On Becoming Baby Wise: Giving Your Infant the Gift of Nighttime Sleep

I'm so thankful for this book! It's a common-sense way to meet your child's eating and sleeping needs while keeping some order and predictability in your life. Babywise has played a huge role in how much I've loved motherhood, how happy and healthy my children are, how successful we've been in breastfeeding, and how strong my marriage is. I'm more confident in my parenting and I understand my girls' behavior and communication.Yes, having a baby changes your life. No, having a baby doesn't mean you have to be miserable, sleep-deprived, showerless, and disconnected from your spouse. Babywise is a precious tool to help your children thrive and you enjoy parenthood (and non-parenthood things too!).Babywise recommends full feeds on eat-wake-sleep cycles. Doing full feeds means that baby will naturally go longer, more predictable stretches between nursing sessions. Separating nursing from sleep breaks that difficult eat-to-sleep association, meaning baby can more easily learn to fall asleep independently. Maintaining predictable cycles during the day helps baby get enough daytime calories in and save the longer stretches of sleep for overnight, which ultimately work together to lead to him sleeping through the night. Age-appropriate waketime between nursing and naps makes so baby isn't over- or -undertired, so he can fall asleep easily and take full naps. Baby sleeps in his own bed independently instead of commandeering the parents'. The whole philosophy works together and just plain makes sense. :)Let's clear up some misconceptions:-Babywise doesn't lead to failure to thrive or death. Babywise isn't condemned by the AAP. It clearly says to feed a hungry baby, to ensure the recommended daily number of feedings, to watch baby's hunger cues and never go strictly off the clock, etc. The full AAP release on the book states the AAP doesn't take a position for or against it and quotes multiple doctors on both sides of the issue.-Babywise isn't CIO. It is just an approach to baby's eating and sleeping routines. It is pro-independent sleep but actually doesn't advocate CIO or a specific sleep training method (or sleep training at all). Some moms who do Babywise also choose to sleep train but those are separate issues. Don't let uncertainty about or opposition to CIO keep you from this resource.-Babywise isn't incompatible with breastfeeding. I have many friends who have nursed and done Babywise, including extended nursing. I nursed twins for more than two years, doing Babywise the entire time. Science and anecdote are both on Babywise's side.I am thankful literally every single day that a friend introduced me to Babywise while I was pregnant. Please read this amazing book!

I have used these methods with my kids and even with foster babies. Gives me and anyone watching my kids for me a peace of mind as to what they want and what they need. Babies are helpless and rely completely on their parents. That in and of itself can be overwhelming and during those early days it can be tricky knowing what baby wants. They say a mothers intuition just knows. That's true some of the time but we don't always know. This book gave just the right tools to help bring structure, clarity and sense to help baby get on a routine yet allow mom and dad to asses the situation and do what they think is best for baby. My babies were all so happy and the word I heard the most was ALERT. Soaking in life. My babies thrived and the principles actually helped bring me a peace of mind and confidence as I cared and bonded with my baby. My babies didn't sleep through the night as early as the book says is possible but that's just us. They really did fall into a routine with lots of consistency and the night time sleep followed between 4 and 6 months. Everyone was happy. 😊

A must-have for anyone who wants to feel like they've failed as a parent when baby is a mere few weeks old!Okay, maybe that's a smidge dramatic. I know this book works wonders for some and perhaps I'm just not "Type-A" enough, but I felt like it removed intuition and baby's personality/individuality from the parenting equation. There are some great takeaways if you don't read TOO much into it, but I really did not like how it made me feel as a new mom (which was primarily like complete trash). I think it's worth a try, especially if you want some guidance regarding your baby's sleep schedule or are having a hard time finding what works for your baby, but I struggled from information overload as a new mom and did not find the book to be anything but more stress-inducing. I started it after baby was born and it was clear pretty quickly that it wasn't going to work well for me or my little one. We're doing okay at 4 months despite not following the rules outlined in the book and I'm pretty confident he's not ruined for life.

