Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

Flip

Original poster

Any Baby Whisperers out there?

18 replies

bessie26 · 25/05/2011 21:08

I'm currently trying to get DD2 (5weeks) onto the EASY routine & wondered if anyone else out there was doing the same?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

bumbums · 25/05/2011 21:48

Hi, I did it with my DD (now 2). I found it fairly easy with her as she was a calm baby who fed well and was esay to read. She'd feed, be awake for about an hour then be ready to sleep. She would go 3-4hrs between feeds. I wouls either push her in the pram to get her to sleep or feed her off to sleep. I tried letting her drift of to dream land by her self. You know putting her in a quiet room in her basket and hope she'd go to sleep alone. It worked a couple of times but over all I pushed her up and down the garden countless times and hads to feed her a bit to get her to sleep on other occasions.
Does that sound right?

YorkieGate · 25/05/2011 23:07

I did it with both of mine, now 2 and nearly 1, it worked great. Hope it all goes well.

FairyArmadillo · 25/05/2011 23:12

Worked fantastically for my son but not for my friend's daughter. Got my son sleeping through the night at 10 weeks with EASY and dreamfeeding.

Kiwiinkits · 26/05/2011 02:40

Hi I did baby whisperer with my DD. I had a similar experience to Fairy - she slept through from 10 weeks as a result of the EASY routine and the dreamfeed. We cut out the dream feed at around 4 months and she has consistently slept 7pm - 7am since, with a couple of naps during the day. I'm a huge fan of the book; it really helped establish good sleep.

We never managed to go 4 hours between feeds though; most we've ever gone is 3.5 hours.

Original poster

bessie26 · 26/05/2011 06:09

Oooh, good to know I'm not the only one!

I did BW with DD1, but it was really easy to get her onto 3hr EASY as she spent her first few weeks in SCBU and came home "trained" to feed every 3hrs!

Thankfully DD2 came straight home, but I'm struggling to get her to only feed every 3hrs! She usually manages 3-4hrs during the night, but during the day she sometimes wants feeding every hour (she was 8lb 12oz at birth so should be able to last!) I'm not sure if I'm misreading her hunger cries, or perhaps she's cluster feeding? (the hourly feeds do seem to be in the morning & evening), or perhaps she's a bit of a snacker? (her feeds usually take 10-15min), or maybe I'm just expecting too much too soon?!

Any ideas?

OP posts:

tillyma · 26/05/2011 13:10

We did it and found it really went well but we had to deal with snacking first. The trick was to get her to stay awake for longer than the 10-15 minutes that she wanted to feed so that she would eat enough to keep her going for longer than an hour. I found that rubbing her palm or touching a cool flannel to her neck did the trick. FWIW we didn't start until about 8 weeks though.

ThePippy · 26/05/2011 13:35

We did it with DD after a couple initial weeks of no routine at all (new parents, far too tired to read books) and it was a revelation. DD was sleeping through the night from 8/9 weeks (with dreamfeed) and sanity was back in our home. I swear our persistance at BW is what helped her learn to get herself to sleep and has given her a great sleep patter even now at 21 months. Will definitely BW with DC2 but won't wait 2 weeks to start this time!

Original poster

bessie26 · 26/05/2011 18:48

Great to hear it worked so well for you all, it worked wonderfully with DD1(2.5 & still naps in the afternoon ) but I did wonder if I was just lucky!

Tilly I suspect the snacking is our problem... I'm rubbish at waking sleeping babies - I just feel so mean! She almost always falls asleep on the boob, but usually wakes again after 10mins... I should probably try harder to keep her awake, but I read that they stop being so sleepy after a feed at around 6 weeks, so I was kind of hoping she'd sort it out for herself quite soon!

OP posts:

Kiwiinkits · 26/05/2011 23:51

Hi bessie
I'm somewhat nervous about saying this as I know it can be controversial, but we had a hungry baby too. We decided to introduce one bottle of formula a day into our DD's diet when she was a couple of weeks old. Her dad always gave the bottle at cluster feed time in the early evening. That bottle of formula satisfied her, gave me a rest, and set her up for an easy bed time. She'd still want the dreamfeed at 10pm, and then she'd wake up once more in the night for a feed (usually between 1am and 3am) until she was about 10 weeks. We came to the conclusion that one botle of formula for an otherwise breastfed baby wasn't a big deal, and that it wouldn't affect my milk supply (it didn't, not in the least). We stuck with one bottle of formula a day until she was about five months, now she's on two a day until I wean.

