Scheduling.

It’s been three-and-a-half months, and sleeping at night is still an illusion. David normally sleeps in stretches of 6 hours at night, which is good, but he gets fussy in the early hours of the morning and we normally have to go address his needs at 5:30, 6:00, 6:30, 7:00, and onward. Worse, the daytime is unpredictable at best, and that’s rather difficult for me since I’m trying to get back into a work routine (and more so since I need to work really hard in order to provide the best for him).

After reading great things about it on Boing Boing, I bought The Baby Sleep Solution and today has been day one of the “training program.” I read a ton of short “articles” and blog posts all day long, and yet I never can read full books, but I finished the entire thing in 2 hours. The premise of the book is nothing unlike the typical parenting you hear at birthing classes for the first six weeks. Feed the baby every 2.5 to 3 hours. During the 6-8 week period, the kid has a “growth spurt” (and lots of colic) so it’s really hard to train him to sleep at night. Thus, you start officially training your kid to sleep at night after 8 weeks of age by feeding him every four hours during the day with varying activities throughout the day. By the nighttime, you hopefully get 12 hours of sleep (and if he wakes up, you gradually reduce the number of ounces he eats or number of minutes he nurses at the breast). By day three, you should successfully be able to both succeed with putting the baby on a schedule and giving the baby a good night’s sleep.

This program was created by the “baby coach” who says she has a 100% success rate when doing this with kids, and she’s been at it — making housecalls — for over 10 years. The Amazon reviews are mixed, but I have a feeling that most of these parents aren’t following it properly since the 1-star reviews don’t even talk about the same program. One of the 1-star reviews suggests that this program tells parents to make the baby cry out their hunger pangs, but that’s definitely not in the rule book. In fact, you’re supposed to help soothe the baby when she’s uncomfortable. Maybe Suzy Giordano really is doing the right thing for all these babies; the program really does make sense and doesn’t hurt the babies at all. If anything, there may be initial discomfort while adjusting to a new schedule for both the baby and the parents.

Day one has been a bit difficult, but it’s nothing impossible. I’m adhering to this “program” pretty strictly, and my traditional parents (who merely waited for the baby to adapt over time) are rather incredulous. In fact, my husband is determined to make it work too but we’re faced with doubts when the baby seems hungry or when he falls asleep. Should I really follow it to a tee at first, or is that not the best course of action? I’m really determined to do this, though, since I am with the baby throughout the day and I really need it for my own sanity, so I’m following it as closely as I can despite the cries I hear throughout the day. (Fortunately, he is merely whimpering.) After all, wouldn’t it be nice to actually sleep through the night?

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In other news, we had to buy 3-6 month outfits today. And 8oz bottles. This boy is getting big!