"12 hours at 12 weeks" -- WTF?? - Page 3

[Amberoxy]

This post made me so sad!!! Who does this to a baby? On purpose? How can you look at those sweet little faces and think - "nope, I'm not feeding you. I don't care if you are hungry, I want to sleep." Makes me want to cry

I haven't read the book, just what I've read here - but, I had to do something so I wrote a review on B&N's website:

"A 12 week baby needs to be fed on demand - not on a schedule! Certainly not a 4 hour schedule! That is akin to child abuse!!! Please - don't buy this book!!! Teach your child to enjoy sleeping by providing a safe conforting environment for your child to sleep in. Every time your child wakes up, take that as an opportunity to show your child how loved and cherished your child is. This will give your child the gift of healty eating and sleep habits that will last a lifetime. Please - for your baby's sake - DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!!!!"

[wetcement101]

:

[DavinaT]

To feed the baby every 4 hours during the day so that "she gets used to being hungry, and it doesn't wake her up at night."???
If this was done to a prisoner it would constitute torture. If you starve an animal you are charged, prosecuted and forbiudden to ever keep an animal again.
Sounds like the perfect way to destory a childs trust, teach them to ignore one of the most basic needs for survival, stunt their emotional and physical growth and their metabolism in one go. If someone wanted a baby who has dumbed down his own needs and expressions from the get go - if a well-trained robot or a somneone who grows into an adult explosive with pent up rage is something they really really think is normal!! WFT????????????????
How would that women feel if someone starved her for 36 hours to teach her to get used to be being hungry and did that for years?? Makes me feel ill just thinking about this being done to a baby.
I wonder how many peope who were schedule fed as babies and left to cry with hunger, have serious food issues today - anorexia, bulimia, hypoglycemia, food control, over control, BDD, food anxiety, food addiction, eating voraciously to fill emotional voids. It's all there and I see it around me every single day.
Now I want to recall a conversation I over heard with a colleague who had just returned from paternity leave (3 weeks) and was asked if 'the baby was good for them' - to which he replied: for us, of course he is perfect, just what we wanted . But if you mean is he convenient - of course not. Had we wanted conveneince, we would have got a cat'.
I thought it an excellent reply.
About 3 months later I heard the same person ask if the baby slept through the night - to which he replied, amazed "Oh No - that would be so strange' Than asked the person, puzzled - 'do you sleep through the night'. And of course most of us wake up at some point.
And I know BFD'ing mothers of twins who wake up hungry and eat during the night. Just like their babies do!
Saying a baby needs to be 'trained' to sleep by leaving them to express their fears and terrors is like saying that they need to be trained to eat by force feeding them til they'e sick!!!

[Mama.Pajama]

Originally Posted by mojobot2000

You feed the baby every 4 hours during the day so that "she gets used to being hungry, and it doesn't wake her up at night."

Man, I used to be friends with a girl who did the exact same kind of thing. She had an almost 2 year old and a newborn, and she also had a system.
According to her, you're only supposed to respond to babies' cries for the first 6 weeks, "so they know the world is a safe place." But after the 6 weeks is up, that's when you start Junior on a rice cereal/formula bottle at night and let him cry it out, because he'll "never learn to fall asleep by himself" if you don't do this. Also, you'd better not make the mistake of holding Junior all of the time either, like she did with her first DS, which totally spoiled him into thinking that she was going to hold him like that all the time, god forbid. When she got pregnant with #2, she just had to put him down period and let him get used to it. And apparently you start "swatting" your baby as soon as he does something you think is inappropriate behavior, which in her older DS's case would be when he is just over a year old. It goes without saying that both of her sons were cut off the breast at 5 months.

My contention is that she cherry-picked her "wisdom" from various friends and family members, and of course those Similac baby development brochures (that suggest exactly and what kind your baby should eat, sleep, etc.).

[Lovinmum]

SO sad for those babies. My 12wo was sleeping 12 hours at night and know how?? I fed him when ever he wanted (which was sometimes ALL day) and he did it himself! Some babies are ready that young anyway, no need to starve them!! Even if they aren't you can't starve your baby!!

[nikkiethridge]

What a cruel and hateful thing to do to a baby.
I really wish you would have asked that lady what she does when he DD cries, I think she really needs to put her parenting choices into perspective. Basically saying 'So you let her starve and cry?' might actually make her STOP AND THINK. Are you going back to that group?

[dearmama22]

wow, how sad.

[hippiemommaof4]

People in this world really shock and disgust me.

[Gena 22]

As a new twin mother I was told I'd have to schedule my babes, that there was no other way. Which I took with a grain of salt. A stranger on the street recommended "12 by 12" so I checked it out. Read it through a couple times, tying to figure out how it could possibly work for us. Then I got it: it's totally anti-BF'ing. The author suggests that BF'ing mothers pump and feed from bottles so she'll know the babe is getting enough milk. 6 oz every 4 hours.

So, I'm supposed to sit down with my pump every 2 hours day and night, so that I have enough EBM to feed my twins their appointed "meals." Know how long that would last? Know how hard exclusive pumping is, and how messed up it is to try when there isn't a good reason to be separated from your baby?

Although I should have known better, I passed the book along to another new mom with the warning about BF'ing. She said she'd probably throw it out. I agreed.

It's hard to know what's right and what's totally off base as a new mom. But this is way out there.