Any CIO success stories out there? Please help!

DeniseS7 · October 2010

My DS is 4 mos old and I think has become dependent on us to sooth him back to sleep when he wakes up in the middle of the night. I never pick him up, I just give him the pacifier and he falls back asleep but it was becoming an issue with him waking 3-4 times a night and I was feeding him at 2-3 am. At his 4 mo appt pedi suggested that we let him CIO and stop that feeding. I started this last night and checked on him at 3-5-10 min intervals. This lasted almost an hour then he finally fell asleep. Woke at 1:30, soothed him once and he fell right back asleep. Then woke at 4:30 and this one was the killer. I didn't know whether or not to feed him but it hadn't been 8 hrs yet (which was my goal) so I stuck it out. Crying lasted an hour before I couldn't take it anymore and fed him. He only ate 3 oz! Put him back to sleep around 6 and he slept until 9.

Anyway, my question is how do you know when to feed them if they are CIO? Please no flames here. This was hard enough to do. If you had success with your CIO method please share! TIA

AndreaRose*:. · October 2010

we had to let DD CIO only one night so far. i held her for an hour before bed then i put her down. she was up and down for another hour. this is when my husband told me she had to CIO. he was right but it was still so hard for me. it lasted 15 min and felt like 5 hours!

i would say anything that last over 15-20min they need something. either a wet diaper or a bottle. i wouldn't let it go much longer than that. that hour spell he had probablly made him so tired he could only eat 3oz

good luck! i know it is so hard!!

mbear511 · October 2010

We just started on Tuesday after getting the go ahead from the pediatrician. He recommended that we only do once a night feedings instead of feeding him 2 to 3 times during the night like we were. Last night he went to sleep immediately and slept for 3 hours. When he woke up, we changed his diaper and put him back down and he cried for 10 minutes and then slept for 5 hours! I nursed him at that point and then he slept for another 3. It honestly hasn't been that bad.

Also, I just put him down in his crib for a nap (he usually sleeps on me) and he cried for about 5 minutes and now he is sound asleep! I know its hard but you can do it.

javorka.samantha@gmail.com · October 2010

We had two feedings when we used CIO. We are now down to none. He eats at 8:00pm and then when he wakes up around 7:30am. Here's my story:

https://community.thenest.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/43470744.aspx

It's been almost 4 weeks, and we've had one night since that he didn't STTN completely (we've been extremely lucky) and that was after a bad day of napping. He woke up at around 11, I changed his diaper and he cried for about 10 minutes, then woke up at 1:20, I checked his diaper (didn't change) and he cried for maybe 6 minutes and went back to sleep. Other than that he's done great. He seems to be much happier and more talkative since... it seems like he needed consecutive sleep as much as I did.

JulzRulz · October 2010

I highly, highly recommend reading Dr. Ferber's book (Solving Your Child's Sleep Problems). We've used it with both kids, though they had different issues. Here are the short versions:

DS wouldn't sleep unless he was being held, period, so we one night put him in bed and let him cry until he fell asleep, and it took 10 minutes. He woke up 20 minutes later and we let him cry himself back to sleep (5 minutes). Rinse and repeat all night. I fed him every two hours, since that's what we'd been doing. The next night, he cried for 5 minutes and then fell asleep for 2 hours (and repeated that all night). The third night, he fell asleep without crying at all. And he increased the length of time he went between feedings all on his own until he was sleeping 9-10 hours.

DD is still a work in progress. She has always fallen asleep on her own, but wakes up a lot at night and was eating sometimes 3 times at night, even as old as 3 months. So a couple of weeks ago, we eliminated one of the feedings (the second one) by each night decreasing the amount in the bottle and making it a little more diluted. By the 3rd or 4th night, she really wanted nothing to do with it anymore because it was mostly water, so she's take one good swig and then spit it out and fall asleep. So the next night, I went in and replaced the pacifier instead of feeding her. She fussed/cried for about 30 minutes and then fell asleep.

She currently wakes up for a bottle at around 3, and then sometimes wakes around 5:30, but if we don't go in to her then, she falls back asleep quickly and sleeps until 6:45 or 7. Once she hits 5 months, I'm going to do the same thing for the bottle she's still getting (it's only about 3 oz at this point).

Feel free to PM me if you want to talk more. It's tough on you, but SO worth it in the end.

bride727 · October 2010

Has anyone had luck with naps? We are doing CIO with naps because DS (almost 5 months) was napping terribly and needing us to resettle him all the time. He would only sleep well ON us, and I have a 3 year old to care for too! Sleep training at night seems a lot easier since eventually they are going to fall asleep. We did it with DS#1, and it was very quick. But naps are just hard because it is light and their bodies aren't as wired to sleep at that time. I just don't know how long to let him cry (I have been going to an hour) or what to do if he doesn't nap at all. I am afraid he will get so darn overtired that he won't be able to sleep at all! It's only day #2, but things are not looking good

Any advice?

mrsfirefly · October 2010

I am trying with naps using Ferber (comforting every few minutes in increasing intervals). She is falling asleep better for her morning nap, but the afternoon nap is still sometimes a failure. I judge how long I let her cry by the type of crying. Today she fussed for 40 minutes at 9, so I gave up. Then at 11 she took a 90 minute nap with no fussing. If it's serious crying, I give up after 15-20 minutes.

bride727 · October 2010

How long have you been working at it? I am going in at intervals too (10, then 15). So far he has gone to sleep on his own for one nap per day for the past 3 days (when we started). Today he has taken 2 naps on his own so far. They are still quiet short (about 40 minutes) but I think once he gets better at going to sleep, he can hopefully get better at going BACK to sleep or just staying asleep longer. I HATE the crying. We leave him up to an hour, so it can be rough. But I do think that each time he does it, he gets that much better at it. And he was the type that would cry even in our arms before naps, so in a way it makes it easier to endure the crying when he is on his own. I know he is not scared to be on his own because he will lay in his crib and watch his soother for 15 minutes while I go do things for my older child. He is perfectly happy. So I just remind myself that he is crying mostly because he just has to figure out this new way of doing things. I would love to just hold him to get him to sleep, and I did that with DS#1 for a long time, but with another child to think about, I just can't

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