Baby Wise method

Hello all,

My daughter, now 2, was sleeping through the night at 7 1/2 weeks old and never stopped. Thanks to Baby Wise. She would go down at about 8pm, I would wake her to feed at 10-10:30 pm and right back in bed. Then she would sleep until 6:30 - 7:00am. We cut out the 10pm bottle at about 3 months.

You can see why I am a big believer in Baby Wise. I went back to work well rested each day at 12 weeks.

But I am wondering if anyone has used this on twins? It seems like it would be harder with 2 in the same bedroom. Did it work? Any special rules? How old were they when they slept through the night?

By the way, I am only 12 weeks pregnant right now with twins. But all the studying I can do on this in advance, the better!

Thanks!
Jenni

 

What is Baby Wise? I googled it and it seems like it's a book, but it's the first time I hear about it. Can you explain how it works a bit? I am really interested since I have twin babies . They will be 4 months on the 3rd and they still don't sleep through the night. They had some times when one would sleep through the night and the other would wake and once in a while both will sleep through the night - from about 10 PM to 6-7 AM. Once it happened that they both slept through the night on 2 consecutive nights, but for some reason now they started to wake up again at 3-4 AM almost every night. I am not pushing them to sleep through the night since they are still young, but your post sounds impressive - with sleeping through the night at 7,5 weeks. How did you do it? Please explain a bit if you can.

Thanks,

Monica

PS I am sure other moms will explain this to you also, twins have to tendency to not wake each other up, even if they sleep in the same room or crib. I kept mine in a pack and play in our bedroom for the first 3 weeks and I remember times when one would scream and the other will sleep peacefully 2 feet away. Now they are in their room in separate cribs but they rarely wake each other up, maybe twice a month or so. At least this is what I see with mine, others may be different.

 

Also, I forgot to say it in my previous post, congratulations on your twins!!! I hope you have an easy pregnancy. Good luck!

 

Well it is nice to hear that they don't wake each other up! That would seem impossible if they did!

Baby Wise is a book by Ezzo and Bucknam. Very detailed but the basic concept is all about scheduling and "eat-play-sleep". Which means your baby should always have awake play time after eating and be put to sleep while awake. No rocking to sleep, no feeding them to sleep with bottle in mouth. They are put in the crib while eyes are still open. That way they learn how to soothe themselves to sleep. If you think about it...if you cuddle, rock, feed your baby to get them to fall asleep...then when they wake up at night, they don't know how to fall asleep without you. We had a video monitor. And occassionally, I would see her wake up, roll around and fall back asleep on her own. The other huge part is scheduling. You have to be somewhat of a schedule freak. People may even think you are obsessive at points. But it is so worth it! I was the one laughing when it worked and the people that doubted me were amazed.

I don't mean to sound like I am bragging...and I know that with twins that are typically preemies, the process may take longer. But everyone I know (total of 8 kids now) that used this religiously it worked! And all had their babies sleeping by 3 months (1 was at 4 mo).

 

I did use Baby Wise for all of my children to some extent. I love the book and totally contribute it to helping me find a schedule that worked for my son and my girls. My son was sleeping through the night by 6 weeks, however my girls were a totally different story...wasn't until 5 months for them STTN. I think that the book has some excellent things to guide a parent to finding a schedule that works for them and their children. However there are some things in the book that I totally disregarded concerning the girls because it just didn't work for them. IMO, there is just so many factors that play into twins versus a singleton that some things in that book are just better fitted to a singleton than twins...but that is just my opinion. Like the whole don't rock them to sleep...when you got two who are screaming to the top of their lungs and you haven't slept for two days, rocking them to sleep is just fine, and so is letting them fall asleep in the swing. My main goal with two was to keep my sanity and be there for my son, and if rocking them to sleep helped me to do that, then that is what I did.

 

I read Babywise and took some principles from it. I'm more of a Babywhisperer following and the EASY method (Eat, Activity, Sleep, You) which is the same order of things in Babywise...definitely believe in that point. I follow a routine, not really a schedule although we do have consistent morning wake-up and bed times....the exact timing of things in between is flexible to a point. My twins did start STTN at 11 weeks although they still have a 10pm dream feed. We were waking them at 3am for a feed and it was actually what I read in Babywise that had me thinking they might not need it. In 3 nights it was gone. But I don't not feed them (within reason) to stick to a schedule. I'd say it's worth a try!