| I wish I had known Sarah's advice about the first six weeks. I had a really rough time, thinking that I should follow a three-hour schedule. But things ironed out in the first three weeks.
For my baby, I found that she took to the three hourly routine very well in the first three months or so. I start her at 7-7:30am every morning. She was breastfed exclusively and once she was weaned (taking solids), slept through the night.
I think that Gina Ford's routines work well for babies who are formula fed, or those who are given a bottle of formula for the dream feed. I didn't want to feed my baby any formula, and so, I had to wake up at night, once, to feed her.
On the other hand, I found that Gina Ford's routines for sleeping worked very well. My bub is taking two naps (1-1.5hrs each) and sleeping from 7-7:30pm to 7-7:30am. She literally drops off like clockwork around her naps and bedtime. I find this very useful (for naps) when I'm out, as she would just sleep in her stroller/carseat.
The interesting thing is that, if I keep her up (for some reason) and disrupt her naps or bedtimes, everything else is disrupted and she wouldn't sleep well and gets really grumpy at mealtimes. I guess it's true as they say - sleep begets sleep.  |