BabyWise

Mark's cousin told us about this book years before we had Cohen. I read it while I was pregnant. It is actually completely boring and the authors repeat themselves quite often (seriously - it's like they copied and pasted entire paragraphs). However, Mark and I try it with Cohen and treat the book as guidelines instead of using it as the Bible of Cohen's Sleeping and Eating Schedule. It totally works for him!!!

For about the first two weeks, we didn't worry about schedules. When Cohen acted hungry, we fed him. As the book suggests, we did work on full feedings. This, of course, was hard because babies like to fall asleep while they are eating. We did everything we could to keep him awake. Cohen naturally put himself on a 3 hour feeding schedule. Our routine went like this: eat (45 - 60 minutes), waketime (15-20 minutes), nap (about 1 1/2 hours). That repeated every 3 hours throughout the day. At night, all we did was take out the waketime. So, right after eating, Cohen would go straight back in bed. He started dropping middle of the night feedings quickly and slept through the night by 2 months.

One of the best things that the book taught us was to put Cohen down before he is asleep. So for naps, we would rock him until we saw his eyes starting to close. Then we'd put him in bed and let him fall asleep in his crib. This took A LOT of practice and we listened to him crying in bed for the first couple of weeks. We would go in and check on him every couple of minutes - pat his belly, kiss him on the forehead and then leave the room. He eventually got it.

We, of course, altered the schedule as he got older. For example, now Cohen takes 2 full naps and is either eating or playing the rest of the day. He now sleeps about 12 hours at night. He usually wakes up earlier than we want to get him, but he just stays in bed and talks to himself...it's hilarious.

There is a lot of controversy regarding this book. Some people love it. While others say that it has been associated with "failure to thrive" cases. Here is what I say... Read it. If you like it, try it. If you hate it, throw it in the recycle bin. If you've seen Cohen, he is anything but "failure to thrive." In fact, he is the opposite. He's a happy, healthy, chunky monkey that is scheduled just like his mommy.

Share with us your favorite baby book and why.