How I got my baby on a schedule!

Oh the life of a new mom. You are told so much information and have read just about every book out there. But when you come across that one book that just blows your mind you must tell everyone about it! For me it was this book by Tracy Hogg called 'Secrets Of The Baby Whisperer'. I love Cesar Milan the dog whisperer and his mindset behind how to look deeper into what is the problem or behavior and how to go about understanding and correcting it. This book is very similar. Diagnosing what baby is telling you. I went to the library one day and I had come across this book in the parenting section. My daughter was probably around 7 months old when I started reading it. It just helped me out so much as I went from me knowing my baby and her needs to her becoming more independent and changing and not knowing how to grow with her. 

I should probably go back and tell you how we went about sleep schedules from the beginning. We had Kayla sleep in a little portable bassinet in our bed for the first month. It was great because with feedings every few hours it kept my sanity. Then I knew at one month old we had to move her to her own room because if we didn't I would get used to and attached to her sleeping in our bed along with her getting used to it. So I would then set my alarm and feed her or listen for her cries from the room next door. Finally at our 6 week check-up the pediatrician let us know that we did not need to wake her up for feedings but if she woke up then go ahead and feed her. And what do you know...she slept through the night from 6 weeks on. 

Now I know every child is different and I only have one so let me make this clear that this is all just my opinion and observations. I am no expert lol. So fast forward a few months we were doing the same thing for a while when it came to night time routine. From what I can remember to over a year ago we would basically just put her down around 8 or 9 ish and she wouldn't wake up until about 8 or 9 am! I was very lucky! That lasted for a while until she started growing and changing. 

So back to the main part of this post. So it was when she was 6 months old we moved to a new place and as she really started to grow more and more I was struggling with how to come up with a schedule for her. We would wait until we thought she was tired enough and I would breastfeed in our room until she fell asleep and then transfer her to her crib in her room. But after reading this book I understood so much more and learned about Tracy Hogg's great acronym E.A.S.Y. which stands for Eat, Activity, Sleep, and You. So I started trying it out. I would feed her, let her play, she would take a nap and then it was mama time to relax,clean or shower, then repeat. So she took two naps. One at 10am and one at 2pm give or take. Since about 8 months old we have done a 7:00pm bedtime. And it has worked great minus the few times of cranky teething. She cried the first few nights for maybe 10 minutes but does not do that anymore! 

I know people do not believe in Cry It Out method but to me you can tell the difference in cries. There is the I just want to keep playing cry and then there is the something is really wrong cry. Which for us was rarely the case. She now will have her bedtime routine of dinner, bath, a little play time and reading books then brush teeth and go to bed. She might not pass out right away but she just sits in her bed talking to her self until she falls asleep. 

I'm not trying to tell you how to raise your child or what their schedule should be I just know that this book helped me so much more than just sleep time but really reading into what my daughter was trying to tell me. I highly suggest this book. She really breaks it down so easily that I wish I had read it earlier than I did! So thank you Tracy Hogg for helping a first time mom and I hope to help others out there too trying to grow and learn just like your baby is!