How long to let 5 month old CIO?

mpct

We're trying to get our 5 month old to wean from middle of the night feedings/sleep through the night.  How long should I let her cry?  I'm going crazy from the lack of sleep!!!

ElizabethD

My understanding is the minimum age is 6 months for CIO.  But in my experience and my "view of the world" just as every adult is wired differently, every baby is too.  It may be asking TOO MUCh for your 5 month old to be sleeping the ngiht through at this point.  Perhaps wait a month and try again.

Heidisean

I couldn't do it that young...it broke my heart to see my infant crying.  I started CIO around 10 mo.

mpct

Then how do you get them to sleep through the night, or at least fall back to sleep without nursing them?

JOEBunny

I would wait until 6 months.  At 6 months, I seem to remember 45 minutes being the longest we had to go at a time.  In about 3 or 4 days, it was much shorter.  DD still crys herself to sleep at 2.5 years, but it takes about 30 seconds.

xbrooklyngrl

isn't that young to wean from night feedings?

eclaires

I'd recommend reading about it first - either Ferber's book or Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child or whatever it is called.

I think the sleep experts say it's fine between 4-6 months, actually, but I am not sure because I never researched it or did it.

gracendantho26

It is very likely your baby still needs to eat at night.

august0605bride

I can't do it! ?He co-sleeps instead

CubbyMama

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but in the most non-judgemental way possible, I have to say there are a lot less harsh ways to night-wean...have you tried the No-Cry Sleep Solution?  Even Ferber's book has ideas for how to taper off night feedings without just suddenly stopping and leaving them to cry in the middle of the night, b/c at that age, there's a good chance they're actually still hungry.  I've heard to try substituting a bottle of water for one night feeding at a time and see if they'll stop "bothering" to wake up since it's not as appealing as nursing. 

Personally, we did sleep training at around 6 months using the Sleep Lady method b/c DD wouldn't fall asleep without nursing AND wouldn't sleep for more than maybe 2 hours at a time, ever, but I still went to her in the middle of the night because I couldn't handle the idea of her feeling abandoned.  Five minutes of crying at 2am feels like eons, as I'm sure you've found!

jessicaclare

That's pretty young to wean from all night feedings. Some babies still need to eat in the middle of the night at that point.

 I would wait until 6 months at least to try CIO. 

UBMyBaby

I do CIO but not until 6 months and then in small increments.  I would let DC go any more than 5-7 minutes at first...then increase as they age. 

 

I think 5 months is too young to wean from a night feeding.  If they drop it, that's great but I would not wean night feedings that early. 

rach&jay

I sort of think that 5 months is too you to CIO.  Everything that I have read is 6 months minimum.  We are just now considering CIO for the baby that is almost 11 months, but I'm not ready to do that yet. 

*Lu-Lu*

Five months old is very young and your child just may not be ready to drop that feeding.  Stick it out a little longer.  Good luck!

Sulla

If I'm remembering right, even Weissbluth (HSHHC) says healthy babies may still need to eat at night until 9 months old. You might just be SOL. ;-)

kylara111

My dr just told me that babies don't need to eat past 4m.  I, personally, don't subscribe to that philosophy.  At that age, I would let DD cry for 5 min. max.  She just started STTN recently (9 months) and I'm okay with that.

eclaires

xbrooklyngrl:

isn't that young to wean from night feedings?

See I'm not sure - I thought I read it was better to wait to wean from all night feedings until 9 months old, but maybe she's only trying to cut out a few?

Also, to answer the OP's question, when Jackson woke up at 5months old, we just re-did his bedtime routine which was his aquarium + a paci and some pats/hugs and then put him down awake.  It took just a few minutes.  BUT I will say we would give him 5 minutes at that age to see if he was just fussing and would go back to sleep on his own.

I am probably very little help though b/c even if we offered a bottle at that point he would have refused it.

kylara111

For all those that said 6m is the earliest, I could swear that Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child I think says you can start as early as 6 weeks or something.  (no, I don't agree with that)

eclaires

kylara111:

For all those that said 6m is the earliest, I could swear that Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child I think says you can start as early as 6 weeks or something.  (no, I don't agree with that)

I think you're right - but I do think he says something different about night weanings.

The early CIO is meant to be for getting to sleep/self soothing but it also says you need to feed them at night (sometimes) until 9 months old.  There's a difference, I think.

This is all based off memory - I read it over 2 years ago.

rach&jay

6 weeks?  I think that's cruel, and really way too young. 

winery

We did CIO at 4.5 months, but we didn't do it to get out of night feedings; we did it so he would just sleep by himself for more than 10 minutes.

At 4-6 months, he still ate 3-4 times a night.  At 6 months, he went down to 2 times a night.  At 8 months, down to one night feedings, and just like Weissbluth said, he dropped his singular night feeding by himself at 9 months.

