Anyone use "12 hours sleep by 12 weeks" book by Suzy Giordano?

[Anonymous]

Teaching your kid to self-soothe and sleep well is a life-long value proposition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why does a four month old need to sleep 12 straight hours?

Not sure if they NEED to but it sure is nice!!! I don't believe that parents need to sleep suffer so they can talk about how much they sacrificed for their baby. Sleeping for 12 hours is not a health risk and if the baby couldn't do it, then they wouldn't. It's not like the baby is thinking, "hmm, mommy is trying a new sleep method so I must stay asleep for 12 hours". It doesn't work that way. If the method works for your baby (mine), then go ahead and use it. You will know very soon after starting if it will work. That said, I think it is easier to track amounts for a formula fed baby. Therefore, if you don't choose to use formula (we had no choice), then this method might not be right for you. I think that was the original question.

[Anonymous]

We have used Suzy's methods with both our kids whoe are very different personality wise and have had no issues. I think most who object to her methods do not really understand how it works and only look at the night training part where babies supposedly CIO. This is not a method for everyone but it worked for both my kids with almost no crying. I believe that happened because of the day training you do first, when you more or less get them on a schedule. I will say it's easier to do with formula or pumped milk (i did a combination of both). No you are not overfeeding your kid as a pp insinuated. Once they ate regularly during the day (every 3 hours at first and then up to 4 hours when they are older), on their own they started only walking up twice a night and usually around the same time. Gradually reducing the quantity of a feeding until that feeding is gone was done almost effortlessly. The whole point is that you are working with the baby and following their cues.

[Anonymous]

OP, you asked about Weissbluth. We didn't do CIO, and still found it helpful. Weissbluth basically explains what is developmentally appropriate week by week. The basic idea is that you do what you can do to ensure your kid is well-rested, and respect circadian rhythms. Make sure your kid sleeps well during the day. Bedtime shouldn't be too late. I am not anti-cio, but I cringe at parents who won't respect the kid's nap, have them nap "on the go" and then expect their 6mo to fall asleep for ten hours at 10pm and then want to CIO.

[Anonymous]

Without using any particular method, I just found that my son naturally started sleeping longer when he reached 11-12 lbs.

But FWIW, I DID try to hold off my son between feedings when I was breastfeeding- because I seriously couldn't handle having him attached to me morning, noon, and night. I was having a lot of medical problems that required surgeries, extended hospital stays, etc. I didn't want to become a human pacifier because I mentally and physically couldn't handle it. and didn't want him learning to rely on it since I was relying on other people to help me take care of him. So if I had just fed him at 10 AM and he was crying again at 11, I did everything I could to calm him down before feeding him again. Maybe I'm cruel, but if I could settle him back down, I did- before resorting to food. To me, "feed on demand" is rather subjective when you're talking about a 1 month old who can't talk. Crying does NOT always mean hungry. It simply doesn't. I'm not advocating going 4-5 hours between feedings, but it worked for me to try other methods of soothing (Happiest Baby on the Block) before resorting to the boob. I think we were all happier for it.

[Anonymous]

There should just be one page in the book which states:

Wait 12 weeks.

Too funny. Newborns should be fed on deman in the beginning. As their stomachs get bigger they will sleep longer stretches at night. Period. If you make bad habits of not learning anyway to pacify an older baby other than teet or bottle--you will have nighttime problems.

[Anonymous]

We didn't get any crying when using the method. DS wasn't hungry and didn't care if he had a wet or poopie diaper. So there was really no reason to wake up. I assume that we were 1/2 lucky with the type of kid he is and 1/2 effective at using the method. Either way, we're happy and would recommend it to other FF or pumping friends.

[Anonymous]

It only works if you have a kid that's ready to sleep 12 hours. Mine didn't until 18 months.

[Anonymous]

I am the 13:58 poster -- I also want to add that at first when baby sleeps through the night, it's not 12 hours. It's more like 8-10 hours. It gradually becomes about 12. The point is though that your kid is sleeping through the night from an early bedtime (ie not midnight) until about early am (6am ish).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have used Suzy's methods with both our kids whoe are very different personality wise and have had no issues. I think most who object to her methods do not really understand how it works and only look at the night training part where babies supposedly CIO. This is not a method for everyone but it worked for both my kids with almost no crying. I believe that happened because of the day training you do first, when you more or less get them on a schedule. I will say it's easier to do with formula or pumped milk (i did a combination of both). No you are not overfeeding your kid as a pp insinuated. Once they ate regularly during the day (every 3 hours at first and then up to 4 hours when they are older), on their own they started only walking up twice a night and usually around the same time. Gradually reducing the quantity of a feeding until that feeding is gone was done almost effortlessly. The whole point is that you are working with the baby and following their cues.

