HELP please with CIO

bethCT · July 2010

It is time - DD still has to nurse to sleep and then I have to rub/pat her back for up to 30 minutes before she finally falls asleep. I can't handle it anymore, so we are trying CIO. I officially hate Ferber and it has only been 7 minutes. When I went in for the first check, she went from a hard cry to a flat out scream. What do I do! I want so badly to pick her up, comfort her adn let her nurse. HELP!

ncbelle · July 2010

Have you considered breaking the nurse to sleep habit first? It seems a bit much to expect her to go from nursing to sleep to totally going to sleep on her own. You can wean her off the nursing to sleep (substitute rocking, etc) and I bet that will do the trick.

jaejaevee · July 2010

Ferber (or our version of it) worked really well for us, but if it's not working you may want to just try straight CIO with her. It's torture. I had to bury my head in a pillow with the TV on, but it did work. And, honestly, we only had to do it a couple of times before he started putting himself to sleep. Good luck!

bethCT · July 2010

I have been trying that and it is just not working. She won't let me put her to sleep any other way and DH gets home too late to help with bedtime. I have tried to come up with every alternative out there but this is all that is left before I check myself into a looney bin

chels0120 · July 2010

I'm sure some people will think I sound mean and insensitive, but what I would do is doing your nighttime feeding, rock for a minute, then place her in her crib and walk out of her room and quietly shut the door. If she cries, go watch tv or something, but do not go back in the room. You may have to do it a few nights, but it will work! Its just hard at the beginning.

jaejaevee · July 2010

The other thing I found really useful was having a set routine at bedtime. For us, it's a sippy of milk, watching an episode of DS's favorite night time show and then bed. It didn't take him very long at all to figure out that the show meant bed was next. These days, he jumps right up and heads for bed as soon as it's over (and sometimes before).

bethCT · July 2010

I did the first "visit" and it just about killed me. DH is visiting her now and then he'll decide if there are any more visits. She is calling adn screaming for me and this is SO hard! Tomorrow night we do it your way - follow our routine and that is it

kcampy31 · July 2010

Gosh do i know how you feel...when we did ferber it was sooo hard..i had a pit in my stomach and had to go turn on then fan and tv in the other room so i didn't hear him. DH would check the video monitor...we did the check ins but it seemed to make it worse so we extended them a little bit. Honestly we were consistent and it worked well in only a few nights he was reaching for his crib and putting himself to bed. I still have to work on the 4am feeding though...i am picking a day coming up and then doing it...i know he doesn't need it..it's just a bad habit. GL! I know it's hard but i was like you...at my wits end with him not being able to get to sleep and just creaming and waking up 5-6 times a night. We are by no means a good sleeping hosehold now but MUCHHHH better. hang in there!

hewinked · July 2010

CIO really sucks, but it really works if you are consistent and stay firm. We did it with DD at 6 months, after she suddenly decided that she would only nap on me. She could be out like a light and as soon as I put her in her crib, she'd wake up and cry. Obviously, she just couldn't nap on me all day every day, so I had to do something. I was consistent...went in her room every 5 minutes for a few days, then 7, and then 10. Once she was up to 10, I rarely even had to go in anymore. And when I did have to go in, I never picked her up, just rubbed her belly, told her I loved her but it was nap time. Sometime she'd scream even worse after the checks. Breaks your heart, but it really worked. I think after about 2 weeks, she was napping in her crib just fine.

janinekrause · July 2010

DD was same way with checks. she actually threw up the first time- so I took her out because it sucked.

The next time we did straight CIO. It was awful- truly awful and it was 4am which made it worse. She cried until 5:45AM then went to sleep and woke up at 8am happy. no joke. happy. The next night was much shorter and third a few mins.

Sucks but totally worth it within a few days.

Want a personalized experience?

HELP please with CIO

Re: HELP please with CIO

Choose Another Board

Search Boards