So even though we did CIO early, I still fed him throughout the night.  And he nursed to sleep until he was 11 months old and just decided he was done nursing and wanted to go in his crib.

Hopefully you'll continue feeding your child at night for as long as they need it.

gracendantho26

Is there anyway you and your DH can spilt up the nights so you can each get a solid block of sleep. My DH and I used to have to do that to preserve our sanity.

Samantha Thomas

I did CIO with my 1st son, but not until he was 12 months.  I couldn't stand the thought of him crying before that and he was a HORRIBLE sleeper.  When he was 5 months he was still getting up around 2-4 times at night to eat.  I guess he needed it though b/c he was never overweight and he ate well during the day too.  I'd read a book or talk to your pedi about the right amount of time before you try it.  I know going with little sleep is REALLY hard, but just remember it won't last forever. 

winery

I think I have that stupid book memorized.

Yes, he does say you can do CIO at 8 weeks if you need to go back to work, but that does not interfere with night feedings.

They are separate issues.

UBMyBaby

To clarify, I started CIO for night feedings at 9.5 months with DS.  Took four nights and he hasn't had a night bottle since. 

stacynikki

I would also wait until 6 months.  It was tough!  DS was up every hour leading up to 6 months and it was so hard.  I wound up sleeping in the guestroom with him most nights.  At six months we gave CIO a try and I think the first night or two he cried for 45 mins and it went down from there.  Good luck with everything!  Hang in there...it does get better!

mpct

Thanks for all the advice ladies.  My dr was the one who suggested weaning her now.  Also my older daughter started sleeping through the night at 4 months, weaning herself from feedings also, and so that's why I'm kind of comparing my younger daughter to my older daughter.

LeoChic

0 minutes.

Zenya

I think it's really unlikely that a 5 month old breastfed baby is ready to go all night without feeding or a hug.  I'm kind of extremist in this (no CIO, ever) so maybe you don't want my opinion ;-)

gracendantho26

Definitely do not compare...that's a bad habit to get into.

Hope you get some good sleep soon!

eclaires

FWIW, I think it'd probably be okay to try to wean from a few night feedings at that age, but that's just me. 

A few other suggestions that I've heard over CIO for that - are giving water in a bottle instead of formula/bm, giving a paci instead at that time and rocking the baby, etc.  I don't think it could hurt to try to not feed at every waking at that age, honestly.  Good luck!

 

rach&jay

DD #1 STTN (12 hours) starting at 4 months.  DD #2 still doesn't sleep consistently... she has STTN a handful of times.  Its hard not to compare them, but they're different with different needs and maybe your 2nd still needs to eat at night.

stacynikki

I just wanted to add that we did CIO for his sleep issues (i.e getting him to fall asleep on his own).  I still got up and feed him when he woke up until he started STTN at about 8 months old.  

goodhartedmommy

I still get hungry in the night sometimes, why wouldn't a 5 month old? Their tummy is the size of their fist, so they're not truly wired to go all night without eating. I can understand longer stretches, but not telling them that they cannot eat all night.

ccm1203

To get her to go to sleep on her own, you can try 2 or 3 minutes, go in sooth leave again.  But as far as night feedings go how many times?  DD woke once a night from 3.5 mos to 9 mos. because she just didn't get enough to eat during the day until she started really self feeding.

lsufan

Definitely stop comparing them. ?My oldest STTN at 5 months, with no encouragement from me. ?My younger son is 12 months and still wakes up, sometimes multiple times. ?We're just now thinking about doing CIO for the purpose of dropping all night feedings. ?We've let him cry occasionally just out of sheer exhaustion, on nights when he's waking up an hour after I just put him down again, but that's not something I would have considered as young as 5 months. ?Sorry, I know the sleep deprivation is difficult, but I don't think it's a good idea to make your 5 month old drop night feedings just because your older child did at an earlier age. ?Good luck.

magnoliablossom

mpct:

Thanks for all the advice ladies.  My dr was the one who suggested weaning her now.  Also my older daughter started sleeping through the night at 4 months, weaning herself from feedings also, and so that's why I'm kind of comparing my younger daughter to my older daughter.

 Sounds like us.  C weaned herself from night feeds at 4.5 months.  I didn't know I had it so good until A came along.  It was around 7 or 8 months when she finally stopped waking up to feed.  I actually started letting her fuss for a bit longer (no crying) and sometimes she would just fall back to sleep on her own.  The few times she did cry, I took my good sweet time making a very watered down formula bottle (only 4 ozs or less) to take to her.  She eventually decided it wasn't worth it to wake up for it and she also knew she could fall asleep on her own.

I'd hold off a bit longer; until at least 6 months before trying to wean her off a night feeding.  I would also do the watered down bottle to make it less appealing for her.  GL!

senecamom

0 minutes! I didn't feel comfortable letting her CIO until she was 10-11 months old and that was only for a couple minutes.