A friend of mine suggested this book before our first baby arrived. I decided to give it a tey as her six month old baby was extremely happy, and was sleeping through the night by 10 weeks old. I am beyond thankful that I purchased this book, and I have purchased additional copies for every new parent I know. It’s basic, it’s encouraging, and if you follow the simple steps of “feed, wake, sleep“ your baby will Magically fall into a predictable cycle, and sleep through the night. Are used this general philosophy for both my children, and both are happy, well-adjusted, and were sleeping 7+ hours a night by eight weeks. I’m going to

I have two of the older versions of this book, and loving the updated version. I have passed copies of this book along to friends as it has been so helpful as a new mom. I really like the section that gives you sample schedules for each age/month so you have a guideline on what a babywise day looks like. This form of parenting and nursing worked for me, even with having issues with milk supply and mastitis! My daughter was sleeping through the night in a few months and has been an excellent napper and sleeper since. Even if you’re a busy mom or a working mom, there are many principles that you can apply from this book even if you’re not at home and able to manage naps and feeding all day as the book suggests.

Soo informative, really helps and understands baby sleep. Our son is 9 weeks & sleeps through the night! Thank you so much!

Ich habe nach etwa 40% des Buches das Lesen abgebrochen. Es liest sich teilweise, als ließen sich der Rhythmus eines Babies innerhalb der ersten 12 Wochen eintrainieren. "Durchschlafen? Mit unserer Methode kein Problem!" Oder "Der Rhythmus sollte lauten: Schlafen - Stillen - Wache Zeit. Sie stillen vor dem Schlafen? Damit fällt quasi alles auseinander." Mein Baby schläft jedoch abseits von Spaziergängen nur beim Stillen ein. Gerade für Mütter mit ihrem ersten Kind kann ein solcher Text also das Grübeln und Zweifeln auslösen.Der Austausch zu dem, was ich dort gelesen habe und was ich andererseits bei anderen Müttern mitbekomme und was meine Hebamme zu diesen Empfehlungen gesagt hat, hat mich dazu gebracht, das Lesen dieses Buchs einzustellen. Es hat mich mehr verunsichert, als dass es mir geholfen hat.

Apparently this new edition is better laid out than previous editions, so I bought this version.This book was well laid out and fast to read for a parent that doesn’t have much time to sit with a book. It starts with a plan for a newborn, then adapts it based on the age of the child. Wish I’d found this book sooner, but I jumped in with my 6 month old and found it was still very practical; it didn’t matter that I hadn’t started with a newborn.Its premise is to set up a feeding routine for day and night, which allows alert time then sleep cycles to fall into place naturally -with an acceptable level of crying being normal at sleep times, which is often baby’s way of getting their wiggles out.I found it way less stressful to start with the feeding routine vs other sleep training I’d done which jumped right into nighttime training. (This is my 3rd baby.). So double thumbs up!

I hated this book. So basically, it assumes that if you follow their method, your baby will automatically be sleeping through the night and have 1-2 hour naps. There are no practical how-to’s...they just assume it will magically work, and anyone who has a baby knows that doesn’t make any sense!For example, my baby’s naps are never more than 40 minutes. All of their troubleshooting section assumes that your baby is already on their schedule, so if their method doesn’t work...you’re out of luck.I also found this book very judgemental of anyone who isn’t their version of what a perfect parent should be (especially single parents), follows a different parenting style or whose baby isn’t sleeping through the night by 7-10 weeks (which is ridiculous!). Ugh.I wish I hadn’t wasted my money on this book.

Dont wait until you have the baby to read this book. Be prepared and read it before! Will save you a huge headache!I was pregnant with my first child and to be honest had no idea what to expect, but I knew the idea of feeding my baby several times in the night for a year or two sounded like hell (so many of my friends do this!). This book was awesome! Gave me good insight and wisdom how to help my baby sleep through the night. My first slept through at 3 months, my second slept through the night from 5 weeks. I give this book a lot of that credit for the foundational principals. I never let my babies 'cry it out' but I helped them be independant sleepers. Highly recommend!!