"No Cry" sleep method is actually working!

rae430

Wanted to do a PSA for people considering "no cry" sleep methods- it took a long time for us to get it down but it is ACTUALLY WORKING. I can't even believe it. I'm reading a book right now for the first time in 4 months!! Anyway, for those considering it, here's what we did:

- continued to do a very structured bedtime routine every night

- drowsy but awake for two weeks, including naps

- modified "pick up, put down"- I put him down drowsy and left the room. The second he started getting upset, I went back in and held him until he calmed. A minute later, I put him down, whispered "I love you, goodnight" and left. Rinse and repeat. It took 10-15 tries the first night.

- then did "pick up put down" with him totally awake for two nights. On night three, I put him down, and he talked himself to sleep for 10 minutes

We all know our babies' personalities, and I just didn't feel that mine would be a good candidate for CIO- he is easily overstimulated and very stubborn. He is still waking 1-2 times to feed but it is a HUGE improvement over it taking 1.5 hours for him to go to sleep and then waking every two hours all night long. Just wanted to give a good review for anyone else that wants to try a no cry method!

Sammadden27

Thanks for posting. I've never heard of this method and I think it would be great for my son. When he gets really deep into a cry it just gets worse and worse to the point where all i can do is feed him to calm down. I'll have to try this method!

rae430

@Sammadden27- that's the reason I didn't think CIO was right for us. He works himself into a hyperventilating frenzy within minutes and it's impossible to get him to relax. I want him to be as calm as possible at bedtime! Hope it works for you!

tjurado10

I'm going to try this out!

Curlygirl84

So good to hear this! I don't think CIO would work for my babe or that I could bear it. I've tried pick up put down a couple times but I usually give up and nurse to sleep after 3 or so failed attempts. Sounds like I need to be much more patient!

Knottie76365376

I do this same method with my son! I agree that it works great- my heart swells when I hear him coo himself to sleep:). I still rock him to sleep in the rocker a few times a week- mostly because I love the feeling of holding him while he falls asleep:)

kkokeefe

Great job! We used the no cry sleep solution with ds2 and it was great, I wish I had used it sooner.

rae430

Update- now it's three nights of 11-12 hour sleep with one feed around 1 am. I feel like a person again!!

scharle3

I'll have to try this out. I tired the CIO method a little over the weekend.. It worked Sat morning at about 7 am, he it only took him about 5-7 to go to sleep after I put him down. He did cry, but it wasn't that bad. On the other hand, I tried the same method Sunday afternoon, after noticing he was sleepy and had eaten maybe an hour ago, would not go to sleep. He cried and cried. I wanted to try to see if it was going to work again, but he would not give in, When I thought the crying went down, he started back up, so I gave in after about 15 mins ( I gave him his binky about 2 times in those 15 mins). So I decided to feed him and he was knocked out in 5 mins. I put him down with no problem in his crib and he slept for about an hour and half.

marijaa333

Thanks again for this encouragement. We're making some progress too! Baby can now put himself to sleep (as in, I can lay him down totally awake and he'll just go to bed by himself within 20 minutes without crying).  However, he still wakes through the night to eat.  On to step #2.

cnamommyof2

rae430 said:

@Sammadden27- that's the reason I didn't think CIO was right for us. He works himself into a hyperventilating frenzy within minutes and it's impossible to get him to relax. I want him to be as calm as possible at bedtime! Hope it works for you!

Omg I thought we were the only ones!!! My lo has the shortest fuse ever!!! Once she gets a tiny bit mad there is no going back. She turns bright red holds her breath and Shakes! She sleeps very well at night, only waking up once to eat but she is in the Rock n play and getting to big. I need to transfer to the cradle but I'm too scared of losing what sleep I do get! (She tosses a lot in her sleep waking me up a million times a night lol

jessmaydvm

Thanks for this! I just started a method similar to this but I shush and pat him in his crib instead of picking him up...for some reason it works better for my LO to calm him. I am glad there is hope on the horizon!

Chichi93

My son was born with surprise CHD (congenital heart defects) and I can't do any kind of method of sleep. He wakes up every 2 hours. Sometimes every 30 minutes. I'm a zombie! But if he gets too worked up, which can take as little as 2 minutes, his heart beats so hard you can see it beating. It beats 150 times a minute on average so it's not good for him to get upset. So I have to get up as soon as he cries and take care of him which means feeding him because he eats a lot! I have to wait until after he is recovered from his first open heart surgery on the 30th of this month to be able to "unspoil" him as his cardiologist put it. She said she would even write a prescription for it. Lol. But my word.... I don't remember what real sleep is like.