CIO

Linzr0723

When did you all decide to try cio? I don't mean the full on cry it out, but for 5 minutes at at time, etc. I have a 22 month old and the most I did with her is 5 minutes at a time and it took her a while but she's a great sleeper now (12-13 hours a night) and now I have a 4 month old who will at the most do 4 hours then wake every 1 1/2-2 hours a night. I know he's still young and on top of of it all could be going through the 4 month wakeful period, but thought about trying to let him cry a little. When did you start? I'm just tired and thought my daughter was tough but at least she could do 6-8 hours at this point.

MLE_C2B

Didn't start it on purpose but had a horrid cold and NyQuil+exhaustion made me dead to the world. He cried I'm guessing 20 min before my mom climbed out of bed down her stairs and up to our side of the house she said she got to our stairs landing and he quit. The next night I heard him peep for about five. Then the next I heard nothing. It's been 3-4 blissful weeks of 10-8am sleep for all. No regrets, he seems happier than ever and well rested. We're 16 weeks now.

amom2four

My youngest daughter will cry until the end of time before she falls asleep. She has always been that way. From what I have seen of this little guy, he's going to be the same way and I just need to teach him another way.

T&HLove

IMO, 4 mo is too soon. I think closer to 6 mo is slightly better.

That being said, if baby is just fussing, I think it's okay to wait a few minutes to see if they're going to fall back asleep before going to them.

kristine618

I am with you Mama. I am so tired. Our LO is now 17 weeks. Pediatrician gave us green light at 4 months so we want to try soon. However, he's not sleeping in his crib yet and we feel like we need him there first. He is still in the Rock n' Play. We are going to try to transition him to crib this weekend and maybe try CIO next week or week after. My husband and I are both anxious people and don't sleep well generally, and neither of us can fall back to sleep after a feed without drugging ourselves with something. It's taking a toll, and I think he's ready. Hope it works!

HorseLover11

I don't understand why it's said that babies cannot self soothe until 6 months. I think we need to give them a chance to learn (I'm not saying let them cio for 10+ min but I think 5 is fine) - maybe I'm an exception to the rule but my lo has self soothed with her hands since about 8 weeks and had I not given her the chance she might not be getting as good as sleep as she is.

Daisy1232

I feel like CIO is such a broad term and it can be interpreted a lot of ways.  I do think that putting a baby down drowsy but awake and letting them fuss for less than 10 minutes is not going to cause harm.  My LO usually falls asleep after a minute or two.  CIO gets interpreted as "You're in your crib? Bye!" but I think that it is important for babies to learn to sleep on their own at some point.  

Edit: We do feed him every time he wakes at night, just with going to sleep we put him down drowsy but awake.  Don't drop nighttime feeding yet.

kristine618

@wingardiumleviosa - which current recommendations are you referring to regarding not doing CIO before 6 months? Pedi had us read Weissbluth's book which says 4 months.

Baby actually slept all night last night for the first time, so we may not need to do it anyway!