Here’s my first attempt at a real life post.

Naptime around here, for the past two weeks, has been anything but restful. Well, it’s been restful for the first 45 minutes and then it is chaos.

Before I go any further, let me say that I am a Babywise mom, which surprises even me!

Before having a child (key words there), I was under the impression that Babywise people put their baby on a strict schedule and let their baby cry hours on end in their crib.

This, however, couldn’t be further than the truth. And I learned that after A) becoming a parent and having to decided which parenting method works best for my child and our family as a whole and B) reading the entire Babywise book cover to cover, that Babywise teaches about routine feedings within a preset, flexible time frame.

I find it interesting how advocates of different parenting methods are so quick to judge each other!

The way I see it is this: Each parent needs to consider their own baby and chose the parenting method that fits their baby and their lifestyle.

As for me and my family, we have chosen Babywise. :)

For me, my goal has always been to just have a happy baby. A happy baby makes for a happy mom.

My problem is this: Little Bug gets on a routine and it is wonderful for both of us. Little Bug gets off her routine and life gets difficult for both of us.

Currently, I am trying to find a balance. And I think balance just may lie in not holding my standards so high and expecting Little Bug to do Babywise like the book says!

There is this blog out there that is a wonderful reference for anyone doing Babywise: Chronicles of a Babywise Mom

It’s just a typical Babywise mom who started the blog to give other Babywise moms a reference. She has 3 children: a 4 year old boy, 2 year old girl and an 8 month old baby girl.

While I LOVE her blog, it sometimes irks me that she seems to be able to get her kids to do Babywise with ease!

Then I read a comment that someone left on her blog. They were basically saying that while they do Babywise, they have tweaked things here and there to accommodate the individual needs of their household.

I think that may be where I am with Little Bug.

Back to naps …

So, I lay Little Bug down for a nap and she goes to sleep (no crying on most occasions). But then at the 45 minute mark to. the. dot. she wakes up.

Now this is not unusual for any baby because babies go through a sleep transition anywhere from 30-45 minutes of falling asleep. Many wake up during this sleep transition. Babywise teaches you to leave baby be and let them settle back to sleep. Or you could rush in to your crying baby and get them up only to have a tired cranky baby because they didn’t get a good nap in…

At 3 months old, I chose to let Little Bug start crying it out until she went back to sleep as long as I was 100% sure the cries were sleepy cries and not hunger cries.

It didn’t take long and we were over that hump. Little Bug, as a general rule, is a good napper.

So now we are back to waking right at 45 minutes every single nap! So frustrating!

Today, thinking there could be a slight chance that she was hungry because her eating was way whacky yesterday, I went ahead and got her up.

She would not eat.

So we played and then ate at the four hour mark from her last bottle.

Then it came time for her afternoon nap. She went right to sleep but woke after 45 minutes. (This is actually kinda funny. I was watching the clock and, right on the nose, she woke up!)

So I let her find her way back to sleep and she is now in Sleep Land once again.

You know, this feels good writing all this out! I’d been feeling like my blog was boring and not an accurate picture at all of life with a 6 month old!

Well, that’s about to change.

Life is anything but boring with a 6 month old and if you hang around you will soon see and I will have something Little Bug will really enjoy reading once she can!!

*****

NOTE: I wrote the above post a couple days ago…

I’ll soon be posting about Little Bug’s naps because I think I may have discovered the problem and fixed it.

THANK YOU, JESUS!

Little Bug went to bed for her morning nap today with absolutely no crying, and …

after 1.5 hours she is is still sleeping!

AND … that 45 minute mark … SILENT!

I’ll also be writing soon about what God’s taught me through these recent insane days.

- Elaine