Baby whisperer routine

[Fooman 10]

Have bought the baby whisperer sleep book with a view to starting the routine with my 10 week old later this week and would be interested to hear from anyone who has tried this. Does the EASY routine work, did you tweak it at all and what other ideas do you put into it?

[bluecanary 13]

Hi Fooman,

 

I bought this book, read it, then ignored some of it and used other bits (have done this with other books too - e.g. the notorious Gina Ford!). I found the stuff on understanding babies' sleep cycles particularly useful, and I think the idea of getting in a loose routine (e.g. food followed by activity, followed by sleep) to be a good one, particularly as our life is a bit chaotic for highly structured Gina Ford type scheduling! Luckily didn't need to resort to all the tedious methods recommended for getting a baby to sleep as DS was already pretty good at nodding off by himself (at least some of the time!).

 

The problem with babycare 'experts' is that although I've no doubt their intentions are good, they can come over as a bit evangelical, and can be overly disparaging about their rivals' ideas. I would say this is definitely as worth a look as any other babycare manual, but wouldn't advocate sticking to it rigidly - just take away the bits that seem useful/sensible to you and take the rest with a pinch of salt.

[gloriagrace 10]

I used the EASY routine with my daughter and it worked a treat for us. She slept through from 10 weeks old. I also had the Gina Ford one and took bits from hers but it was far too rigid to stick to for me. I wrote her routine down for a couple of weeks and that helped and take note of what she says about your baby's personality my daughter was a 'spirited' baby and needed a routine or she was a nightmare. These help books are not for everyone but like Bluecanary says adjust it to yours and you baby's liking and use your instincts. xx

[Corbyn 10]

What does the EASY routine consist of?

[gloriagrace 10]

If I can remember its E-Eating A-Activity S-Sleeping Y-You.

[Fooman 10]

Corbyn, its all about Eat Activity Sleep and You.

 

I was feeding littlein and then he was going to sleep but last couple of days I've tried eat, play and then sleep and he's playing better and then going to sleep a lot easier as he's more tired.

 

We just made the mistake (although right decision at the time) to have him in bed with us for the last couple of weeks and now we want to get him back in his cot and think we're going to have a battle on our hands but we'll get there.

 

I got him in his cot for his morning nap today and he stayed there for nearly 30 minutes so I was impressed with that.

 

Going to keep an eye on his times for eating, sleeping and play more this week to see how we go on from here.

 

You're all right though that whatever you read you need to adapt to your own needs. No two babies are the same so its ok for someone to say how to do something but if it doesn't fit in with your family or your baby what you meant to do.

[Corbyn 10]

Thanks for clarifying. My daughter isn't really in a daytime sleep routine at all although she is good at bedtime. I think I would struggle to follow a book as because I have my son as well, my daughter has always ended up working around stuff we do already. I look back at how rigidly I stuck to things with my son (like never disrupting his day time sleeps) and how different it is now I have 2 children!

 

I also used to think I'd never have a baby in my bed. Now I realise that was because I had an easy baby! My daughter sleeps until 5.30ish wakes for a bf, falls back to sleep and stays in bed with us. I know if I try to put her back in the cot she will wake up and I need that extra hour!

 

I think follow a routine if it works for you but otherwise just go with the flow.

[Henrysmum 10]

We swear by it. It really helps you to understand your babys signals and its helped us get into a routine that suits the whole family.

[lauren84 11]

I think ideas are good to help you along but all this textbook thing seems pretty bizarre! It is life not the army! Plus kids are little people no two are the same!!!

 

I do think that whilst a baby is feeding regularly then routine is just their routine and you make it easier for yourself along the way??? Anyone agree??

 

Being tied up with a too rigid routine must make you so het up with the next thing on the 'schedule' that you miss things you would like to notice.

[Fooman 10]

To be honest we're on a schedule already. Feeds 6am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, 10pm, 2am, 6am etc etc its just the sleeping that we need to sort out.

 

He naps for 40 mins morning and afternoon and about 1.5 hours lunchtime but this tends to be in my arms rather than his cot.

 

Also he's been sleeping in with us in our arms so need to sort this out too. Last couple of nights we've swaddled him and he's been next to me on the mattress but on his own and slept quite well. I've also tried the shush-pat method for his day time naps and he's gone down quite well in his cot just for only 30 mins so hoping upping his activity sessions during the day will mean he sleeps longer.

 

I'm just dreading the night time and trying to get him through the night asleep and without the 2am feed.

[Bexstars 10]

if at 10 weeks old your baby is only waking for a feed once during the night I would say thats pretty good going! I know its really hard being woken at 2am, my son woke at that time too till he was a year old but remembering that they have such tiny tummies and are likley to need the 2am feed for some time to come can take the pressure off trying to get them sleeping through. We didnt think about trying a routine until baby was around 4 months old, and then we found that we had fallen into a natural one

[charlie9865 10]

I had this book and the easy routine worked wounders for me. After having a boy and him not sleeping through till he was 3 and constanly clingy.

I decided when we had our daughter I would do it differently, I did this routine and she has slept through or a long time she goes to bed at 6 and wakes at 7 half 7.

 

I also found the gina for book contented little babies good to.