Hellobee Boards

i think you do what's best for your family and it's good to get opinions, but they may not work for you and your babe. i've been frustrated recently hearing friends saddened by "your baby SHOULD be doing this" and feeling like they failed, but not all babies are the same. i'm a huge fan of having tools in your toolbox, but they won't all get the job done.

FWIW, my kiddo wouldn't have been satisfied by only that amount. instead of driving myself crazy, i fed her when she woke up from naps, didn't stress about timing, etc and that worked for me/us. good luck!

My son is 13 weeks today and he would NOT cope on 2 naps a day. When we're out and about and he only gets 3 naps, he's a mess by nighttime. Most days he still gets 4 sleeps, sometimes 5 if he catnaps.
Also I know some 12 week olds can go 12 hours at night, but my son does 8 hour stretches and wakes up STARVING...i really can't imagine pushing that out another 4 hours!!

It does seem a little extreme but my daughter (on her own) probably slept about 8 hours at that point. I'd take a night wakeup over stressing about all those daytime feeds. By 4 months I think my lo was sleeping 10 hours? Maybe even 10.5/11? So I guess what I'm saying is that early on it seems like a lot of effort on something that may or may not work.

And that's not even throwing nursing into the mix. I wound up using formula so I didn't have to worry about that.

I think that book sounds way off base, and frankly, not something that is good for your baby. Babies wake for many biological reasons besides hunger. I have knowledge of this book because its on my pediatrician's list of books you shouldn't bother with, along with Baby Wise.

There is no way 2 naps is enough for 12 weeks!

No way. My son would only sleep 10 hours at night. He sttn pretty early but not all kids are programmed to sleep 12 hours, no matter what you do.

Also at 12 weeks there's no way my son who was only 11 lbs could eat 6 oz!

I see a few problems with this method. Only 2 naps at 12 weeks is very low. That doesnt seem like enough naps at all. Second, you cannot really "force" a baby to drink more. Most breastfed babies feed more frequently and take in fewer ounces per feeding. Thirdly, 12 hours straight at 12 weeks seems a bit extreme. I think it's fine if a baby does this on their own, but I think it's a little unrealistic to expect a 12 week old to sleep 12 hours straight. Not all babies sleep 12 hours, and I know lots of babies that didnt start sleeping that long until after 10+ months, my LO included. And lastly, like @grizz: mentioned, babies wake for other reasons besides hunger. Teething, sickness, new milestone, comfort, etc. I am curious how the author has a 100% success rate, how long that "success" lasts, and what she says to do if your baby does wake up at night....

I have a couple of friends in my mommy group who swore by this book. They formula fed and their babies were drinking 6 oz at a time at that point. Now they drink 8+ oz every bottle!

Since I EP, my baby has only taked 6 oz on her best days and when she was older...6 months or so. Usually she takes 5 oz a bottle. I don't know if books/plans like those are geared only towards formula feedings moms or not, but I think they are.

Even my own doctor makes statements like, "At 8 months, your baby should be drinking 24 oz a day in 3 feeds". When I did the math and saw that it was 8 oz a bottle, I knew she'd probably never encountered a pumping mom before.

Breastmilk and formula are different and are processed in the body different and (just making an educated guess here), it seems that BM is heavier/thicker so babies need less.

ETA: and their babies did sleep through the night quite early. Mine still hardly ever (never) does, so....

We used this book with a couple modifications. We fed every 3 hours during the day so 1 extra feeding and had a 3rd nap for a while longer. I breastfed too. Most helpful things I found was how short the book was and being aware of when I might be encouraging bad sleep habits.

I used Moms on Call method which sounds kind of similar and my baby was STTN 12 hours by 12 weeks. I breastfed. We dropped night feedings early on and she ate every 2.5-3 hours through the day on a schedule. Pretty sure in the baby room at daycare, when she started at 13 weeks they had her on two naps. My child was born IUGR, so failure to thrive was a big concern to us since she was only 4 lbs 11 oz coming home from the hospital. Using a schedule didn't impact her growth at all. At her 18 month appt she was in the 60% for height and weight.

@heartonastring: You said what I wanted to say. The philosophies in this book are frightening.