the new contented little baby book

So i have read the book, quite overwhelmed by the routines and decided not to try it straight away. For one i do not know if it will work for my baby and secondly, i do not know if my mother agrees to go along with it.

Gina Ford's method are basically routines she had laid down for parents to follow, which over time, your baby becomes a contented baby. 

The book started off with preparation for birth - basically your newborn checklist. Then comes her introduction about what Gina calls the 'CLB Routine'. This followed by a chapter explaining about baby's sleep and a chapter explaining the routines further. Since my baby was already 6 mo going 7, i went stright to reading Chapter 6 - where Gina puts in detail the CLB Routine for one whole year. Since Mia just started her solids at 6mo, i find Gina's 6mo menu a bit too advanced for her. Plus, i was kinda struggling to structure her meals.

nevertheless, i summarised the 6 mo routine for my mom to follow, but mom being mom, she makes excuses for not following the routine and felt more comfortable letting mia have things her way. she'll put her to sleep when she sees mia rubbing her eyes no matter what time of the day it was. 

Basically the routine has a couple of rules (this has been laid down by my friend, before i got the book ~ thanks yofe!)

#1 baby starts her day at 7am and should be ready for bed by 7pm

#2 nap times should be short - 1 hour in mid morning and 2 hours MAX in the afternoon

#3 wake her up for last feed at 11pm

#4 perhaps the most important of all - NO NAPS after 5pm

seems easy enough to follow...WRONG! O_o


more updates on the method later :P


 

sleepless night o sleepless night

i know a lot of malaysian mommies suffer from sleep deprivation until their babies are about 3 years old (or so i've been told). and some had to endure a couple of years more coz they had a second baby.

i envied moms who are sooooo fortunate to have babies that sleep soundly thru the nite without ANY sleep training. god bless. but my baby is not one of those whose capable of sleeping thru the nite. when she was about  week old, she woke up at 12am and stayed awake until about 4am and this continued until she was a month plus. i was terribly exhausted, and so was my mom who was taking care of me during my confinement. we took turns rocking her - my mom, my husband and myself. and we took turns sleeping during the day. 

so when i started working, i did some research on internet on baby sleep routine simply because i want to know what is the secret to babies sleeping throughout the night. why only a number of babies are capable of doing so? why can't mine?

a lot of my research said, it is normal for babies to wake up during the wee hours in the night. i am not convinced. then i found the magic words - SLEEP TRAINING.

some of the points i picked up from various sites (they say pretty much the same thing) as follows:

#1: develop a bedtime routine - bath time, a quite play, read your baby a story book, sing a lullaby or rock your baby in the same order every night

#2: use a dummy - it can be a pacifier either (to satisfy baby's 'suction needs), a blanket or napkin, a plush toy, baby bolster or a beanie pillow. take your pick. whatever works for your baby.

# cry-it-out method aka the cold turkey - like the word cold turkey: letting your baby cry it out.

the are many books written by paediatrics and midwives on sleep training and both involves either cry-it-out or no cry method. and some involves a combination of both.

not until a couple of weeks back i heard the name - GINA FORD

she's a former maternity nurse, a british, who wrote a couple of books on parenting methods. her book, The Contented Little Baby Book (now called the NEW Contented Little Bay Book) was recommended by friend who has tried the method and claimed that it works. 

so i rushed out to kinokuniya and bought the book, desperate to try her methods with hopes that it will solve my sleepless nights.