A Little Plug

A conversation with a few friends got me thinking about this again...

From the very first weeks of Ella's life we've tried to establish healthy routines for her. In all of my research and all my experience working with children I've found that this is what they thrive on. In order to do this, we decided to impliment the techniques outlined in Babywise. Essentially it helps you to help your baby get into a routine of sleep/eat/wake while helping you learn what your baby's cries mean and learn how to better meet their needs. It also helps your baby learn to sleep, which was an added bonus for us. Countless mothers that I know have used this with children of all different personalities and have had similar, positive results. (There are a lot of people out there, writing outlandish criticizms of the book. Many a claim which I've found to be downright lies. So...don't knock it until you have at least READ it for yourself and at best, tried it.)

Ella has a great routine throughout the day. It is the same sleep/eat/wake cycle we started her on when she was an infant, there were just many more cycles of it when she was younger!
~She wakes up 7 or 8 a.m./eats breakfast/plays.
~Naps/wakes up/eats lunch/plays.
~Naps/wakes up/eats a snack,/plays/has dinner/bedtime routine/in bed by 6-6:30 out like a light. Sleeps through the night. Always.

It keeps us all healthy and happy. She gets the sleep her little brain needs to develop, we all know whats coming next which keeps chaos from ever ensuing and it definitely helps Jason and I keep a great relationship going because we have every evening after 6:30pm to spend together.

And Ella knows her routine well. For instance, if she ever starts getting fussy in the evening (which she was just prior to this video), all you have to do is tell her whats happening next, she'll sign it and light right up, then it's one happy kiddo again and off to the tub!

There's my plug for Babywise...go ahead, give it a try! And enjoy this little video while you're at it!