Thursday, April 16, 2009

Baby-Wise? I don't think so...

For those of you who have read the book On Becoming Baby Wise by Ezzo and Bucknam, I hope you understand what I am about to say. If you haven't read the book, I would suggest reading it, however be prepared to feel offended. I must say that I read this book feeling like a failure as a mother and a wife. I basically should never nurse or rock my baby to sleep or sleep in the same bed as my baby. Now, I understand this. I know it is not a good habit to nurse or rock a baby to sleep, but I also do not feel that doing this is going to cause them to have behavioral problems when they get older as the authors would have you to believe. Of course I understand the risks of sleeping in the same bed as my baby. I am not an idiot. In my defense, he always starts the night in his bassinet, but sometime in the middle of the night he ends up in bed with us. To tell you the truth I am on auto-pilot in the middle of the night and often do not even remember picking him up and putting him in bed with us. I'm on survival mode.

Now, this book says that sleep is such a natural thing and that by 9 weeks a baby should be sleeping through the night. I would love this, but because I am such a loser and have basically done everything wrong according to the authors, Jacob will probably not be sleeping through the night until he is 2. There are some good points to the book, but I would suggest that a sleep-deprived new mother NOT read this book. Trust me, you won't like it. Read it while you are still pregnant for some good tips, or after your baby turns two - you will at least get a good laugh out of it.

3 comments:

Susanne said...

I have read babywise and use some principals from the book. I found the book to be helpful, but the other books that were helpful for me were "Good Night Sleep Tight" and "The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems" Check those books out, they should be more help to you. I personally use a lot of what babywise mentioned but still rocked my son before bed until he was 4 months old. And he is a great sleeper. Just go with your mommy instincts and do what works for you and your family!

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memoriesbybrandi@yahoo.com said...

you goofy girl. you have to do what works best for you. everyone and every book has varying opinions. what works for one may not work for another. YOU ARE A GREAT MOM and A GREAT WIFE. You do an awesome job and your children are a joy to be with. You will do fine and eventually you all will sleep through the night, just give it time. Don't be hard on yourself. Celebrate all the wonderful things! If snuggling your baby at night is all you have to worry about girl, you are just fine.

TulipGirl said...

While Babywise "fits" with some babies, the general ideas in it are not backed by actual research or what is known about infant growth and development. Don't feel like a failure because your baby is normal! The authors are making a lot of money off of mothers, promoting ideas they are committed to, but ideas that are not backed by science.