How early did you CIO?

mattandbekah · November 2010

My stepcousins wife just asked on facebook if it was too early to let your 3.5 month old CIO. I said yes.

A lot of people said no, which kind of breaks my heart. We didnt sleep train til 7.5 months which I thought was kind of average.

samantha_b65 · November 2010

6 or 7 months.

mrs.k 07 · November 2010

We sleep trained about 5ish months. DS was waking anywhere from 5-6 times a night during his 4th month! It was mostly just letting him CIO when he woke up in the middle of the night. When we put him down for the night he never cried more than 1-2 minutes.

3.5 months is too soon I think.

Lizzerd13 · November 2010

We did it at 10 months and we waited too long. It was so easy and only took a couple of days! I would say 6 or 7 months is fine. Definitely not 3.5 months.

katie_cj · November 2010

Jake was just about 9 months. And yes, I think 3 months is too young.

kes3237 · November 2010

4 months is recommended by some of the sleep books. I think 3.5 months is a bit young, but I remember being in a desperate place around the 3-4 month mark because DD was just not getting enough sleep. She was waking so often and unable to put herself back to sleep - my rocking her did no good. I did a form of CIO at about 4 months and have never looked back. Within weeks she was sleeping great and was SO much happier.

I just think it really depends on the baby. I know CIO can be misused and that's sad, but hopefully your friend has educated herself about it and can use it properly.

cbwm · November 2010

11 1/2 months.

In retrospect, we should have done it around 8 or 9 months.

3 1/2 months is TOO YOUNG. People are idiots. Babies still need to sometimes eat in the middle of the night at that age.

kes3237 · November 2010

cbwm:
11 1/2 months.

In retrospect, we should have done it around 8 or 9 months.

3 1/2 months is TOO YOUNG. People are idiots. Babies still need to sometimes eat in the middle of the night at that age.

Of course. But using CIO as a sleep training method doesn't necessarily mean the parent isn't going to feed at night anymore. I used it to teach DD to put herself to sleep. When she woke at night (1-2x per night at that point) I fed her. I hope people don't use it to try to eliminate night wakings totally at that age.

mattandbekah · November 2010

kes3237:
I just think it really depends on the baby. I know CIO can be misused and that's sad, but hopefully your friend has educated herself about it and can use it properly.

She is a smart woman, and in my opinion a very good mom, so I am pretty sure she would research it first. Seeing the post just made me wonder what was average

flutenewt · November 2010

We never really did it ourselves, but an old HS "friend" posted about doing CIO with her 2 1/2 month old on Facebook and everyone who commented was really supportive. Stuff like "just hang in there, it'll get better," "it's for his own good," "I started CIO at 2 mos and it was the best thing I've ever done," "you're a great mom," etc.

I politely suggested that 2 1/2mos was way too young for CIO as per most experts, recommended she read a book about it first, and reminded her that at her son's age it was more important for him to know that she was there to comfort him when he cried than to sleep train. I got flamed big time

mari_gold · November 2010

I did some at 5 months to get Zack to only wake up 2 or 3 times a night (rather than the 6-8 he'd been averaging). I wanted to wait until 6 months, but I was a mess at work and so rundown from exhaustion that I was constantly sick.

I would never have done it at 3.5 months.

BlairWaldorf · November 2010

I think Harrison was around 5 months old when we started. I felt it was too early, but he would not nap & was getting far too overtired.

chelseybelle · November 2010

I was told by my pedi to do so at 9 months. She didnt seem concerned with his waking up at 6 months. I have heard, however, to wait until 6 months.

kabarbanel · November 2010

Night time was never an issue, but nap time was. I would rock him to sleep for naps, and for a while, he would fall asleep in my arms and I would put him in the crib with no problems. But then he started to wake up as soon as I put him in the crib, so at 5 months I started letting him CIO for naps. It took about 2, maybe 3 times.