9.26.2008

Why didn't they mention this in the pre-natal classes?

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I've been trying to put Connor on a 'schedule' of sorts for the past 2 days, based on the book "The Baby Whisperer" by Tracy Hogg. I had heard of this book a few years ago from friends who were having babies at the time.

Simply put, the schedule is "E.A.S.Y." - Eat, Activity, Sleep, You (time for You). By giving the baby activity after eating, this prevents the baby from associated sleeping after a feeding (and being unable to sleep unless fed). Also by keeping this E.A.S.Y. order, the parent has a much better gauge of why baby is crying. The schedule does not need to be kept to any specific time, just keep the order the same.

Aside from this scheduled routine, I have been trying to put Connor down for his daytime sleeps in his co-sleeper. I suppose they are naps but he's sleeping so much still that I don't feel they are naps. I've found that Connor likes to be swaddled lightly and then I can gently rock or pat him to sleep and lay him down super gently onto his co-sleeper.

If baby stirs or cries, you can give him a few minutes to see if he recovers himself; if not, then you should pick up baby and soothe him, then try to put baby down again. This cycle could repeat numerous times (Tracy Hogg says it could be 20, 40, or even 100 times), but luckily Connor seems to be doing okay with it (I return to soothe him less than 10 times I think, and this morning I haven't had to soothe him once! Linds can do it too and I think it makes him feel a lot more helpful with baby.

So far I think the E.A.S.Y. routine, combined with the new sleep routine, has helped greatly. Yesterday at my Mom and Baby Fitness class, Connor was able to stay laying by himself for 45 minutes! And then, because of the E.A.S.Y. routine, I knew that it was time for sleep. After a quick diaper change, I swaddled him up again, patted him a bit, and he quickly knodded off!

I wish I had read this book earlier, it would have saved me some frustrations. The book does have some annoyances, such as being written with British sayings of "luv" and "dear" all the time; as well, at times Tracy makes it sound like you've done a horrible injustice to the baby if you haven't yet been able to do certain things with the baby. But as with all books you just have to process the information yourself and decide what will or won't work for you. The book also lists the signs to look for that would indicate what is wrong with Baby, ie. hungry or just tired?, which I found handy and interesting.

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