Thursday, June 9, 2011

Baby Boot Camp





Recently baby g entered baby boot camp and subsequently brought d and I along for the ride.

Sending a baby through a boot camp sounding a little rough? Well don't worry it isn't as bad as it sounds although there may be a little delay of gratification involved there isn't much pain experienced.

I purchased a book titled "12 Hours Sleep by 12 Weeks." Sounds awesome right? I thought so too.

In the book the author lays out a four step program to wean your baby off night feedings and get them to sleep 12 hours!

After reading a good portion of the book I have started implementing some of the techniques and steps the author lays out.

Ironically I haven't actually started on step one because I had to work baby g up to being ready for step one.

Now here comes my dilemma. . .the first step of the program is to start to encourage your baby to eat every 4 hours once they reach 8 weeks. Well baby g was still eating every 2 hours at 6 weeks old. This is where the prep to even start the program begins. For the past two weeks I have been pushing baby g to eat every 3 hours in preparation to move to eating every 4 hours and we are just now really falling into the 3 hour schedule.

Now all that being said here is my problem, being the concerned parent that I am I asked the pediatrician whether or not it was ok to be pushing baby g to eat every four hours. She said that babies really should be eating every 2-3 hours. Then in the literature they gave me it says he should be eating every 3-4 hours. Go figure.

The idea behind the methodology is that you aren't decreasing the amount of food your baby gets you are simply condensing it. Makes sense to me. I am still leery of sending baby g through the rest of boot camp however as I worry it would be detrimental to his health.

What is your opinion? Boot camp or no boot camp?

4 comments:

natalie leavitt said...Best Blogger Tips[Reply to comment]Best Blogger Templates

as nice as sleep is...no boot camp! i say feed him when he's hungry. maybe when he's a little older stretch out his feedings. i still feed carder ever 3ish hours and he's almost 8 months...but then again, each baby is different. and no matter what i say you're the mom and you know what's best for your little man. hope it all works out for you.

Jessie, Garan, and Sammy said...Best Blogger Tips[Reply to comment]Best Blogger Templates

I don't know what his night sleeping schedule is, but if you are getting 6-8 hours of straight sleep at night then I say skip the boot camp. All I know is that the first time Sammy slept for a long time and I didn't feed her I was sooo sore from missing a night feeding and sleep seemed overrated. I agree with Natalie. You're the mom and you should trust your judgement. Good luck and I am excited to hear what you decide.

Amy said...Best Blogger Tips[Reply to comment]Best Blogger Templates

I'm all about schedules - but I don't know about this boot camp thing. I used baby wise. Most baby wise babies are sleeping through the night by 8 weeks and that is how it worked out for us. The idea behind baby wise is to teach your baby how to put himself to sleep with out needing a crutch like nursing, taking a bottle, having a special blankie or toy or anything like that. You give your baby the best gift you can ever give - SLEEP. My mom never put any of us kids on schedules and nursed us through the night for a long time - I still have trouble sleeping. That is why I really wanted to do baby wise. Now Freddy is 2 - he puts himself to sleep and always has for naps and at bedtime. Seriously, you just lay them down and walk out. They happily go right to sleep and wake up rested and so happy. p.s. I do think newborns should be eating every 2-3 hours BUT every baby is different. If you have doubts about the boot camp thing that might be your mother's intuition that it's not right for your baby.

Laralyn said...Best Blogger Tips[Reply to comment]Best Blogger Templates

I agree with everyone else here. There is a lot of great literature out there that promises a lot of great things, especially when it comes to raising kids, but at the end of the day you have to remember that they have never met you or your child. Every person is unique and no program will work the same for everyone, and that includes babies. If you ever feel something is not working for your child you should never feel guilty about walking away or making changes to suit your family. As for sleeping specifically, I think if you can get them to sleep 8 hours consistently, count your blessings! 12 sounds a little unrealistic to me (although I'd sure go for 12 hours of sleep at night) but I'm sure there are those that it works for. My mom gave me great advice when I had Kaylee, she said to wake her up and have her eat as often as possible during the day and make night feedings as short and infrequent as possible and pretty soon they learn on their own that day is for eating and night is for sleeping. Worked great with Kaylee, but again, every kid and every mom is different. And luckily none of us has to be perfect. Just find what works for you!