CIO (again)

Ricola

We decided to do CIO again. We had success at 6 months, but then he got teeth. Tried it again about a month and a half ago, but it didn't work. He has been sleeping in our bed from midnight for the past 3 weeks and just the last 3 nights he had to be held all evening long in order to sleep. If I tried to lay him down, he'd wake up and scream immediately. 

So today we went to see the pedi to rule out any ear infection/teething/whatever else could be bugging him and he is as healthy as can be - no new teeth in sight either. Pedi thinks it's an extreme case of separation (and also stranger) anxiety. 

He recommended to let him nap whenever he falls asleep and then tonight lay him down drowsy, but awake. Help with Benadryl if needed (not so sure what to think of that, to be honest).

So he didn't nap at all and actually stayed awake for 11 1/2 hours straight. When we lay him down, he woke up right away. We did 15/20/25 minute intervals with check ins.Took 20 minutes total for him to fall asleep, but he woke up again 30 minutes later. Took a total of 50 minutes of crying for him to fall back asleep :-( I really hope this is it for tonight, or at least until the early morning hours. My poor little guy. :-(

 

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Ricola

So far, so good *knocks on wood*. 

I never would have thought that we would still be dealing with sleep issues past 1 year. Yet, here we are. Hmpf. 

buddrfly421

We tried this late in the game when he started going through his seperation anxiety stage.

https://drjaygordon.com/attachment/sleeppattern.html

It's worked really well for us, and when he's having a bad night, or teething we just go back to a few of the steps.

Carrie3102

Ricola:

So far, so good *knocks on wood*. 

I never would have thought that we would still be dealing with sleep issues past 1 year. Yet, here we are. Hmpf. 

Good lord can I relate. 

Josephine was doing great, then out of nowhere at it again, it's not teeth, it's not illness.  Her barky cough is gone (it was due to the wood burner) and she's her normal self.  She just WILL NOT sleep.  I put her down drowsy but awake she cries for maybe 3 minutes... easy.

Our problem is the repeated middle of the night wakings.  Last night for instance, she was late to bed by about 20 minutes.  She was asleep by 8:53.  We went to bed at 9.  She was up at 10:30, 11:45, 1:30, and 3:30.  At 3:30 I gave in and brought her to bed.  She went right to sleep.  I'm so FREAKING tired, and FRUSTRATED. 

I feel like a horrible mom, what am I doing wrong, and why do I get so blasted frustrated?  Maybe because DH never hears her and sleeps through every episode of crying... I'm jealous. It takes me at least 20 minutes to get back to sleep.

rockychryslerb2010

I am a believer in CIO, it worked for us.  We just started STTN (around 13 months), 7:15pm-7:15am, but he was down to only one, maybe two night wake ups for nursing for the last 3-4 months.  We got into a horrible routine over the summer when teething was the worst for him, and by the end of Aug he was in our bed after the first wake up which he had pushed to as early as 12am sometimes.  We first did Ferber right around the 6 month mark, because we couldn't put him to sleep to start the night without holding, rocking for 45min and tip-toeing out of the room.  The first time we did Ferber, it took about 3-4 days of some really long crying sessions (23 min is nothing!) to finally get him to the point where he would fall asleep on his own. That was amazing because we didn't spend all night putting him to bed.

He started getting 6 teeth at once, so we let it go until end of Aug/early sept.  We did Ferber again, mainly for nighttime wakeups.  This time he really got it - didn't cry for more than 20-30 min the first night, barely any crying night 2.  Since then we can put E down drowsy, but awake, I actually talk to him as I leave the room - say goodnight, i love you, see you in the morning, close the door.  He might babble for a little, but no crying at all.  He might wake up 1-2x a night, but he it is just one cry over the monitor and back to sleep he goes.  I thought we would never get here.  Before we weaned nighttime feedings (started jan1), we would let him cry for 5 min before going in.  He would go back to sleep sometimes, other times, I'd go in and nurse, but I could still put him down awake and say goodnight as I left the room.

Ferber says they should get it within a couple days, if they don't, there might be another issue.  We also had to look at daytime sleep - E was a horrible napper.  We realized he was getting overtired, which made bedtime 10x worse.  We're at the point where he does one 2 hr nap, and bedtime is strict 715pm.  I stick to his schedule because it took us soo long to get to this spot, I don't want anything to mess with it.  So there is hope, just be consistent once you pick a plan.  If you haven't read Ferber's book, I suggest you do.  It made me more comfortable with CIO and it taught me so much more.

Ricola

Thank you for the encouragement! 

He didn't wake up any more last night and slept through the night until 6.30 am this morning! Heaven. 

I just put him down for his nap and he cried for 20 minutes. I hope he'll sleep for at least an hour. I am hopeful that it will work out this time!  

jesselayne8

Ricola:

Thank you for the encouragement! 

He didn't wake up any more last night and slept through the night until 6.30 am this morning! Heaven. 

I just put him down for his nap and he cried for 20 minutes. I hope he'll sleep for at least an hour. I am hopeful that it will work out this time!  

I'm glad you had a better night! Hopefully it did the trick long term!! 

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

iluvmylab

I'm sorry.  I should probably do it too, but the crying makes it worse for everyone.  If he wakes up in the middle of the night, we all get more sleep and wake up much happier.  Since DH and I both work, I do not want to just let him CIO when he wakes up in the middle of the night.  We tried it for awhile when he was around 9 months old, but he just cried harder and harder.  Plus I have guilt about not getting to spend time with him during the day and I worry he's just crying because he misses us.  Probably stupid, but that's the way I feel.  

So I guess I have no real advice, LOL.  Just know you are not alone. 

Ricola

Thanks again! 

It seems to be working so much better than last time we've tried! Last night he cried fo 15 mins first, then woke up 2 hours later and cried for another 40, but slept through until almost 7 am this morning! 

Now he cried 10 mins for his nap and is asleep since almost an hour! I definitely see an improvement. I hope this continues to get better!