Babywise was the first parenting book I read when I was expecting. I think the book has some good ideas, but lacks a lot of nuance. Keep reading to see the pros and cons of Babywise and if you should follow this method.

Before I was even pregnant, I had heard so many horror stories about babies’ sleep (or lack thereof) and the constant sleep deprivation that new parents faced.
I figured it was just a part of being a new parent.
And then I talked to my sister in law. She had two kids under the age of two and they were the best sleepers I knew. Her kids slept 7 pm–7 am every night and had little or no sleep associations.
Whenever I babysat her boys, they went to sleep easy and stayed asleep. I was intrigued about what magical voodoo she had done to her kids so they slept through the night and went down easy.
She told me she followed the Babywise method, based on the popular book. So when I got pregnant, I got the book and quickly started reading.
What is Babywise?
The premise is fairly simple and includes a few main components. Here’s a brief summary:
Eat Wake Sleep
Baby follows an eat play sleep cycle. This helped me to separate feeds from sleep, even if by a quick diaper change so I never got into the habit of feeding my baby to sleep.
Full Feeds
I worked really hard to keep my baby awake while she took a feeding so she would hopefully take more at each feed, as opposed to snacking throughout the day. There are lots of strategies to keep baby awake during a feed, and it can be challenging!
Wake Windows
I watched the clock like a hawk while paying attention to my baby’s sleep cues and her wake windows. I prioritized getting her down for sleep within that time, in the hopes that she wouldn’t get overstimulated and would fall asleep easier.
Prioritize Feeds
This was one of the hardest parts to follow. The book recommended feeding baby every 2 to 3 hours, and even waking baby up from sleep in order to not go to long between feeds.
I quickly learned to throw the term never wake a sleeping baby out the window. Waking my daughter up in order to get those feeds helped her to get enough feeds during the day so she slept longer at night.
Pros to Babywise
I learned some great foundations for sleep and overall it did help me to establish routines and consistency.
Learn Good Sleep
Following the methods really did lead to my baby sleeping longer stretches at night.
In general, sleep begets sleep and babies who are well rested will generally eat better and be less fussy throughout the day.
Evelyn slept about 8 hours a night at 11 weeks and 12 hours around 14 weeks. This means I was well rested and able to be a better mom and human overall.
No Sleep Props
My baby learned to fall asleep independently and she stayed asleep. If she happened to wake up in the middle of the night after a certain age, she was able to fall back asleep on her own (unless she needed a feed.)
I can count on one hand how many times Evelyn woke up crying in the middle of the night once she started to sleep through the night.
Predictable Routines
I had a predictable routine so I could make plans around my baby’s sleep schedule. There’s no guessing when my baby might or might not go to sleep (for the most part).
Leaving my daughter with a sitter or other caregiver was fairly easy because I could leave a detailed schedule of when naps and feeds generally needed to be. My dad started watching Evelyn when she was 14 weeks old and he was amazed how she would go to sleep in her crib at the nap times I laid out for him.
Avoid Sleep Training and Sleep Regressions
We set up independent sleep habits early on. This meant we never had to sleep train!Sleep regressions were also pretty minimal (though they did still pop up.)
Cons
The concepts seemed so simple and I wanted it to work SO BADLY. But the way that the book is written makes it seem like if you follow it, then sleep will come easy.
It didn’t take long for me to realize that babies have their own opinions and don’t always follow a formula.
I feel like the book should have a caveat that says: “Babies are not robots. This book is a guide but remember that each baby is going to be a little bit different.”
As a new mom, I needed a little more reassurance that things wouldn’t be so cut and dry with my baby’s sleeping routines and reminders that these things can be so nuanced.
Hard Work
Implementing Babywise is a lot of work. The book makes it seem like it will be really easy, but it isn’t!
I had to be really consistent in establishing good sleeping patterns in the beginning. Sometimes that meant helping my baby fall asleep and sometimes it meant changing her schedule to work for her.
There is a lot of troubleshooting and experimenting with wake windows that goes into it. (But that’s true of good sleep).
Baby’s Schedule is Priority
If you want to commit to having a predictable routine, then you revolve your day around your baby’s schedule.
Evelyn napped at nearly the same time every day since she was three months old. So if people made plans around that time, I usually wouldn’t go. I protected those good naps, because I knew it meant a happier baby who would sleep better at night.
Too Vague
I felt like the book was way too vague. It laid out this great idea and a really basic plan of how to achieve it. But I needed more specifics.
I had to read several other sleep books and piece things together on my own to really figure out how to go about implementing a schedule that worked for us.
This could just be me, but when I read a book and it claims certain things can happen, then I expect those things to happen!
Babywise says some babies can sleep 12 hours in 12 weeks, so when we weren’t there at 13 weeks, I felt like I was doing something wrong.
Now as a sleep consultant, I know that is not the norm!
What Age Can I Start Babywise?
There’s no hard and fast rule for when to start implementing the concepts of Babywise.
Newborns are so sleepy in the beginning, so it’s hard to start Babywise until they start to wake up more.
Babywise recommends ignoring the clock completely and feeding on demand for the first two to three weeks.
After that, you can start whenever you feel ready. Don’t feel rushed to start too early. You can start to implement the eat / wake / sleep cycles and add wake times and nap time from there.
Babywise Controversy
I feel like I should address the controversy around the book and my two cents on it.
When I casually mentioned Babywise to friends, you would have thought I decided to put my baby in a corner and ignore her for all of time.
That was my first clue that there are a lot of opinions on parenting and sometimes it’s just better to keep quiet on the methods you choose.
There are a lot of misconceptions surrounding the Babywise book. I think it’s controversial for a two reasons.
Strict Schedules
Putting baby on a feeding schedule can be rigid. Sometimes babies are hungry outside of that feeding time.
As a new parent, some people may take these schedules too religiously and have a hard time following their baby’s clues.
My advice is to keep feeds 30 minutes away from sleep and try to get in full feeds. Don’t worry as much about the time on the clock when it comes to feeds.
Crying
As I mentioned earlier, Babywise does discuss babies crying for a few minutes before falling asleep and this is often referred to as cry it out. It’s not the bulk of the book and I was still able to follow it without doing cry it out.
I think the book is trying to say, listen to your baby’s cries and determine if they are actually hungry, or if they are just really tired and fighting sleep.You can definitely follow other parts of Babywise and still not do cry it out.
Overall, setting up good sleep is is a lot of work but I think it’s worth it! Evelyn’s been sleeping 10 to 12 hours since she was 14 weeks old, which means we are all well rested and able to tackle the day.
If you have any questions about the Babywise method, leave them in the comments below and we’ll help you troubleshoot.


Hi! Thanks for sharing yours experience. I have a 7 week old and I have been following the baby wise method. I only pump and give him the bottle. He’s sleeping well from 12 am to 630 am but not exactly as the book says. He wakes up around 4 am to eat then wakes up again around 630. My challenge is my body naturally wakes up every 3 hrs and I need to pump. If I don’t pump by 4 hrs I will be in pain and get blocked ducts. Did you experience this as well? This is difficult because I can’t get a good night sleep.
Thanks.
Faye
Hi Faye,
I’m sorry, I didn’t experience that. I wasn’t able to breastfeed my daughter once she started sleeping longer stretches so never had to wake to pump.
-Amy