Bringing Up Leighton

Here we are one month into my little girls life, and one month is proving itself to be pretty sweet :)

When Leighton was born I was a little clueless, despite having helped raise my little sister, and working 2 years in a daycare...theres just something different about it being "your" child. Mabye the fear of totally messing up somewhere along the way? Who knows. The first week she was with it I was pretty sick, recovering, suffering from some post partum, and exhausted to say the least. The second week I was determined to institute some structure into our lives. I mean who isn't more calm and satisfied when their day has some structure?

I had heard about Babywise from some friends, and decided it was worth a trip to the bookstore. I think i read the entire book in one evening. I consumed it. It instantly made sense to me, the contents just spoke to what I felt like Leighton, and I needed. The whole basis of the book is "sleep training" although I have to say I hate the term "sleep training" it sounds so impersonal. Anywhoo...Its a basic schedule for the day, a constant rotation of "eat/wake/sleep" The first week on the schedule was up and down, I didn't want to throw her into it cold turkey so we were a little more lenient. By her third week she was getting the hang of it.

I picked a wake time of 7am, she eats, has wake time...meaning tummy time, bath, go on a walk etc. then she goes down for a nap. Then we repeat the process at 10. etc. She eats consistently every 3 hours, and has about 45 minutes of wake time ( give or take 10 mins ) then goes down for a nap. The whole point is to set her internally to understand day sleep and night sleep, so that she will start sleeping through the night by week 8 ( fingers crossed )

I know what your thinking, and TRUST me I've heard more than enough opinions on this. It sounds extreme, it sounds slightly crazy, especially waking a sleeping baby to eat, and occasionally letting a baby "cry it out" But its all so crucial to helping bring up a independent, content, trusting, happy baby. She will never have to question when she will eat, when she will nap...she can trust in the routine. ( and me :) )

Granted Babywise isn't for everyone, and if it isn't for you thats fine. I put all my trust in the Lord, and I know that he has his hand in raising Leighton, he has chosen me as her mother, Taylor as her father, and we lean on him and him alone in making all of our decisions. So of course I've prayed and prayed about this topic, and every time I come to him with questions of "am i doing this right, is this what you want for her" i come away reassured that we've made the right decision.

There were a couple rough days there where sweet girl was having a lot of gas issues, and tooooons of hiccups, which led to one fussy grumpy baby, and a mom with frayed nerves. I prayed and prayed for healing of her hiccups, for something to help her deal with them and to help her tummy feel better. The next day I was talking to my sister about her issues and she mentioned trying "gripe water" ( thank God for a sister who's worked in the baby room at a day care !! ha! ) we immediately went out and grabbed some! its all natural so I feel a lot better about giving it to her before all of her day bottles...not drugging your child always makes you feel good haha! We used it at her next feeding and she did great! She still gets hiccups every now and again, but she seems to be able to eat better, and her tummy doesn't bother her as much anymore...which makes my heart happy. :) It always amazes me when God answers your prayers...thanks Erin for being Gods vessel for this one !!

The past 2 days have been confirmation of what I'm trying to achieve with Leighton. She has eaten every bottle, been SO alter and happy during wake time, and gone down for almost every single nap without crying! ( I put her down in her crib awake, on her tummy, with her pink elephant friend..ellie..so original i know..) the fact that she puts herself to sleep is HUGE for me..and without crying for the most part..just makes me smile :) Today we went to visit GiGi and Granny..everyone was loving on her and playing with her..she started to show signs of being sleep and I laid her down on the blanket in the middle of the living room, put ellie in front of her face just like i do in her crib, and she fell asleep like that!! with everyone talking, lights on, and she never even made a sound!! I was SOOOO proud..it made me feel like THIS is what its all about, a content baby, who knows its nap time, and put herself to sleep..on the floor. Loved it..

So while it may seem unconventional, and it may be different than what most people are used to, this is the plan we've chosen...and were sticking to it :)