an 8+ hour stretch by 13 weeks old. Oh, and he has reflux. In fact, three of my Babywise babies have had reflux and all slept through the night by 3 months old. 

For those who think Babywise only works for babies who are naturally good sleepers, here is our baby breakdown using terminology from The Baby Whisperer as well as my own observations :) 

Babywise Sample Schedules: The Sixth Month

This post gives sample schedule Babywise schedules for the sixth month. The sixth month of baby's life comprises weeks 22-26. Baby is five months old. 5 month old sample Babywise Schedules.

Month Overview

During the sixth month, you can aim for and expect the following:

• You can start to teach sign language to your baby. This can be done at any point forward.
• Teething can start to impact sleep. 
• 4-6 feedings in a 24 hour period.
• Feedings should be 3-4 hours apart. 
• Your baby will take 3 naps a day.
• Naps will be 1.5-2.5 hours long.
• The third nap might be a short 30-60 minutes long.
• Your baby should get 10-12 hours of sleep at night.
• You can start blanket time with your baby if you haven't already.
• Continue with Independent Playtime. If you haven't started, work it into your day if possible.
• Baby might be ready to drop the dreamfeed. 

Our Sample Schedules

Week 22

McKenna

7:30 AM--wake, nurse, solids (1 T rice. I will add 1 T peaches this next week)
8:30 AM--nap
11:00 OR 11:30 AM--nurse, solids (at least 4 T bananas)
12:00 OR 12:30 PM--nap
2:00 OR 2:30 PM--nurse
3:15-3:45 (75-90 minutes later) PM--nap
4:30 OR 5:00 PM--nurse and solids (2-4 T sweet potatoes)
7:00 PM--nurse and straight to bed

Sometimes she eats after only two hours in the evening since she is extending her day out right now. This is a temporary situation and it is fine with me for now. I know it won't last too long. I find that preferable to having a fourth nap and eating at a 3 hour interval, and thus having a later bedtime. I want bedtime consistent.

Brinley

Our schedule typically looks like this:

7:30--feed with solids--half of a banana and 2 T of oatmeal mixed in

8:45--nap

11:30--feed with solids--4 T of pears and 2 T of oatmeal mixed in

1:00--nap

3:30--feed

5:00--nap 

5:30--feed with solids--half a banana mixed with 2 T oatmeal and sweet potatoes (1-2 T)

7:30--feed, then bedtime

Week 23

McKenna

This week, we started every day at 8 AM

8:00 AM--wake her up, nurse, eat 2 T oatmeal and 2 T fruit (she doesn't always finish this much)
9:00 AM--nap
11:30 AM--wake her up, nurse, eat 2 T veggie and 2 T fruit
12:30 PM--nap
3:00 PM--wake her up (sometimes she wakes on her own), nurse
4:30 PM--nap
5:30 PM--wake her up or she wakes up, nurse, 2 T fruit, 2-4 T veggie, 2 T oatmeal
7:30 PM--nurse then bed
10:20 PM--dreamfeed

You can see that the end of the day is crammed in there. I would like to be able to drop the dreamfeed so we can extend the schedule so it isn't so smashed together at the end of the day. The other night, I said our 7:30 PM nursing is basically just a formality.

Brinley

Our schedule typically looks like this:

7:30--feed with solids--half of a banana and 2 T of oatmeal mixed in

8:45--nap

11:30--feed with solids--4 T of pears and 2 T of oatmeal mixed in

1:00--nap

3:30--feed

5:00--nap 

5:30--feed with solids--half a banana mixed with 2 T oatmeal and sweet potatoes (1-2 T) OR butternut squash (1-2 T)--we alternate every other day with squash and sweet potatoes.

7:30--feed, then bedtime. In bed by 8:00-8:10

Week 24

McKenna

8:00 AM--wake her up, nurse, eat 2 T oatmeal and 2 T prunes. She now usually does eat all of her oatmeal. Some days, she loves her prunes. Others, she hates it.
9:00 AM--nap
11:30 AM--wake her up, nurse, eat 2-4 T veggie and 2 T bananas
12:35 PM--nap
3:00 PM--wake her up, nurse
4:30 PM--nap
5:30 PM--wake her up and she is mad to be woken up, nurse, 2 T oatmeal mixed with 1 T peaches, 2-4 T veggie
7:30 PM--nurse then bed
10:15 PM--dreamfeed

She is really ready to both drop the dreamfeed and extend to a four hour schedule. I am really reluctant to drop the dreamfeed before we move. I would not be hesitant to move to a four hour schedule before we move. I always say I prefer dropping the dreamfeed before extending the schedule, but I might just have to extend the schedule first under these circumstances. I need to do something fast. Things are getting too tight in the evening and I have to wake her up for every meal of the day.

