baby crying? How to have a happy baby that doesnt cry and sleeps through the night.

I have two boys - and two very different experiences. The first had no routine, I let him fall asleep while feeding (big no-no as they wake up looking for it and cry), and put him in bed with a bottle later (also a big no-no for several reasons). I

never gave him a dummy. I used controlled crying if he woke in the night. Although he slept beautifully at night he did not settle on his own and did not sleep well in the day. He cried and grizzled all day and I was never really able to enjoy him until he was about 6 months old! It took until he was 3 to break the habit of going to bed with a bottle! My second son is now 4 months. I used the Gina Ford routine (Contented litte baby by Gina Ford) from day one. He only woke once in the night and by 6 weeks he was sleeping through to 7am. It is an old routine (I was raised on it) but Gina has put into an easy to read book. My baby goes to bed,goes straight to sleep and sleeps solidly until I wake him. It was recommended to me by a friend amd I in turn have recommended it to several new mothers. It is a lifesaver if you are a working mum too! Also my husband has never gone to work exhausted so he swears by the routine too. You have to be disciplined but the rewards are worth it. Comments like "wow isn't he happy!" And "doesn't he ever cry?" are very common for us. He doesn't cry because the routine enables me to know whether he is hungry,tired or just has wind. You have to follow rhe routine 100% though or you will wonder why its not working. My version of the main features of the routine are: Not letting your baby stay awake for too long - the majority of first babies cry because they are tired. When you put them in bed and they don't sleep you think "he's not tired so maybe he's hungry" - but he may actually be overtired! If you put them in bed even 5 minutes too late they may not settle and they will grizzle for another hour. Typically at this point we feed them and they fall straight to sleep - only to wake up not long after being put to bed. This is the start of a bad sleeping habit. Newborn babies can stay awake for about an hour and a half, between 1 month and 6 months they can stay awake for about two hours. Look carefully for signs of tiredness at this time. Signs include: •Yawning (sometimes comes after the other signs-by this time it can be too late)

 •Red rimmed eyes (this is my babys most obvious sign) •Grizzling, a low pitch grumpy sounding cry. •Rubbing eyes (only happens when they have control over their hands) •long blinks Falling asleep on the breast is not necessarily a sign of tiredness-my sleepy baby always fell asleep when I fed him-even if the breast was full. If he has been awake for less than an hour he probably isn't tired. He has only stopped being sleepy now at 4 months. Best to just sit them up,wind them, change diaper and carry on feeding. Another aspect to the routine is feeding the baby a full feed when they wake up from a nap and timing the sleeps around their feeds. This way they are never so hungry that they are crying, and they are never so tired that they don't feed well. This also prevents snack feeding and lactose overdose (which can come from too much foremilk being drunk and not emptying the breast). So the result is not only a happy baby but one who is chubby and growing well. If the baby is having enough milk in the day they don't wake up hungry at night. Feed your baby until they are so full they are spitting the nipple or teat out of their mouth! They will then last a few hours before they are hungry again. Make sure the feed doesn't take more than 45 mins (even if you don't think they got enough) as it will put them off the next feed. If you wait until the baby cries before feeding him,it can be about half an hour after he is actually ready for a feed. Subsequently each feed is delayed by half an hour and you end up feeding in the night! I can't tell you all the wonderful advice in the book - I urge you to buy it for yourself and see the difference. You will have more free time and you will enjoy your baby so much more. The rest of your family will also appreciate your calmer attitude and you can spend more quality time with them. My husband and I have the evening to ourselves because the baby goes to bed at 7pm and our 3 year old goes to bed at 8pm. Since having the baby I still have not needed to go to bed during the day for a sleep because I get enough sleep at night-its great :)