The Secrets of the Baby Whisperer by Hogg
In general, I like this book. It is more appropriate to read prior to having a baby because it mostly addresses the newborn. It has a wonderful section on baby cues and how to interpret cries. I do wish I had this when Finn was first born and I would seriously give this to anyone expecting. As for sleep, she takes a middle road between complete attachment parenting and Ferberizing. I like how she sets things up. Unfortunately, according to her, Sean and I have been practicing "accidental parenting" and that is why we have some of the habits ingrained that we are trying to resolve. She goes into one chapter on how to address these "problems", but the suggestions are more geared toward older babies and I didn't find them terribly useful.
The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Pantley
This book definitely appeals to me. Pantley sets up a strategy for assessing where we are and looking at Finn's sleep habits objectively. We have been keeping sleep logs for the past few days and we have already realized that Finn has a pattern. Pantley then goes in detail for all sorts of situations suggestions on how to achieve a good night's sleep for everyone in the family. She lists lots of suggestions and then maps out a plan such that you can decide what is best for your family. She says that you should follow your plan for 10 days and then evaluate your progress. You can then see where you need to go from there and try another 10 days, and so on. She is honest that the approach takes time, but the personal planning aspect appeals to me.
We have done our sleep logs and noticed that Finn definitely has a nighttime pattern. We need to begin bedtime routine at 6:30 or he gets too fussy and we can't get through it. He needs to be in bed by 7 or so. We have to rock him to sleep, but he does go down pretty well. Then we get a 4 hour stretch. He always wakes up around 11, give or take. This is certainly excellent. Here is a lovely fact - "sleeping through the night" is actually medically defined as a 5 hour stretch (why they chose to call it STTN, I don't know). So, Finn is actually close to that milestone. I wish it were from midnight to 5, so we could actually get that sleep too, but what can you do? After 11, he will eat and then go back down pretty quickly and sleep for another 2 hours. After that, he will sleep for another hour and be up every hour thereafter. This is problematic, because I never know how often I should feed him in the night. He is definitely dependent on either nursing or paci to sleep, which is something we would like to get him away from. We are in the planning stage now to determine what strategies we are going to implement to encourage him to sleep longer and to become more self sufficient at falling back to sleep. This is a little difficult as I don't know how many strategies to implement at any given 10 day course. Should we just work on him sleeping longer? Should we try to address the suck to sleep issue? Furthermore, should we be working on daily naps too at the risk of him getting less sleep during the day? Our major problem is getting him to sleep anywhere aside from my arms. One confounding problem is in the book, Pantley makes suggestion specific to newborns which she says is 0-4 months and then to older babies (4 months to 2 years). Finn is right on the cusp turning 4 months next week, but it is tough trying to decide what is best for him at his age and what we can realistically expect. Alas, parenting is just not easy, but I am still excited by this book and do recommend it. More updates as we follow our 10 day plan.
Now, Sean and I are not the only readers in the family. Finn has been enjoying plenty of books too. He really likes all his board books. We are particularly fond of Sheep in a Jeep and Sheep in a Shop both by Nancy Shaw. These are hysterical and I seriously laugh and giggle at the funny rhymes and the crazy sheep illustrations. We have also been enjoying anything by Sandra Boynton. We have Moo, Baa, La La La! and Snuggle Puppy. For some reason, Finn loves Snuggle Puppy. This one is funny because you have to sing portions of it. Well, I have been blessed with an unusual singing ability in that I cannot carry a tune to save my life. Finn seems to find this exceptionally funny and giggles whenever we sing 'ooo...snuggle puppy of mine, everything about you is especially fine' I think I do it differently everytime, but always loud and strong. Sandra Boynton has a ton of kids books out and she also has some song books that come with CDs. We spent some time reading them at the bookstore one day and I am definitely going to have to get Finn some more. We definitely love reading to him.
1 comment:
I'm there with you on the sleep! The No Cry book was a life saver with Rachel so I hope it works for you. It all comes down to taking in informationa nd doing what you feel is best. No pressure, huh? If you like Sandra Boynton you should get her books with CD's. I use Rhinnoceros Tap, Philladelphia Chickens and Dog Train every week in my classroom. They are hilarious and sung by celebrities. The fav song at our house is Bad Babies. :)
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