Dr Sears Vs Gina Ford (sleeping)

I finally am qualified to write this post, mainly because I have 2 child of different ends of the spectrum!!!

Victoria was a High need baby, something I found out after much sweat, frustrations and tears, It was a tough road since my book I had prepared was TCB by Gina Ford. So can u imagine?? Yes it was argghhh.... So today I will write my experience.

Sleep (co-sleep):

Victoria- The day we brought her back home, it was the start of THE sleepiness nights. My mum came over to help us in the day and in the end she stayed for the night. The 3 of us walked V the whole night- each taking turns. I googled and it quickly became that its a new environment and baby is unsure etc etc.  She was swaddled, low light, had music/white noise.... it was not magic but it helped a little. The last I recalled that night when I walked her, there was sight of dawn before I collapse from fatigue. We started from 7 pm the last night.

The next few days seemed better, she slept in her cot at night and in the playpen of the hall. All seemed great. Till 1.5 week later, the fussiness started and its also mayhem - starts from 5pm-9pm. I googled, it was shared that BB is fussy always at the time the pregnant mummy moved the most whilst being pregnant- to most it will have to be dinner time.

We managed to accept the fact that it happens and sort of "lived" by it. I get loads of comments it was the lack of milk *rolls eyes...

Then it came the flipping, teething... also know as The Wonder Weeks which they claim that the 5, 8, 12, 19, 28, 37,6, 55, 64 and 75 weeks, there will be an increase of Crankiness, Clingliness, Crying. Of course, you get the Growth Spurts at 3, 5, 9 12, 15, 18 etc weeks. Which means if you look at it all, parents (US) don't sleep :D

I gave up on the cot !! Every time I put her down, she wakes up and our 1 hour of patting and walking was in vain. So we ended up co-sleeping. V was latching onto me the whole night. Moving was a privileged that time. By moving, I meant..... turning myself and trying to get myself in a nice position to sleep. If I happen to wake her up, its a long 1 hour before she falls back asleep. Self soothing was a no no for V. Pacifier didn't work!!!!You can read it here Fussy babies and sleeping habits

I eventually succumbed to baby wearing which rocked the house!!! She sleeps in it.... Amen

I had to adopt Dr Sears method for Attachment parenting because it flopped miserably with Gina ford's routine ways. I tried to fix a time for her to sleep but we ended up fighting and it gets exhausting. Clocks didn't exist in those days.

Kate: The 1st night was pretty much about adjusting since we have Victoria around. Trev had a tough 1st night adjusting, but he soon realise that as long u put milk to her mouth, she gets appeased. It was 150ml in 2 hours for a 3 day old baby. WE knew immediately this was a milk monster. This time round, we were "smarter" and got ourselves a live-in nanny for the month who came 2 days later. She sleeps, sleeps, sleeps. Most of them time I look at her and wonder if she is alive. Me and Trev was amazed and thought that the nanny has some supernatural powers!!!

K was such a easy baby, I latch her, she falls asleep at the boob and never wakes up till like 3 hours. (then I had bf issues - will explain later) You can move her and she still sleeps. As she grows older, sleeping does need a little coaxing. But the night is relatively easy, she sleeps straight 12 hours since 2 months old- means she doesn't wake up to play like how V used to.  The 1st month she was doing her dump at 4 am ....  but eventually stopped.

For K, as long u latch her a little, it goes another few hours. I think for now its 10pm, 6 am for milk. We sort of believe that she maybe a pacifier baby, but decided not even go there. Just have to bear with her fussiness at time. K can be really loud SUDDENLY -since she is most of the time contented. Main reason for her outburst are always about her gums.

For Kate, I used Gina Ford Routines (some) and it worked pretty well for her. She is like clockwork. We wake up about 9am and roll about for an hour. She showers, sleep and wakes up for milk at 2pm, sleep/or play, drinks at 6pm, sleeps, showers, drinks at 9pm. Timing goes off about 1 hours (+/-) We have to look at the clock to understand what was the cry about. If its not milk time, then we will have to entertain her. I can't say I follow all since I am already a parent that is used to attachment parenting. I just have to tweak slightly to suit our current lifestyle. Oh I DO NOT USE CRY IT OUT method. Just not our styles.