Babywise sleep training – it sounds like it goes together, and some form of it does…but the fact is, On Becoming Babywise does not specify what method of sleep training to use.
Babywise is actually its own form of sleep training that uses schedules and routines, with a whole lot of consistency, to help train your baby to sleep better.
To read more about the eat wake sleep routine specifically, click here.
Ever play the game of telephone? One person whispers something into someone’s ear, and then that person whispers it into someone else’s ear, etc. When you get to the last person, they compare what they heard, with what the original person said.
Often, it is far different! I feel like this game of telephone has happened countless times with Babywise and Sleep Training.
Somehow the terms “Babywise” and “Sleep Training” get confused. They get intertwined. They are misunderstood.
And the term sleep training, has a social connotation to it that really isn’t true. Sleep training can mean using cry it out methods, but not all sleep training does.
Today I want to clarify what Babywise is. I want to clarify what Sleep Training is. And I want to talk about how Babywise and Sleep training are related.
Click here to visit our page on all topics –> Babywise.
Click here to visit our page on –> sleep training and the method we used with our daughter Caroline.
The Babywise Sleep Training Method
On Becoming Babywise Book
Babywise is a parent directed feeding method that promotes the use of routines and schedules. Babywise encourages the use of an eat, wake, sleep cycle throughout the day.
The Babywise book, On Becoming Babywise, is basically an entire book about a unique sleep training method. But it is not the use of cry it out sleep training techniques.
What is the Babywise Sleep Training Method?
I could argue that the entire Babywise book is actually a sleep training method. Babywise encourages the prioritization of sleep in your household. To do that, it utilizes schedules, routines, and consistency.
From day 1, the Babywise method encourages you to do several useful things to help prioritize sleep for your baby:
- Distinguish day from night
- Use parent directed schedules to help your baby get the correct amount of daytime sleep
- Use parent directed schedules to help your baby get the correct number of daytime feedings
- Encourage full feedings
- Start the eat, wake, sleep cycle
- Use nap and bedtime routines
Click here to read an expanded version of each of the above tips and how to incorporate them–> How The Babywise Method Helps Babies Sleep Better
What Does Babywise Say About Sleep Training?
The book On Becoming Baby Wise, tells you to encourage self soothing. The book alerts you that some crying or fussing may be necessary in some instances.
“There may be a brief period of fussing or crying when you put the baby down for a nap” (Babywise, p. 131)
It encourages you to train your child to sleep well. It talks a LOT about why this is important.
What Does Babywise NOT Say About Sleep Training?
The Babywise book does not state HOW to go about sleep training specifically.
My theory is that the author did this because the entire premise of the book is basically their “sleep training” method. If you do the above 6 suggestions consistently, your child will learn to self soothe and sleep well on their own.
Your baby will never have the chance to have sleep associations and require help getting to sleep, if you employ the above methods and practices consistently. In theory that is.
Babywise never states to leave your baby to cry for a certain amount of time. It never states that you must use a cry it out method of any sort.
Again, my theory, is that they don’t specify this, because if you are successful with their unique sleep training method, you’d never need to. That’s the idea anyway.
Did we end up doing cry it out with our child? Yes. But not because the Babywise book told us to! We did this because we’d made the mistake of rocking our baby to sleep. We’d formed a sleep association. We then needed to break that habit.
Two great resources on this topic:
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Sleep Training According to Babywise (written by the Babywise Mom)
-
Sleep Training BabyWise Explained (written by My Baby Sleep Guide)
What is Sleep Training?
I think it’s important to understand what sleep training is and is not. Often, when people hear the term sleep training, they immediately think of the cry it out method.
Sleep training is defined as the process of teaching a baby or child to fall asleep on their own.
There are a variety of methods to do this. You can choose the method that works for you and your family. Perhaps it is some combination of these methods that works best for you:
We used Babywise coupled with the pick up put down method, and the Weissbluth sleep training.
- Extinction or Cry it Out Method (Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, by Weissbluth)
- A No Cry Method (No Cry Sleep Solution, by Pantley)
- Gradual or Controlled Crying Method – a middle ground option (Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems, by Ferber)
- The Pick Up, Put Down Method and 5 S’s (Baby Whisperer, by Hogg)
- Limited Crying (The Baby Sleep Solution, by Giordano)
- Parent Directed Schedules and Routines (On Becoming BabyWise, by Ezzos)
Find these Sleep Training Solutions on Amazon:
There are so many methods and many more that I haven’t linked to. The reality is that every baby is unique. Every family is unique.
You’ll need to pick and choose methods that work for you. I am a huge advocate of the Babywise method.
The Ferber method just didn’t work for our baby and seemed to make things worse, but it might be the perfect method for our next child.
So, we coupled Babywise, with that of the Weissbluth extinction method, and the pick up put down method.
You don’t have to stick to ONE sleep training method. Just keep your goal in mind (getting your baby to self soothe), and do your research.
Click here to read–> Why We Did Cry it Out With our Baby, And Why We’d Do it Again
For even more resources, check out these great blog posts:
Sleep Train Without Crying, by Team Cartwright