Brinley

Our schedule typically looks like this:

7:30--feed with solids--2-4 T prunes and 2 T of oatmeal mixed in

8:45--nap

11:30--feed with solids--4 T of pears and 2 T of oatmeal mixed in and 2 T of green beans with 1 T oatmeal mixed in

1:00--nap

3:30--feed

5:00--nap 

5:30--feed with solids--half a banana mixed with 2 T oatmeal and sweet potatoes (1-2 T) OR butternut squash (1-2 T)--we alternate every other day with squash and sweet potatoes.

7:30--feed, then bedtime. In bed by 8:00-8:10

Week 25

McKenna

8:00 AM: I wake her. Nurse. 2 T fruit (prunes or peaches) and 3 T oatmeal. This is followed by bath and then independent playtime.
9:00 AM: Nap
12:00 PM: I wake her (yes, she takes a 3 hour nap). Nurse. 2-4 T peas and 2-4 T of bananas. This is followed by some time with siblings and some tummy time/floor play.
1:15-1:30 PM: Nap. Almost every day this week, she took this nap at my parent's house.
4:00 PM: I wake her. Nurse. 4 T yellow veggie, 2 T fruit (usually peaches), and 4 T oatmeal. This is followed by us going to our new house to work on it. I would put her in the front carrier or in the bouncer. Some days, she and I would drive to pick up food for the workers.
6:00 PM: Nap. This was taken in my new neighbors master bedroom closet in her bassinet.
8:00 PM: I wake her. Some nights she woke on her own. She sleeps so well! I never expected her to sleep well there. They have six kids, so you know things just get really loud sometimes. The girl can sleep. Nurse and then back to bed at home.
10:20 or 10:30 PM: Dreamfeed.

I would ideally like the last feeding to start at 7:30 so she can be in bed by 8:00, but for right now, it is good for me to have that extra 30 minutes to work on the house. We are still figuring out our perfect 4 hour schedule.

Brinley

Our schedule typically looks like this:

7:30--feed with solids--2-4 T prunes and 2 T of oatmeal mixed in

8:45--nap

11:30--feed with solids--4 T of pears and 2 T of oatmeal mixed in and 2 T of green beans with 1 T oatmeal mixed in

1:00--nap

3:30--feed

5:00--nap 

6:00--feed with solids--half a banana mixed with 2 T oatmeal OR 3-4 T applesauce mixed with 2 T oatmeal and sweet potatoes (1-2 T) OR butternut squash (1-2 T)

7:30--feed, then bedtime. In bed by 8:00-8:10

Week 26

McKenna

8:00 AM--wake, nurse, eat 2-3 T prunes and 1 T peaches mixed with 3 T oatmeal (3 T dry before mixed with water).

9:00-9:10 AM--nap

12:00 PM--wake, nurse, eat about 4 T green veggie and 4-8 T banana (she will eat an entire banana. She loves them).

1:15-1:30 PM--nap

4:00 PM--wake, nurse, eat about 4 T yellow veggie and 4 T pears. I then offer 2 T oatmeal and let her eat until full. She usually doesn't eat much oatmeal, but I offer it to see if she is still hungry.

6:00 PM--(sometimes she is tired between 5:30 and 6:00, in which case I put her down) nap

8:00 PM--wake, nurse, change into PJs, story, bed

10:15 PM--dreamfeed

Brinley

Our schedule typically looks like this:

7:30--feed with solids--2-4 T prunes and 2 T of oatmeal mixed in

8:45--nap

11:30--feed with solids--4 T of pears and 2 T of oatmeal mixed in and 2 T of green beans OR peas with 1 T oatmeal mixed in and some fruit

1:00--nap

3:30--feed

5:00--nap 

6:00--feed with solids--half a banana mixed with 2 T oatmeal OR 3-4 T applesauce mixed with 2 T oatmeal and sweet potatoes (1-2 T) OR butternut squash (1-2 T) and some fruit

