Since I was introduced to Garry and Anne Marie Ezzo’s Preparation for Parenting (better known as Babywise in the secular world) courtesy of my aunt when our 1st born was 4 months old, I have put all our babies on the Eat-Play-Awake routine, no matter how long or short they nap. It has been a lifesaver in many ways since I no longer have to worry if the baby is crying due to hunger or tiredness.
In essence what it means is that upon waking, the baby is offered the breast. Baby remains awake and then is put down for a nap when she is tired – without nursing. In the early days, I will rock baby to sleep. But as she grows older, I will just place baby down in the cot the moment she starts dozing off so that she falls asleep in the cot and not on me. She may or may not fuss.
This eat-play-sleep routine has worked very well for all the 6 babies. But not #7! No way. She just wants to be different I guess. 🙂
She just won’t nurse properly unless she’s sleepy! And on top of that, I have to catch her at the right time or she’ll push me away too! Upon waking, if I offer her the breast, she’ll pull and grunt and unlatch herself many times. This is despite having nursed more than 3 hours before!
Then she’ll ask to nurse just before her naptime and of course will promptly fall asleep at the breast! Very interesting baby 🙂
6 Comments on Eat-Play-Sleep
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
you’re quite amazing.
i’m no fan of the Ezzos but you’re able to use the method and still be flexible and ‘go with the flow’ when needed. most pple i know who use the Ezzo method (or any other scheduling method for tt matter) get worked up if they can’t follow it n struggle to stay on it as closely as possible right from the early days and when the schedule gets mixed up as the baby grows (as it inevitably will, imo) they get worked up again.
i, otoh, take ‘go with the flow’ quite literally all the time. some days i rue the consequences tt come with it but i know tt it’s just not in my nature to keep to a schedule.
kudos – you represent the best of both, imo. this, i feel is the true mark of a good mother – truly being able to listen to your child well.
I don’t know about the “good mother” bit Ee Lin 🙂 But I certainly have learnt to go with the flow. Honestly – how does one force a bb to sleep or eat?! Some bbs are just very easy to schedule while others will take more effort. The age of the child is crucial imo.
I just can’t totally go with the flow without feeling so disorganised and irritated so we work out what works for us. Ezzo’s principle is what I follow. I guess many 1st time moms can’t see that, being too kan cheong to be able to think straight, kwim? I was once like that and God in His mercy let my 1st 2 bbs be naturally scheduled babies. Then came #3 😀 Woah! Baptism by fire!
Ah you see, my 1st was baptism of fire – i threw out The Baby Whisperer within a few wks so i learned to go with her flow – no other way, she just refused to sleep (eat wasn’t so bad, but the sleep really cld not follow any schedule but her own).
My 2nd scheduled himself n was like clockwork. He had a good 2 hr cycle fr birth which stretched to 3 hr then 4 hr all by himself. I hardly had to do anything.
So by no. 3 even tho he is closer to his sister’s temperament i had learnt to go with the flow n i’m not tearing my hair out like i did with no. 1. : )
I’m on ezzo’s as well for some practices. I say some because parenting is a dynamic dance. Some spontaniety, some learnt steps.
My 2nd baby is a fussy one, even my mom says so. 2nd months onwards and he will reject my breasts. I am now an exclusively pumping mom. he was good on waking up for milk though, every 2 hours but took longer to settle into a night/day routine. he slept through the night by 2months and half. He doesnt need much coaxing to go to sleep, I like to train verbally from young. So I say “sleeping time” and put him close to me, pat hie bottom a few times and he doze off within minutes.
hi! i’m a first time mom and i’m really amazed that you have 7 kids and home school and everything!!
May i ask more about the eat-play-sleep routine? i read babywise but my baby girl isn’t very into routines (that’s an understatement) and i couldn’t bring myself to force her into one (Besides in the beginning she was feeding every 2 hrs and the book said something about normal infants being able to last 3 hrs and i felt BAD!)
my question is: how do u ensure that your kids stay awake after feeding? or does it come naturally? my girl feeds then falls asleep then wakes up 5-10mins later…so i’m not sure if i’m supposed to stop feeding her till she fall asleep (or latches off) or whether i’m supposed to keep her awake etc…
thanks for reading and hope to hear from you (when u can reply…looking after the family must be a huge task!)
(=
edel
Hi Edel
It’s ok for baby to feed every 2 hrs in the beginning. In fact I make sure they feed every 2 hrs to avoid jaundice build up.
You wrote : my question is: how do u ensure that your kids stay awake after feeding? or does it come naturally?
My answer : to ensure they don’t fall asleep after nursing, nurse when they wake up not when they are sleepy. In the early newborn days it’s ok if they continue to sleep on but once the newborn sleepiness wears off, they should be able to stay awake for a few minutes to 1 hr before needing to nap again.
I try not to let them nurse to sleep except for the last feed of the night.
HTH!