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Babies: 6 - 9 Months
BabySuz
member
Coming over from 3-6mo - CIO success stories?
BabySuz
member
My DS is 5 months old, and ever since the night he was born we have been having trouble getting him to sleep anywhere but in my arms/our bed. For about a month and a half he was doing GREAT - giving us 8-9hr stretches in his crib - then on Dec 20, 2010 all that changed and he won't sleep unless he's in bed with me. He's been to the doctor a couple times, we know there's nothing medically wrong with him. Last night he screamed when I put him in his crib, but the second his head touched the mattress of my bed, he was out like light. I have always said I would never let my child CIO, but I really don't know what else to do, and am afraid I'm creating bad sleep habits for him. Please help me!
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Re: Coming over from 3-6mo - CIO success stories?
This is exactly what happened to us, except DD was 6 months. I tried Ferber for one night and then decided it wasn't for us. She got so upset she spit up her entire bottle while she was crying. When I picked her up it took her 20 minutes just to calm down. A lot of bumpies suggested that she was probably not ready for sleep training.
She sleeps excellent in our bed, so she has been there up until a couple weeks ago. We recently bought a PNP and put it next to our bed. Now I put her to bed in our bed, and when DH and I are ready to go to sleep, I transition her to her PNP and she sleeps well. If she fusses at all, I pat her back and she falls back to sleep.
I am thinking that I will try and sleep train when she is 10 months or so (if she needs it).
DD slept through the night starting at 8 weeks. At 5 months she stopped. I was sure it was because she was hungry and we were waiting on solids until 6 months, so once we started solids it would turn around. WRONG. First her night sleep went to crap, then her naps, then her sunny disposition...
When we went to the pedi for the six month checkup, she said it was an age thing, and it was time to CIO to get her back to her good sleep habits. I read No Cry Sleep Solution and Sleeping through the Night by Jodi Mindell. We are mostly doing the Mindell way. It is not just CIO but a bunch of different tricks and methods along with CIO. We have been doing it for 6 days, and things are so much better and keep getting better.
My recommentations for what they are worth...
1. Read about sleep training before just blindly doing CIO.
2. Don't keep fostering bad habits, you will just dig yourself deeper (been there, done that)
3. Choose a method and stick with it at least two weeks. Things don't get better overnight.
4. When you start, you should have a peace about it. If you don't, don't do it. Try another method. Read another book. Take some time to get ready. You need to be ready to do this for it to work. It is hard. And it sucks. If you don't feel like you are doing what is best for your child, you will never stick with it and will just make things worse by "rescuing" your child and reinforcing the crying and undesireable behaviors.
We had a terrible time around 4 1/2 - 5 months where DD's sleeping went back to only about 2-3 hour stretches and I was a zombie. I couldn't stand it any more so we tried CIO two separate nights around 5 1/2 months, and both times I wussed out and picked her up and ended up rocking her to sleep. Just before she turned 6 months, I woke up when I heard DD on the monitor, and waited for a few minutes and watched her as she tried to soothe herself back to sleep - she was gently rubbing her little hand on the sheet back and forth and lightly humming to herself, so I felt like it was time to give CIO a real try.
Night 1: Rocked and sang to her in her room for 10 minutes until she seemed drowsy, put her down in crib, she started to cry almost immediately when I put her in the crib, not crying too hard, so I waited about 10 min before I went in to soothe her, went in and gave her paci back to her, patted/soothed her and left the room. She cried worse than the first time and it was my plan to go 15 minutes if I could stand it. At about 10 minutes she was calming down and she was asleep by 12 minutes. So, a total of 22 minutes after I put her in her crib she was asleep. She slept almost 9 hours straight, woke up around 5:00 am to nurse and went back to sleep until 8 am.
Night 2: Rocked and sang to her in her room for only 5 minutes because she was starting to fall asleep. Put her in the crib and she started crying immediately, after 2 minutes of crying she calmed down and she was asleep within 10 minutes total. She slept 8.5 hours straight, woke up to nurse and went back to sleep until 7:45 am.
Night 3: Rocked and sang to her in her room for only 5 minutes because she was starting to fall asleep. Put her in the crib and she started crying immediately, after about 30 seconds of crying she calmed down and she was asleep within 8 minutes total. Slept until around 6 am.
We are at about the 4 week mark now. She has pretty much gone to sleep without crying (or just fussing when I leave the room) with the exception of two nights. She wasn't feeling well either night. She has made it all night in her own room with the exception of one night, I went in and rocked her and got her back to sleep, but she woke up both times I tried to put her back down.
For the CIO first few nights, I found it helpful for DH and I to be in separate rooms - we were more likely to wuss out and go pick her up if we were together.
Good luck!