CIO MOTN

AKOL0

My baby is about to turn 5 months and is still waking up every 2 hours at night. I know some people think parents should wait until babies are 6 months old to Ferber, but my baby is big enough that she should be sleeping all night.

We started CIO 3 nights ago. First night she cried for almost an hour, then almost 40 mins, and then 35 last night. Now in the middle of the night I don't know what to do. The first night she woke up 3 times. The first time we rocked her to sleep taking almost an hour. The other 2 times I just fed her. The second night she only woke up twice which I fed. Now last night she woke up like 6 times. I was so tired I fed her every time. Hub didn't even attempt to help.

What should I do in the MOTN? I really really really want a full nights sleep. Oh and she is teething so I know that keeps waking her up.

sdevinci

I debated on responding cuz I'm not sure if I will be much help. At DD's 4 month check up dr. said she should only need to eat once or twice at night. Any other time she would wake up it was her needing to be "helped" back to sleep. So DH and I agreed to sleep train as best we could. Now after she goes to bed I won't go in to her until after 4 hours have passed. That way I am fairly certain she is waking up to eat not just for me to let her use me as a human pacifier. As of now she will wake up 3 or 4 times a night. Only twice do I go in to feed. Usually around 1 or 2 and then again around 4 or 5. I will admit the first 2 or 3 nights were rough cuz she was use to me responding to her cries right away (every 2 hours) but now if she wakes up around 10 or 11 she will fuss and lightly cry maybe 5-10 mins then she's back to sleep until 1 or 2. I hope that helps some! We have not gone through teething yet though either. I'm not sure what I will do then. Good luck and I hope u get some rest soon!

AKOL0

Thank you. I think that is what we'll have to do. It is hard because she is in her crib in our room. Last night it was after 4.5 hours and then every 2. I planned to feed her at least once a night.

Also the first 2 nights we had music playing and last night it stopped after a few hours. Thank you again and any other advice or welcomed.

wheresilenceismusic

We tried CIO when LO was between 3-4 mos old. It helped her sleep more deeply and wake up fewer times, but when she woke up, she was hysterical. I then read that babies' cortisol levels remain sky-high after CIO and can affect them all night, which is what I believe happened to Hazel. So we began cosleeping (it was the only way I could cope with her wakefulness).

I don't have advice regarding CIO other than best of luck!

As far as teething -- Hazel was Very Needy for the two weeks her two bottom teeth were cutting through. Now that they are a few millimeters high, she is back to her normal self. She only wakes up once each night to eat.

Know that once the teeth begin cutting, they come in quickly. It is a short phase. You might want to wait until after teething for no cuddles at night. Hylands tablets may help.

We are going to start sleep training again soon.

AKOL0

It's like her teething never stops. She already is working on her 4th tooth. This 4th seems more sensitive then the others.

Last night she did amazing though. She sleep for a full straight SEVEN hours! It felt amazing. Plus she didn't even fight last night to sleep.

Thank you for letting me know your experience.

AziaNick

Our doctor recommended taking it one sleep schedule at time and be consistent. So we are working on her 1st sleep time which Is at 8-9, we Feed her a bottle around that time, give her rice cereal, let her unwind and read a book. She still wakes up throughout the night, but she is getting on a better schedule. We are going to move to her next sleep time next week. We have been doing the cry out method and sometimes is works and sometimes it doesn't you definitely don't want to pick baby up too soon BUT you don't want to pick baby up waaaayyy later either, they are dealing with separation anxiety and they can develop bad attachment styles later on. I would take it day by day and don't worry! Baby will get there good luck!

SnarkasaurusRex

Our ped recommended having a set bedtime routine to make sure that bubs knows it is nighttime and time to sleep for a while. Starting at 8 he gets either a bath or just a massage with the nighttime Aveeno baby lotion (we only do a bath every other night). Then we feed, read a book, and snuggle until he gets sleepy. Most of the time I snuggle him until he falls asleep, but DH usually puts him down sleepy but awake and he will fall asleep on his own fairly easily.

When we first started sleep training he only got up once, around 3-4, to feed. If he wasn't all-out crying and just fussing and whining, we would let him have at it for 10-15 minutes before we went in there (if he started all-out crying, which is rare for him, we went straight in). For a few nights, we got up with him and just feed him a little snack and then put him back to bed. Then we got up with him and snuggled until he fell back asleep without feeding for a week or so. Then he would wake up, fuss for 5 minutes, then fall back asleep for a couple of nights, and after that he started sleeping through the night pretty consistently.

Now, nap time, on the other hand, is a complete disaster, haha. He's awake pretty much all day (he'll usually take 3-4 catnaps of less than an hour or so), but I'll take that if he keeps sleeping through the night.

Good luck!

wheresilenceismusic

AKOL0 -- Are LO's top teeth coming in?  What was the interval of time between the bottom and the top?

I am scared of LO's top teeth.  Once she gets those, she will really be able to bite!

AKOL0

Umm her teeth started to grow at 2 months. It finally popped at 3 months. The second came in a week later. The top started coming in 2 weeks later but stopped. I think her 3rd tooth came in a month after her second tooth. Like I said before, it seem like her teething never stops.

I got lucky with nursing. She'll bit me every once in a while (which hurts a lot worse) but she'll know to stop when I tell her no.

lilyan1522

We've been doing a controlled CIO using a "check system". (I got this from a friend who hired a professional to help sleep train her baby at 4.5 months) It's been working well for us. Dax goes down around 6:30-7 after our usual sleep routine. I put him to sleep drowsy but awake. He doesn't fight it at night, goes down super easy. I put 1 stuffed animal in the crib with him to help him self soothe during the night. Always play continuous white noise. I also have him in the Merlin sleep suit. I set my feeding threshold for 5 hours. If he wakes before 5 hours I do not feed him, but rather let him cry for 5 mins, then go in and soothe him (rub belly, shhhh, tell him I'm there,etc for no longer than 1 minute) and leave the room. Then extend the time to 7 mins, then 10, then 15, etc (I've never had to go beyond 10 mins of crying so far, been doing this almost 3 weeks now.) He almost always puts himself back to sleep after 5-10 mins. He doesn't always stop crying after I go in, but I still reset the clock for the next time interval. And if he stops crying and then restarts the time interval also starts over. Since I started this he sleeps for 6-8 hours and then wakes for a feeding between 1-3, and then goes back to sleep until 7ish. He usually has 1-2 wake ups where he has to CIO, but they're getting shorter and shorter. I think this method helps me feel more comfortable with CIO. I never planned to use CIO but when he hit 4 mos sleep regression I had no other choice. Sometimes he would wake up and nothing I would do was helping him anyways so I decided it was time. I'm glad I started doing it, I really think it it was he needed to learn to sleep. Hope this helps someone!