They won't hate me...RIGHT?

CrawltheWarriorKing

Started CIO last night and I only cried once...I guess that's good?  I'm having a hard time with the CIO but my H (who's the one that gets up in MOTN with the twins) is all for it.  It benefits him and I understand why he wants to but it's heartbreaking.  We've tried other things that haven't worked.

DS wakes up 1 to 2 times/night for a bottle which I guess deep down I know he doesn't need.  He already gets 26-30oz during the day plus 2 meals.  DD sometimes STTN but the last week she's been waking up for a bottle as well.  We spoke with the doctor yesterday and, like my H thought, she confirmed that they are not hungry and will be ok to CIO for a few days to break the habit.

Needsless to say I barely slept since I was so anxious...even whispered to DS and DD before bedtime to please not wake up so I wouldn't have to hear the crying!  DS still woke up twice and DD once...that was rough but ear plugs and Shania Twain helped some!

Looks like it's going to be a long weekend/week ahead.  Feel free to tell me that my babies won't hate me and won't remember this

MammaBear81

I hope this doesn't come off the wrong way (I don't know how else to say it), but there are many different CIO techniques and none of them involve putting ear plugs in, turning up music and ignoring them - I hope you just left out the parts where you went in to check on them etc. but if you didn't, please go read a book or two about how the CIO method really works.  Sorry if I offended you but I can't imagine ignoring a child until they pass out from exhaustion.

alstumb@gmail.com

Don't let anyone make you feel bad about this. Checkins don't work for all babies...my son would have a FIT if I went in to check on him and didn't get him out of his crib. We had to let him CIO for two nights and he started STTN. I waited until I knew that he didn't need to be eating in the middle of the night. It worked for us.

We did CIO at 8 months. He's now 13 months and sleeps 1112 hours a night...and doesn't hate us. :

KathrynMD

I did CIO w/ my DD when she was 4.5 months old, pediatrician advised it and even suggested just doing straight CIO w/o the Ferber checks and said it was the quickest way for LO to start STTN (for her own health).  I never put on earplugs or music; I just sat right outside her door - I wouldn't have felt right not listening to her.  FWIW - it took 3 nights for her to totally STTN, the 1st night was horrible, 2nd was much better, 3rd night was barely a blip.

She's healthy, we have a strong relationship (and w/ a few exceptions, she's alwsays slept well and easily).

When we did CIO, she was not eating when she woke up, she would eat for a minute or two and then fall right back asleep.  I'd probalby would have tried to taper her bottles if she was still drinking a full bottle when she woke up, but she really shouldn't need them.

jnealet

We did CIO with D1 and she would get extra pissy when I went into check on her, so we just let her go.  She's been a great sleeper since then, for almost 3 years.  Don't get me wrong, she has her nights but 99% of the time she just sleeps.

We did CIO with D2 and she screamed bloody murder for hours.  So we just get up with her now and hope that one day she'll sleep.

CrawltheWarriorKing

MammaBear81:

I hope this doesn't come off the wrong way (I don't know how else to say it), but there are many different CIO techniques and none of them involve putting ear plugs in, turning up music and ignoring them - I hope you just left out the parts where you went in to check on them etc. but if you didn't, please go read a book or two about how the CIO method really works.  Sorry if I offended you but I can't imagine ignoring a child until they pass out from exhaustion.

I'm not offended.  When they first started crying H went in to make sure they were ok and no limbs were stuck   I also went in once they stopped crying to make sure they were settled and had what they needed around them (paci, blankie etc.).

I can't stand listening to a baby cry, I immediately want to comfort them or give them whatever they need to stop which is obviously not what CIO is about so it's easier on us if H handles it and I try to tune it out and cry softly in a corner!

CrawltheWarriorKing

alstumb@gmail.com:

Don't let anyone make you feel bad about this. Checkins don't work for all babies...my son would have a FIT if I went in to check on him and didn't get him out of his crib. We had to let him CIO for two nights and he started STTN. I waited until I knew that he didn't need to be eating in the middle of the night. It worked for us. We did CIO at 8 months. He's now 13 months and sleeps 1112 hours a night...and doesn't hate us. :

Thanks   We had a conference call with the doctor and she assured us that DS especially was able to go 10 hours without eating.  They get their last bottle at 8pm and this morning when DS woke up he wasn't crying/screaming for a bottle.  I changed him while he was smiling and talking to me and then a few minutes later gave him his 1st bottle.  Same thing with DD 20min later so it's not like they woke up starving because they didn't get their MOTN bottles, which is slightly comforting!