Comments on: French parenting Cliff’s Notes: La Pause

By: Whitney

Whitney — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 20:56:27 +0000

It’s interesting that two different perspectives (observe and follow baby’s rhythms AND Babywise/teach baby the rhythm of our existing daily life) both see their own practices reflected here.

By: Liz

Liz — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 04:58:08 +0000

Oops…observe *baby* and follow his lead…sorry!

By: Liz

Liz — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 04:56:32 +0000

It sounds reminiscient of RIE, founded by Magda Gerber. You basically observe any and follow his lead, respecting baby, etc. It is a very interesting philosophy. Janet Lansbury writes a popular parenting blog about it.

My baby is 3.5 months and sleeping in a pack n play in our room, partly because I’m not ready to put him in his room he will share with my 2.5 yr old son. Baby stirs and snarfs at night sometimes, seeming like he’s waking up but usually quiets down. I usually only get him if he starts protesting that he is actually really hungry. Otherwise I let him work it out and it is going well so far.

By: Caryn@healthy-family.org

Caryn@healthy-family.org — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 02:25:41 +0000

I really enjoyed your review of this book. After having 4 kids I’ve noticed a complete difference in my own parenting style. We don’t cater to our last baby like we did to our first, who couldn’t sleep through the night until he was over 6 months old. Our youngest is not at all fussy and really goes with the flow. She’s been sleeping through the night at least 8 hours since she was less than two months old. Sometimes she’ll wake and play a little bit before she falls back asleep.

By: LeahB

LeahB — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 00:21:58 +0000

I find it amusing that this book has become so popular, but there’s still such a backlash against other books that say basically the same thing: you can teach your baby to sleep, it’s ok to expect them to learn to sleep through the night, crying won’t hurt them, the parent is in charge, not the baby, etc., etc.. If I tell people I followed the Babywise books, I get criticized for it (though if you actually read those kinds of books, they never say to deny your child food or leave them to cry for hours on end). It’s never easy, but if you want the kinds of results described in Bringing Up Bebe, you mainly have to make a plan and STICK TO IT, not give up after a short time and say it didn’t work. I didn’t just luck out and have kids who are good sleepers—they learned how to fall asleep and stay asleep without my help.

Whew, sorry for the rant.

By: Ali

Ali — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 23:16:39 +0000

My daughter started sleeping for long stretches and through the night very early on. I was amazed at how good of a sleeper she was. I think part of this is just her personality, but I also think it has to do with “la pause” as she is calling it. I actually referred to it as “fussing it out” rather than “crying it out”. Crying it out implies that you let your child cry for an extended period of time until they..what?…exhaust themselves into sleep? Give up? Very early on I made sure not to respond to every little squeek and sound she made and accepted that she was working on sorting herself out. At about a month old we started sleep training each other even though I had no intention of starting until she was 3 months old. She wasn’t nursing herself into unconsciousness anymore and she started being more awake when I layed her down. Instead of picking her back up and starting the rocking/nurse cycle again I gave her a pacifier, rubbed her belly and said good night. Everytime she spit it out and started to cry a little I went back, put the paci back in, put her hand on her belly for a moment and then left. Eventually she would start “fussing” and talking to herself rather than crying as she sorted herself out, and would drift off. She is now 3 months old and I lay her down awake each night now and she sleeps for 8 hours straight. Crazy!