I need help with CIO definition

julia0402

C sleeps awesomely at night but recently naptime is a nightmare.  If I can get her down at just the right moment she'll go right to sleep without crying but that is really hard to do...

DH wants to let her fuss/cry for a bit to let her release tension or whatever, but I have a really hard time with that.  Once she's been crying for about 3 minutes I can't help it, I have to go in there because I KNOW she is too young to be doing CIO and I just can't let her stay upset...

Don't flame me, I want her to get her sleep that she needs, but I just don't want to damage the poor child!  How long can you let them "work it out" before it's considered CIO?

laur1120

True CIO is just letting them cry until they fall asleep- no checks, nothing.  I think most would agree that 5 or 10 minutes of crying is not CIO.  I think what you are doing is fine.  Give her a little bit of time to just fuss it out and if she works up into a cry I think it is fine to go soothe her.  You can work on it more when she is a bit older and able to self soothe better. 

EcoBaby

I would just trust your instincts. DH always tells me "we should just let him cry." But I really don't think he has the same instincts as me telling me that its not right. So if you can't handle it, don't do it.