7:30--feed, then bedtime. In bed by 8:00-8:10

Your Sample Schedules

Here are your schedules that you have shared over the years

5 Months Old Girl 

7:00 – wake up/eat
8:00 – nap
10:30 – eat
11:30 – nap
1:30 – eat
2:30 – nap
4:30 – eat
5:30 – nap
6:30 – wake
7:00 – eat
8:00 – bed
10:00 dream feed/10:30 bed

5 Month Old Boy
7:00 - wake, 6 oz formula, solids
9:00 - nap
11:00- wake, 6 oz formula, solids
1:00- nap
3:00- wake, 8 oz formula
5- 6:00- nap
6:30- 8 oz formula, solids
7:30- bed

5 Month Old (girl)
She sleeps through the night, but her naps are very spotty. Her "normal" nap is 45 minutes long, but she usually has one longer nap (1.5 - 2 hours) each day, but not always at the same time. If she wakes up before it's time to eat, she plays for a bit.
7:00 - get up and nurse (she is often awake, but quiet, so I don't know exactly when she wakes up)
8:15 - nap (varies in length)
10:00 - nurse
11:30 - nap (varies in length)

1:00/1:30 - nurse
3:00 - nap (varies in length)
4:30 - nurse
6:00 - nap (30-40 min)

7:30 - nurse
8:30/9:00 - bedtime

5 Month Old Girl7:00 – wake up
7:15 - bottle & oat cereal w/ fruit
8:15 – nap
10:30 – wake
11:00 – bottle & rice cereal w/ veggie
12:30 – nap
2:30 – wake
3:00 – bottle, fruit & veggie
4:30 – cat nap
6:30 – bathtime/bedtime routine ending with bottle
7:00 – bed

Almost 6 Month Old Girl
7:00 Wake/Nurse/Rice Cereal
Play in PlayPen
9:00 Nap in Swing
10:30 Wake/Nurse/Rice Cereal
Play/Bath
1:00 Nap in Crib
2:30 Wake/Nurse
Play
4:45 Cat Nap
5:15 Wake/Nurse/Rice Cereal
8:00 Nurse
8:30 Bed

5 month, almost 6 month old girl (who has Down Syndrome):
Between 7-7:30am Wakes, Breastfeeds, plays
Between 8:30-9am Down for Nap
Between 10:30-11:30am Wakes, Breastfeeds, plays
Between 12:30-1:30pm Down for Nap
Between 2:30-3:30pm Wakes, Breastfeeds, plays
Between 4:30-5pm Nap(although is transitioning away from this nap)
Nurses between 5-6pm
Plays, Bedtime Rountine, Bath
Between 7-8pm Breastfeeds and bed
Dreamfeeds between 9:30-10:15, depending on the night.

Combo ages:4-6 month old girl
typical flexible routine, it varies by 20 or 30 minutes sometimes
6:45 wake, eat (6 oz. breastmilk)
7:30 long nap every day
10:30 eat (6 oz. breastmilk)
11:45 nap some days
2:15 eat (6 oz. breastmilk)
3:45 nap some days
6:00 eat (nurse)
7:00 nap most days
8:30 bath and bedtime routine
9:00 eat (6 oz. breastmilk)
9:15 bed, sleeps through the night
I find that her nap routine is the least consistent since I work part-time and different family members keep her on those days. Her bedtime, morning waketime, and feeding time is very consistent. I would like for her naptimes and activity times to be more consistent. After charting everything for several days as suggested by the Baby Whisperer, her naptimes really depend on who keeps her that day.

4-6 Months
Since 4 months (he will be 6 months this week) we have been working on transitioning to 3.5-hour schedule. After a few days of the longer schedule, he wakes up early from naps and we end up doing the 3-hour schedule above, so for the last little while we've just done the longer schedule 2-3 days a week which allows me to decide which days rather than him. Hopefully we'll do this all the time soon!
6am Nurse, then some playtime
7:15 Nap
9:30 Nurse, tummy time, playtime
11:00 Nap
1:00pm Nurse, tummy time, playtime (or errands)
2:30 Nap
4:30 Nurse, play time, family time
6:00 (sometimes a little later) Nap
(Sometimes he doesn't take the 4th nap, but most of the time he needs it.)
7:30 Nurse
Bedtime routine
Bed by 8:15