I'm one of the early PPs who objected and this is not true, for me at least. I have no objection to CIO--I did Weissbuth exctinction CIO at 14 weeks to help my DS learn to self soothe at bedtime! (BUT I still fed him if he woke up later in the night hungry!)

What I object to in this method is the strict scheduled feeds of only every 4 hours, 4 times a day. That might work okay for some formula fed babies, but for breastfed babies it's just a disaster and a recipe for a Failure to Thrive diagnosis. It's just not enough food, AND doesn't help the mother keep and build a supply at all, leading to even LESS food. As other posters have pointed out, breastmilk is digested faster and DESIGNED to be taken in smaller quantities more frequently.

Sure, some people have had success (probably luck) with this method. But the dangerous failure rate--too many babies diagnosed Failure to Thrive due to the feeding schedule--is what should scare people away from this method. I don't believe that any of the other CIO methods (Ferber, WEissbluth) have led to high rares of FTT if any, because they don't restrict feeding.

And for what it's worth, a lot of the other PPs are also probably right that babies naturally start to sleep longer around 12 weeks, so why risk it? Mine started sleeping 8-10 hours around 11-12 weeks, before any sleep training, which was plenty for me. (We only started sleep training to help him learn to FALL asleep on his own, and not have to be rocked for 1-2 hours by one of us.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And for what it's worth, a lot of the other PPs are also probably right that babies naturally start to sleep longer around 12 weeks, so why risk it? Mine started sleeping 8-10 hours around 11-12 weeks, before any sleep training, which was plenty for me. (We only started sleep training to help him learn to FALL asleep on his own, and not have to be rocked for 1-2 hours by one of us.)

Yeah, I saved sleep "training" for when baby was trainable-- after 5 mos and was de-swaddled and able to soothe himself. Up til that point, I just did the same routine- feed, change, burb, swaddle, rock to sleep, put in bed asleep. First he slept 2 hours, then 3, then 5, then 7.... it just got better and better with each passing week. My mom also has some magic touch that I hope I learn for my next one. Or her house is better for sleeping- because at her house, he learned to take 2 hr+ naps, and he learned to wake up at 7 am rather than 5 am.

[Anonymous]

OP. Please read the book and don't listen to people like the pp (14:53). The feeding schedule isn't every 4 hours 4 times a day regardless of how much they get. There is a number of ounces during those 4 feedings that is based on how much they need in a 24 hour period. PP makes it sound like if you only produce 1 ounce during one of the 4 feedings, then that's all they get. Of course that would lead to FTT.

People like to skew the facts in order to make their arguments. Do whatever works for you and obviously it is easier for FF babies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does a four month old need to sleep 12 straight hours?

Not sure if they NEED to but it sure is nice!!! I don't believe that parents need to sleep suffer so they can talk about how much they sacrificed for their baby. Sleeping for 12 hours is not a health risk and if the baby couldn't do it, then they wouldn't. It's not like the baby is thinking, "hmm, mommy is trying a new sleep method so I must stay asleep for 12 hours". It doesn't work that way. If the method works for your baby (mine), then go ahead and use it. You will know very soon after starting if it will work. That said, I think it is easier to track amounts for a formula fed baby. Therefore, if you don't choose to use formula (we had no choice), then this method might not be right for you. I think that was the original question.

No but before you decide to go with it check out some research https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4992662/

[Anonymous]

We did it and thought it had great advice. She follows Weissbluth's advice for drowsy but awake. You gradually reduce night feedings. Ours was sleeping through the night around 14 weeks, but then regressed and was waking up for a few months at 5 am wanting to eat, and would go back to sleep until 7 am.

We never got on a 4 hour feeding schedule; always fed every 3 hours/on demand. It still worked.

The idea is to split your day into a 7am-7pm and 7pm to 7am schedule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Am I an idiot, or is there some reason it would be important for a 12-week-old to sleep 12 hours other than convenience for the parents?

I'm thrilled to pieces that my 3-month-old is sleeping 9-10 hours a night. Isn't that good enough?

It's just because OP is lazy and doesn't want to wake up to feed her infant.