'Good luck' they said.
Other mothers told me I was 'crazy' and rolled their eyes.
But thanks to The Baby Whisperer, Rocco has been sleeping through the night since he was about 3 months old.
Since we had such success with her philosophy and instructions on night time sleep, we plan on following her guide for nap time and potty training as well.
The Baby Whisperer is Tracy Hogg. She is the author of three best selling books. We own Secrets of the Baby Whisperer and The Baby Whisperer Solves All of Your Problems. We first heard of Hogg from other new moms trying to figure out how to stay sane while raising an infant. I ordered both books on ebay out of curiosity and desperation for a good nights rest.
Secrets of the Baby Whisperer helped us decode Rocco's body language and different cries. We were better able to meet his needs once we were able to tell the difference between his hungry cry and gas pain wail. Hogg promotes treating your baby with respect and learning how to communicate with them. Hogg also talks about her EASY routine which stands for Eat, Activity, Sleep, and You time. Following this routine helps the baby learn how to fall asleep with out having to nurse which can be troublesome when the baby gets older. She believes that babies should sleep in their own beds and feel safe in that space.
The Baby Whisperer is the reason Rocco sleeps through the night. I kept hearing from professionals that a four month old baby is able to sleep through the night. I kept hearing from other mothers that babies can't sleep through the night. I had come to realize that babies will not sleep through the night if you don't let them. If you rescue them every time they cry you never find out whether or not they would have drifted back to sleep after a few minutes.
I joked that I had 'baby behavior modification' to do. But in reality that is exactly what The Baby Whisperer was suggesting. I figured out that Rocco was what Hogg refers to as a 'habitual waker'. A baby who wakes up when hungry will wake up at a different time every night. A baby who wakes out of habit will wake at the same time every night. Eric and I reinforced this habit. Rocco woke up at 1am and again at 3am like clockwork for weeks. We started by eliminating the 1am feed. A few weeks later we eliminated the 3am feed.
It was difficult to do but so worth it. Each elimination took three nights to change. I used Hogg's 'shush/pat' method to comfort Rocco and let him know I was there. I used a pacifier on these nights. We only use the pacifier at night or during nap time. Rocco will suck himself to sleep and then spit it out.
Rocco does have nights where he wakes up. But he is never up for more than a few minutes. It is usually gas pain or his teeth bothering him. But we no longer respond to our son immediately with a boob or bottle. We do not reinforce behavior that we do not want to continue. We listen to him and are so much more in tune with who he is and what he wants thanks to The Baby Whisperer.
If I was able to stay home with Rocco I may have taken another approach to parenting. But I only had 10 weeks at home with him. And anyone who knows me knows that I enjoy sleep. 8 hours at night and a 2-3 hour nap during the day if possible. Sleeping through the night was extremely important to me.
I'm pretty sure Eric thought I was crazy initially and he seemed somewhat irritated with the constant instructions I gave him. But he is now reaping the benefits of a baby who sleeps for an eight hour stretch.
I'm pretty sure many of our friends and family thought I was crazy as well. But I have an unusually happy kid. He wakes up in a great mood and ends his day in that same happy demeanor.
Let them say what they want.
I will not lose any sleep over it.