4-8 Months: 
8:00 wake, nurse
9:30 nap
11:30 wake, nurse
12:00 independent play time
1:30 nap
3:30 wake, nurse
5:30 nap
6:30 wake, nurse
8:00 nurse, bed

Related Posts on this Blog:

• McKenna Summary Week 22
• McKenna Summary Week 23
• McKenna Summary Week 24
• McKenna Summary Week 25
• McKenna Summary Week 26
• Brinley Baby Summary: Week 22 {5 Months Old}
• Brinley Baby Summary: Week 23
• Brinley Baby Summary: Week 24
• Brinley Baby Summary: Week 25
• Brinley Summary: Week 26 

See also:

  

   

An Honest Babywise Book Review

An Honest Babywise Book Review. What is On Becoming Babywise all about, how does the Babywise method work, and why all the controversy. 

On Becoming Babywise is a parenting method to help you get your baby sleeping well from an early age. Sleep is the main reason people seem to turn to Babywise. They want baby to take great naps and sleep through the night. Once you start to read the book, however, you realize the Babywise philosophy is so much more than just sleep. Sleep is great. Sleep is vital! But Babywise focuses on more than just sleep.

I used the Babywise method for all four of my children. All four were great sleepers as babies and are great sleepers today in the age ranges from child to teenager. Babywise is work, but it works.

How Does Babywise Work

On Becoming Babywise (affiliate) follows a basic eat/wake/sleep routine. Baby eats, then has awake time, then sleeps. This pattern is repeated all day long until bedtime happens. Baby typically eats every 2.5-3 hours initially until baby is older and eats every 4 hours. 

A core to the Babywise program is that it is parent directed. That means that the parent decides what is best for baby. There are guidelines to follow in the book, but the parent always makes the final call on what is best. 

As baby gets regular feedings each day and sleeps regularly, he will move toward sleeping through the night. Sleep begets sleep. The better rested the baby is over all, the more soundly baby will sleep. 

As you put baby to sleep, you want baby to be able to fall asleep independently of you or outside forces. This means baby goes down for naps and bedtime drowsy but awake. While Babywise is a book aimed at getting great sleep, it is not a sleep training book. It helps get baby sleeping well, so in that respect, it is a sleep training book, but it doesn't walk you through how to sleep train a baby. The parent is left to decide exactly how to go about training baby to sleep on her own. This is not a big problem in our modern day since the Internet offers so many resources, but this was a difficulty for many before the Internet filled that gap. Babywise is often equated with the Cry It Out method of sleep training, but there is no sleep training instruction in the book other than to say that baby might fuss a bit before naps if put down awake (see my post on 6 Rules for Using Cry It Out as a Baby Sleep Training Method for more on this method of sleep training).

The goal is that by 7-8 weeks old, baby will be sleeping 7-8 hours a night. Not all babies will do this at this age, but many will. Two of my four did (but I started Babywise at 9 weeks with my oldest, so he had no chance of meeting that milestone, and my second had reflux, so she was understandably delayed in her milestone achievements). Most babies are sleeping at least 7-8 hours by 12 weeks old. Then most move to 10-12 hours in the 4-6 month age range. This was true for all four of mine. 

Go here a full overview of what to expect to happen during a Babywise baby's first year. If you have more questions on what Babywise is all about, see my Babywise FAQs. 

What Else Is In Babywise

When I first read On Becoming Babywise, I was struck by how much of it just felt like common sense. It was the type of thing where I kept thinking, "Duh. Why didn't I think of that?" I was nodding and agreeing the whole way through. When I first read it, I was desperate for some sleep. My baby was not sleeping much and I could tell he was tired and I knew I was tired. I read it cover to cover in a couple of hours. It gave me direction in sleep but also in parenting in general.

I mentioned above that Babywise is about so much more than sleep. Babywise talks about family structure and how to make sure baby is a part of the family and not the center of the family. Babywise talks about feeding babies. Healthy sleep is directly impacted by feedings being adequate, so this topic needs to be covered. 

There is information on structuring the day and baby's routine. There is discussion on what to do when baby cries. There is help for the reflux baby and babies with colic. There is even help for moms with multiples! 

