Ferber/CIO sucess stories...please share

Brownie0516 · March 2009

Hi girls,

I am making my way over from 0-6 a few days early. I just got Ferber's book and would like to start this weekend. I would love to hear your sucess stories. I can't keep waking up 6-10 times a night, its not good for me or him.

Thanks!

Jessica

ironmommy · March 2009

You are right -- waking up all night long is not good for either one of you. We hired a baby sleep coach when Lily was 5.5 months because I was at my wits end and seriously couldn't fathom reading one more sleep book. What we did was CIO with a lot of set rules in terms of timing, scheduling, etc., and it worked immediately. Lily had woken up every 2 hours all night long since she was a newborn. Within two days she was sleeping 12 hours straight. It was amazing.

Now the bad news: She got sick recently, and so I went back to nursing her if she woke up at night. Now she's up at least once a night to eat, sometimes twice. Somehow listening to her cry in the middle of the night seems harder now than it did then. Maybe I was just so desperate for sleep I was willing to handle it back then. The hard thing is, it IS important for them to sleep -- and I need to stop being a wuss and help her get back to that.

Califlorida · March 2009

i just got the book and in reading it realized that i needed to get a picture of her overall sleep before i took drastic measures. so for the past two days i've been charting her night time wakings and her amount of nap time and it's giving me a much better idea about ways to adjust her schedule so she can sleep longer.

last night we tried on of ferber's suggestions about doing a later bedtime. we pushed dd's back to 9pm and she stayed asleep till 4:15am!!!!! no CIO required. miraculous in my house. she normally wakes up 3-5 times a night. we are also slowly eliminating night time feedings.

enjoy the book. it is chock full of useful info that goes way beyond just CIO. and hopefully you'll be getting more sleep soon.

carolinag · March 2009

We've been doing it for about 5 days and it is incredible. Day 1 DS took about 25 min of crying to fall asleep and woke up twice. It was a long night. Day 2 he was asleep in 12 min and woke up once, went down that time much faster. Seriously day 3 went to bed with 1 min crying and STTN. Day 4 NO crying, STTN. Day 5 1 min crying, woke up at 3, cried for 5 min, fell back asleep for 6 more hours. I was really worried to start Ferber b/c of my own guilt but I can already see how great it is for all of us. Good luck!

CAchica · March 2009

I didn't do Ferber I did the Sleep Easy Solution and it worked wonders. By the third night he was STTN. I swear by it. And the best part is they have it on DVD so in 1.5hrs you have all the info you need. Love it.

Mrs.tlcS · March 2009

We pretty much followed Ferber to a T. It was a wonderful thing in our house (DD was sleeping for a whopping 45 minutes at a time - all.night.long - before we reached the end of our rope). I think Ferber recommended charting sleep and wake times, which really was helpful in terms of figuring out when she was actually trying to tell me when she wanted to nap. Now, she's sleeping great at naptime and at night-time! Good luck!

babywing · March 2009

We started Ferber about a week ago. Same as one of the pp. Day one about 20 min crying. I had a little digita clock so I could time it. 3 min 5 min, 8 min after the check at 8 min he was out, STTN. By the third or fourth day, only a few minutes of crying and STTN. He might wake up, but I hear him through the monitor and he puts himself back to sleep (I still can't stand it and go to check and he's out.) It's made all the difference in how he is during the day too. One suggestion, the crying the first few days is torture. We have a baby monitor that has lights that tells me it going off. I would have to turn the sound down so I just saw the lights. It helped me get through it. he sleeps so much better now. Also, we got him on a night time schedule before starting. 7:30 bath (we alternate days we actually use soap), then book/music in the rocking chair in his room with the lights down, then bed by 8pm (ish). I think it helped him to know "bedtime" before we did Ferber.

Brownie0516 · March 2009

Thanks for sharing. I am hoping it works just a quickly for us. I hate to hear him cry, as I am sure you do as well.

I am a little worried that every time he crys his nose gets sooo stuffy and its hard for him to breath let alone put himself back to sleep. Does this happen for anyone else? He sleeps on his tummy and it just makes it worse.

He falls asleep in his crib just fine, its just when he wakes up every 2 hours he will not go back in his crib, only my bed which I am tired of.

Thanks again ,

Jessica

carolinag · March 2009

Brownie0516:

He falls asleep in his crib just fine, its just when he wakes up every 2 hours he will not go back in his crib, only my bed which I am tired of.

part of ferber's plan is that you don't take them out of the crib when they wake up in the middle of the night. that was hard for me, as i like the idea of rocking him to sleep, but it's not good for him. hopefully after a few days your DS will be able to sleep in his own bed all night. it's just a habit that has to be broken and a new one needs to emerge.

maribel922 · March 2009

Ferber worked for us in two nights. We did it on our pediatrician's recommendation at 5.5 months. I would talk to your ped before starting Ferber and ask him/her what to do about the nose stuffiness. Anyway, Ferber changed our lives! DS went from waking up every 2-3 hours to sleeping from 7 to 7. I love Dr. Ferber!

KimW · March 2009

What type of crying did you guys experience? Was it the all out screaming/crying where they can't catch their breath for the whole 20 (or however long) minutes? Or did it gradually get better?

OceanBride05 · March 2009

Hello, DS was 8.5 months and was still waking up once a night to eat- we hoped he would drop it on his own but we gave him a bad habit! He STTN a couple times a week so we knew he could do it. And I was exhausted and ready to STTN!! LOL! We first tried Ferber b/c I really hated the idea of CIO. But it was actually more difficult for me to go in every few minutes, see how happy I made him and have to leave him over and over again... it broke my heart every time I saw his face light up knowing I was just going to leave him again and I would finally give in after 1 hour and just feed him. So Ferber just didn't work for us. So I went 2 more weeks and finally tried CIO. Sounds terrible but we shut both doors so his cry wasn't quite as loud although I heard him every minute. First night he cried almost 1 1/2 hours, second night 1 hour, 3rd night 20 minutes and has STTN for 2+ weeks now from 7:30-7!!!! His crying was quite hard for the first 2 nights and then the 3rd night was much softer. It was very hard but we are all so much happier now and the only thing I would change is that I would have done it when he was younger b/c I do think it was more diffcicult for him since he would stand in the crib and shake it. This is a very personal decision and I wish you all the best, I know how hard it is!!

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