Kiwiinkits · 26/05/2011 23:52

By the way, we used to gently wake DD when she was feeding by gently rubbing her little palm. It stimulates blood flow and wakes them up enough they can finish their feed.

whizzylala · 27/05/2011 12:25

what about nappies at night? I have to change my DS (9 weeks) at dream feed time so he is then fully awake again..... (not on BW but interested to find out more)

FSB · 27/05/2011 14:29

i'm a big fan of BW... it worked brilliantly on my 'problem sleeper' DD (although, she was 10mo at the time - haven't done it on a littlie). there's a great website called www.babywhispererforums.com where you can ask questions or post your routine, and lots of helpful BW bods give you advice... i found it very helpful with DD

good luck! :)

Original poster

bessie26 · 27/05/2011 15:38

kiwi how long do you rub the palm of their hand for? It hasn't worked for us but perhaps I'm not doing it for long enough!
I'm too scroogy & lazy to do ff! I had to express for 3 weeks to feed DD1 when she was first born & I got sick of the sight of the steriliser! Also, DD2 is swaddled... and DH is incapable of swaddling so I would still have to get up to sort that out!

wizzy night-time nappy changes are a pita (DD2 had a huge poo at 3am which leaked out of the side of the nappy!) but I usually find that by the time I've changed her, reswaddled & has a cuddle she's asleep again

FSB I hang out on that BW site too. & it is great but it can take a long time to get a response (are most users in the US?) and I don't find it as chatty as MN!

DD2 went almost 5hrs between feeds last night! Unfortunately it started in the evening so I "wasted" most of that time making/eating dinner and having a bath! I might be going to bed alot earlier tonight incase she does it again!!

OP posts:

Kiwiinkits · 27/05/2011 22:44

bessie if your husband is incapable of swaddling at least make him capable of making dinner for you!

I just rubbed her palm constantly while feeding. Blowing gently on their face works too. Failing all else, if you hold them upright their eyes pop open like a little doll's!

Original poster

bessie26 · 27/05/2011 23:21

Hehehe - he's made dinner almost every night for the last 2 months I thought I'd do it for a change as he'd gone to Sainsbury's!

Will try the palm rubbing thing again tomorrow - my DDs must be very lazy as the holding them upright thing hasn't worked for either of them!

OP posts:

gallicgirl · 29/05/2011 15:09

I must dig out the BW and finish reading it. It helped enormously with my confidence as a new parent, once I got over the upset of not being able to tell one type of cry from another. I learned about different temperaments though and that really helped to establish a routine for DD. We're pretty flexible about it though - as long as she gets nap and activity between each feed, I don't worry how long for or when.

youngjoly · 29/05/2011 18:36

I used it (well, the bits I liked) with both my DDs. Both girls were completely breast fed, and by 8 weeks, both were sleeping through (with the help of cluster feeding in the evenings) and then a last dreamfeed before I went to bed. One baby was classed as 'easy' (my second) but my first was 'spirited'. Even the midwife, the day she was born said to me that I'd know I had DD. So it worked, even on a tough baby.

I did the EASY routine too. However, one thing she said on her website, but is not made clear in the book is that EASY should be adapted to fit around the needs of your baby. You should observe the baby for its natural patterns first, and then make the routine fit the baby, not the baby fit the routine. I think a lot of people go wrong when they miss that bit!

I also found the idea of looking out and learning my DDs cries really helped too.

Original poster

bessie26 · 29/05/2011 19:03

young I've not been doing the df, but was going to try it tonight in the hope that it will help make our mornings more consistent - any tips? I need to read the book I guess, but wasn't sure how much to wake her?

Good point about making the routine fit the baby (this isn't gf after all!) DD2 & I spent the first 2 weeks getting to know each other. I guess we dud a vague EASY in that I tried to do things in that order, & the only clock watching I did was so I could write down what she did.

gallic I wonder how good i am at telling the cries apart too... she does what I think is her "hungry" cry (the one with the little cough) LOADS! Perhaps she's just greedy?! She never turns down the opportunity for a feed!

The feed times seem to have gone from bring 10-15mins to 15-20mins today, so perhaps she's getting over her snacking?

She (& I) napped for 3hrs this afternoon - oops! Hope I'm not going to pay for that later!

OP posts:

Flip