There are sample scenarios to help you get the idea of how to problem solve when you face your own unique situations in parenting your baby. There are tips for monitoring growth and even growth charts so you can track baby's growth and make sure it is on track. 

What About the Babywise Controversy

I have been writing this blog since 2007. I started it to help people with their questions so they could find success with Babywise. Over the years of writing, I have of course encountered more than my share of comments on the controversy of Babywise. By and large, most of the people who come to me with Babywise controversy have not actually ever read even part of the book, much less the entire thing. They have heard from their cousin's former roommate (or read in some Internet chat thread)  that Babywise says "xyz", and they are sure it says that because they heard it. But the book doesn't say those things in reality.

There are some who have actually read it, tried it, and not liked it. That is fine! There is no such thing as one right way to parent. The Babywise method won't be the favorite way of every person out there. Some take bits and pieces and some go in a fully different direction. 

The most common controversy thrown at Babywise is that it causes babies to not grow well. Anyone who says their child had growth issues because of Babywise frankly didn't read the book well, if at all. The book says at least 27 times to feed baby when baby is hungry, no matter what. It literally never says to to not feed your baby if your baby is hungry. Anyone who read the book and decided to not feed a hungry baby was not following Babywise. It was someone who read Babywise and tweaked it their own way to not feed a hungry baby. 

It is unfair to blame the book for that tweak. It is fine for someone to say, "When I tried to follow Babywise, I had a hard time because I couldn't figure out when my baby was really hungry. So it didn't work for me because I was unable to adjust the typical schedule when needed." It is unfair to say, "Babywise caused me to not feed my hungry baby." There is a difference. Of course no parent wants to take the blame for their hungry baby not being fed; it is easier to say it is a book's fault. It is simply mis-placed blame.

Read more on my takes on the Myths vs. Realities of Babywise here. 

Conclusion

I can't recommend Babywise and the other books in the series enough. I love Babywise! It worked wonders for all four of my children and I am not shy about saying Babywise saved my motherhood. Don't just take my word for it, see what these other 58 moms had to say about Babywise. If you are wondering if you should give the Babywise method a try or not, read the book and see what you think. If you find yourself agreeing with it, give it a try and see how it goes. If you read it and it isn't your thing, keep looking for the right method for you. If you need more information before deciding to take the time to read it, see my post The Gist of Babywise. It breaks down the book chapter by chapter. 

If you decide to get started on Babywise, be sure to check out my tips on How to Do On Becoming Babywise and my Sample Babywise Schedules. If you are getting started late, see my guide on How to Start Babywise Late. Babywise makes you baby wise. Babywise is works, but it works, and it works wonders. 

Find more Babywise Content on this Blog:

• Eat (all about the eat portion of the day)
• Wake (all about the playtime portion of the day)
• Sleep (all about naps and night sleep)

How To Do On Becoming Babywise

How To Do On Becoming Babywise. A full step-by-step guide written by the Babywise Mom.

When you first read On Becoming Babywise, you are pumped. You are so excited to get started and have a perfect, amazing sleeper who is on a predictable routine. Life is going to be smooth-sailing. Yay for a manual!

Then the work begins and you realize that babies aren't quite as easy and straightforward in real life as they are when we write about them. It can be hard to remember all that you read and know what to do with your little one when he doesn't respond exactly as you expected to.

9 Steps To Do On Becoming Babywise

The pattern of the Babywise baby's day consists of three phases: eat, wake, sleep. This means your baby will wake up, eat, have some awake time, then sleep. Then wake up, eat, have some awake time, sleep. This pattern will continue from the time your baby gets up in the morning until the time your baby goes to bed for the night. The basic things to focus on are:

1. Have a consistent morning wake-up time
2. Follow the eat/wake/sleep cycle 
3. Have your baby eat at regular intervals
4. Make sure your baby takes full feedings
5. Time naps correctly
6. Put baby down for naps awake
7. Have a consistent bedtime
8. Do a Dreamfeed
9. Always remember you are the parent

Each of these points is discussed in detail below. This post contains affiliate links.

