sleeping a disaster after vacation

heatherfaith

My 18 mo was sleeping great and taking great naps. Put himself to bed with a smile. Untill vacation! When we were away he slept with me in a bed and I layed with him when he went to bed. Now were in a disaster. He stands and screams and cries if I leave the room. He does this for naps and bedtime. It take almost an hr for him to go to bed and I have to stand in his room. Im assuming only CIO would work. I hate that but I might have no choice. My question is do you go in or just let them cio till they fall asleep? I feel like going back in just works him up even more. Any advice would be appreciated.

SmrBrd2012

There are different types of CIO. I'd recommend reading Ferber's book before implementing it. The more popular CIO method seems to be to go in at increasing intervals of time to reassure LO that you are there, with the max interval of not checking being 15 or 30 min, depending on what you are comfortable with. The most I did was 15 min intervals and it worked fine, but my LO was 7-8 months at the time.

karlimonster

When our son was 5-6 months and we wanted to teach him to fall asleep on his own we checked on him in increasing intervals. When we went for sleeping through the night (~11 months) I tried going in to comfort him and it made it so much worse. I left him be and he slowly got more quiet and was asleep within 30 minutes. I think night 3 the crying stopped. Since then I've developed somewhat of an ear for cries that really need attention and sounds that don't mean anything and I'm sure you can tell the difference too. Our pediatrician did give me ear plugs and said he would scream like some one was cutting off his limb so be prepared  I hope that isn't the case for you. Since he slept well before I think he will get back into the swing relatively quickly. 

TwizBeans

Can you try having your SO or husband go in? When my 22 month old daughter does this at bedtime I have DH go in and she is an angel for him.

Otherwise I would do interval checks. Leave your LO for 15-20 min, go in, rub his back tell him you love him then leave again. I would never recommend just leaving your LO to cry for an extended period of time. Especially as they get older and more aware of what's going on.

Whatever you do, consistency is key. Night after night.