Your Babywise Baby Should Have a Consistent Morning Wake-up Time

This point is listed first because it is one of the most important things for you to focus on. Many people underestimate the importance of this and start the day whenever seems to work on that day. If mom is tired, she wants to let baby sleep in. If baby was up a lot in the night, mom doesn't want to get baby up in the morning. I get those things. I do. I have had four babies. I know what those things feel like. If you decide to ignore this step, you will not have Babywise success as quickly as you would if you followed it. If your baby just isn't sleeping as well as you expected or hoped and aren't following this step, implement it immediately! 

In On Becoming Babywise, the authors tell you to have a consistent morning wake-up time within 30 minutes. So if you ideally want baby to start the day at 7 AM each day, you would range from 6:45-7:15 or 7-7:30 or 6:30-7:00...notice the "OR" thrown in there. Pick a range and stick to it. See What Time To Start Baby's Day if you need help deciding on a target morning wake-up time for your baby.

When I am establishing consistency with my babies, my morning wake-up time is as consistent as possible. To the minute. If I want each day to be predictable and I want baby to adjust to life and get on a routine, I find super consistency works the fastest. You are getting baby's body used to waking up at the same time and then eating at the same time each morning. Flexibility can come once the routine is well-established.

Troubleshooting Morning Wake-up Time Help

If your baby is waking too early in the morning, see Sleep Problems: Morning Wake-up Time is Too Early. If your baby is consistently waking in the 5-6 AM hour and you aren't sure how to handle morning wake-time in that case, see 5-6 AM "Night" Wakings. If you just really want or need your baby to wake up later in the morning, see How To Get Your Child To Sleep In Later In The Morning.

Your Babywise Baby Should Eat, Then Play, Then Sleep

The eat/wake/sleep cycle is central to the Babywise system. Your baby eats and then plays. That means that you are keeping baby awake for the feeding because you aren't nursing or feeding baby to sleep. This means that baby eats a full feeding because he isn't just eating until drowsy, falling asleep, and then being put to bed. If baby falls asleep, baby is woken up to continue eating.

This also means that when baby goes down for a nap, baby goes down awake because baby wasn't nursed or fed to sleep. These are all discussed more below, so for the purose of this section, we will simply state that you want to have baby eat, then play, then sleep. For benefits of this cycle pattern read this post.

Your Babywise Baby Should Eat at Regular Intervals

You want your baby to eat at regular intervals. These exact intervals will change as your baby gets older. With a new baby, you will aim for baby eating every 2.5-3 hours. You might have times baby eats sooner than 2.5 hours. You always want to feed your baby when your baby is hungry, as Babywise points out (literally at least 27 times). Your baby will eat more often when he has a growth spurt or if you do some cluster feeding in the evening. Other than these exceptions, aim for feedings happening every 2.5-3 hours.

As a newborn, your baby will need to eat about 8-10 times per day. Take your morning wake-up time and plan to feed baby every 2.5-3 hours until the last feeding before bedtime.

Your Babywise Baby Should Take Full Feedings

One vital step to ensure baby can make it 2.5-3 hours in between feedings is to make sure baby takes full feedings at each feeding. See Feeding a Newborn: How Long is a Feed for help knowing how long a feeding should last.

Newborns are not easy to keep awake to eat. Read these posts for help with that:

• Sleepy Newborns
• Sleepy Newborns: Work for 10 Minutes
• Nursing A Newborn: Keep Baby Awake!

Watch your baby's diaper output to have a good idea if baby is eating enough or not. In the early days, you want 5-7 wet diapers and you don't want the urine to be dark yellow or concentrated. You also want to be aware of poopy diapers each day. And of course, baby should be growing and getting bigger over time. 

You Need to Time Baby's Naps Correctly

Your Babywise baby needs naps in each cycle. Eat, wake, sleep. Most naps should be 1.5-2 hours long. Some babies will take 2.5 hour naps. Some naps will be only 45-60 minutes (this is often true for the evening nap).

In order to have naps last long enough, you need to time naps correctly. See How To Calculate Waketime Length to know how to track how long your baby is awake. It isn't always easy figuring out the exact length of time your baby needs to be awake. It is usually less time than you would guess. I have a cheat sheet for you in The Cornerstone for Good Naps. If you can get naps timed correctly, your baby will take nice solid naps.

Timing isn't everything. The sleep environment needs to be set up for successful sleep. You want to have a sleep routine. If you need nap help, I have an entire book on naps.

Your Babywise Baby Needs To Self-Soothe

You want to put your baby down for naps when he is awake. A huge part of the success of Babywise is that Babywise babies can self-soothe, meaning the baby can fall asleep without being rocked or using other sleep props. Every 45 minutes, a baby transitions to a new cycle of of sleep, and at that transition, a baby easily can wake up. A baby who can self-soothe will settle back to sleep unless there is some other factor that wakes baby up (hunger, loud noises, discomfort, sickness, etc.). Read What is a Sleep Transition (and How Does it Impact Naps for more on the topic.

This does not mean you have to do cry it out in order to be successful at Babywise (read Sleep Training According to Babywise for more on that). It just means you need to somehow get your baby to be able to sleep on her own. My personal favorite way to sleep train a baby is not a cry it out way. I use the Four S's for sleep training. I have done cry it out and have great tips for you if you want to go that route. Here are some helpful sleep training posts:

• 5 Sleep Training Tips

• The Big List of Sleep Training Resources

• CIO Bootcamp--Revised and Updated

• Everything You Need to Know About Cry It Out
• How to Use the Extinction Method for Sleep Training

Also, there are times you will forego falling asleep alone in order to get the nap in so you can preserve the eat/wake/sleep pattern. Red up on My Sleep Hierarchy for Newborns for details. 

Your Babywise Baby Needs a Consistent Bedtime

A consistent bedtime is almost as important as a consistent morning wake-up time. When choosing your bedtime, aim for it to be 10-12 hours before your morning wake-up time. I personally go for 12 hours. So if we are waking up at 7 AM, I go for bedtime to be between 7 PM-7:30 PM. In setting your goal times for daily feedings, make sure they are spaced through the day so you can land at your desired bedtime.

If you are cluster feeding, bedtime might be a little later than 12 hours before. If you cluster feed at 6 PM and then 8 PM, with a Dreamfeed at 10 PM (see that section below), treat either 6 PM or 8 PM as your bedtime. Bedtime is not your last feeding of the day. It is your long-term bedtime goal. For more on bedtime, see:

• Bedtime 
• Consistent Bedtime
• Strategies for Making Bedtime Smoother

Your Babywise Baby Needs a Dreamfeed

Most Babywise babies will need a Dreamfeed, or late evening feed. Before we get too far into it, let me say that some babies just don't respond well to the dreamfeed. If that is your baby, it is okay. The dreamfeed is mostly there for your benefit. It is so you can get one last feeding in before you go to bed so baby will sleep longer at night. If you want to go to bed at 8 PM or the dreamfeed just isn't helping things, don't stress it. Just don't compare your non-dreamfeeding baby to the dreamfeeding baby. Let me add, I find the dreamfeed so valuable that I put a lot of time and effort into getting my babies to do it even though it wasn't easy. It is worth putting some effort in to see if you can make it work.

The dreamfeed is beneficial because it gives baby one last feeding before you go to bed. That means baby sleeps more when you are also sleeping. 

The dreamfeed is also beneficial because it helps you make sure you get enough feedings in during a 24 hour period. When you get baby up this last time for the day, you can be sure you have enough feedings. This helps the following day be more predictable. If baby didn't get enough feedings the day before, she might wake more often the next day seeking more food. A dreamfeed helps you keep things more consistent.

Please note, the dreamfeed should be treated like a night feeding. There is no waketime after this feeding. You try to keep baby as sleepy as possible while still feeding baby. Read more about the dreamfeed in these posts:

• Dreamfeed FAQs

• Dream Feed and Babywise

Remember Babywise is Parent Directed

One of my favorite things about Babywise and what sets it above other similar books for me is the focus on it being parent directed. Each baby is different and an individual. There are guidelines that work for most babies, but there are always outliers and always tweaks your baby might need. Your baby might have a faster metabolism and need to eat more often than the average baby. Your baby might have reflux and need intervention to sleep well. Your baby might have really high sleep needs and need to take longer naps than the average baby. There are countless caveats that can come up. Babywise can work for every baby because you can change things as needed to make it work for your individual child. You are the parent. Understand the why behind the guidelines given and find ways to accomplish that why that works best for your little one. 

Do You Need the Book?

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Related Babywise Posts:

• Your Babywise Baby First Year Overview
• Any Honest Babywise Book Review
• The Gist of Babywise
• Babywise Theory and Information