With all the CIO controversy... ("Interesting" Pedi advice)

EarsToYou · January 2011

My pedi told me that at 2 mos we should let LO CIO. She sd at that point they should be able to start STTN... As in, don't even feed them during the night anymore, because "at 2 mos, you need to think of them like a little kid, not an infant, and if your 3 y.o. woke up at 2 in the morning you wouldn't give them a sandwich to get them back to sleep". And that if LO "has it in him to cry for 10 hours, you let him cry for 10 hours". I really like our pedi overall, but I tend to disagree w/ her here... Luckily LO has been a good sleeper (knock on wood), so I don't think this will be necessary, but still...

Nicole0012 · January 2011

EarsToYou:
My pedi told me that at 2 mos we should let LO CIO. She sd at that point they should be able to start STTN... As in, don't even feed them during the night anymore, because "at 2 mos, you need to think of them like a little kid, not an infant, and if your 3 y.o. woke up at 2 in the morning you wouldn't give them a sandwich to get them back to sleep". And that if LO "has it in him to cry for 10 hours, you let him cry for 10 hours". I really like our pedi overall, but I tend to disagree w/ her here... Luckily LO has been a good sleeper (knock on wood), so I don't think this will be necessary, but still...

Wow... really? That definitely doesn't sit right with me. I understand the 3 yr old/sandwich analogy, but 2 months still seems pretty early to CIO to me. I'll be curious to see what our pedi says about this next week.

Gr8ful_m0m · January 2011

wow- I'll have to ask our doctor next appointment as well. We are still giving LO a bottle in once in the middle of the night. I have such a hard time just listening to her cry, not to mention my neighbors might not be so happy about it at 2AM.

JulietL129 · January 2011

Yeah I'm sorry but common sense says that's the absolute dumbest thing I've ever heard and yes, letting a 2 month old cry for 10 hours is abuse. Not feeding a baby when they're hungry is neglect. It's not like giving a kid a sandwich in the middle on the night because a 3 year old's stomach is exponentially larger than a 2 month old baby's. Holy crap, babies are only little for such a ridiculously short period of time... If attending to a baby for 4 or 6 months on demand is too much- people really shouldn't have kids. I'm all for balance and independence- but when a baby is old enough that it can start to be learned. Your pedi should really stop giving sleep advice if they obviously have no clue what they're talking about. Not only does good ol' common sense trump her but so does every actual expert on the matter. I'm going to stop now because I could go on and on about that jack.ass.

BellaCapulet · January 2011

We just had our two month appointment. I asked him when can we start expecting that LO will not need to eat in the middle of the night. His response was that breastfed babies will sometimes go to 6 months still needing to eat in the middle of the night. He said after that point we can start trying to eliminate nighttime feedings if Jackson hasn't already done it himself. I think we have got lucky in that Jackson started STTN this weekend (fingers crossed it stays). I would never let my child cry for 10 hours regardless of how old he is.

dee12807 · January 2011

I am very curious to ask my pedi about this at our 2 month apt. She has been a pedi for over 20 years and a few of her own kids. She is very down to earth, all for BFing (if it works for you) doesn't push vaccines (actually recommends against some til LO is older) and hates antibiotics unless very necessary. She insists that you can't spoil a baby under 3 months and encourages holding and cuddling as much as possible. At th same time, she says that babies shouldn't be dependent on being held to sleep. She encourages you to calm baby and put them in the crib relaxed but awake. She says to stay with them and rock them till they fall asleep if needed, but not to hold them in your arms while sleeping.

I want to specifically ask her now about when/how to stop night feedings. DS only gets up once to eat, but it does make me wonder if this is something that I have to stop at some point (even if it's at 1 year old) or what... things that make you go hmmmm.....

welshgirl · January 2011

JulietL129:
Yeah I'm sorry but common sense says that's the absolute dumbest thing I've ever heard and yes, letting a 2 month old cry for 10 hours is abuse. Not feeding a baby when they're hungry is neglect. It's not like giving a kid a sandwich in the middle on the night because a 3 year old's stomach is exponentially larger than a 2 month old baby's. Holy crap, babies are only little for such a ridiculously short period of time... If attending to a baby for 4 or 6 months on demand is too much- people really shouldn't have kids. I'm all for balance and independence- but when a baby is old enough that it can start to be learned. Your pedi should really stop giving sleep advice if they obviously have no clue what they're talking about. Not only does good ol' common sense trump her but so does every actual expert on the matter. I'm going to stop now because I could go on and on about that jack.ass.

what she said.

GrayGhost13 · January 2011

Keep in mind too that most sleep experts consider five hours to be STTN. That's a big difference from expecting them to go 10 hours without eating .

LaLaaaa · January 2011

I could never let my child cry for 10 hours. I've never heard such an asinine piece of advice.

PinkeLLe2 · January 2011

JulietL129:
If attending to a baby for 4 or 6 months on demand is too much- people really shouldn't have kids.

Thank you!!

Ljojo · January 2011

My pedi told me that DD should be able to sleep through the night at 4 months, but he never said that I should force it. If she wants to eat then I will feed her.

IncogNeato · January 2011

Developmental psychologists would call that a recipe for an insecure attachment. Not good.

[Deleted User] · January 2011

yikes! i'd be tempted to change pedi's for that bullcr@p advice - right after i told her why i was leaving & how absolutely horrid it is to recommend to parents to let your infant cry for 10 hours! talk about promoting and teaching child abuse/neglect!! ugh.

Kristi221 · January 2011

IncogNeato:
Developmental psychologists would call that a recipe for an insecure attachment. Not good.

Sadly, I doubt most pedis know who Ainsworth and Bowlby are, let alone know anything about attachment theory. Which is why I ask my pedi for medical advice but not advice on child development.

So Long Astoria · January 2011

We follow a modified Babywise schedule (with my older child, haven't started with my newbie because she was early and has colic, so special snowflake)...but we never denied the baby food when she was obviously hungry and we never let her cry for more than 15-20 mins tops without picking her up. My 1st wasn't much of a crier...so Babywise/CIO/scheduling was really easy. She adapted very well. But even suggesting letting the baby just cry and cry and cry with no intervention is asinine. 10 hours? A bit of an overstatement since a child would obviously tire out far before that, but it's stupid to even suggest that leaving a 2 month old kid to cry without end is okay. CIO is not just "cry with no end"....babies have different cries for hunger, fear, tired....you have to learn what cry means what and when to intervene.

littlefamilyof4 · January 2011

JulietL129:
Yeah I'm sorry but common sense says that's the absolute dumbest thing I've ever heard and yes, letting a 2 month old cry for 10 hours is abuse. Not feeding a baby when they're hungry is neglect. It's not like giving a kid a sandwich in the middle on the night because a 3 year old's stomach is exponentially larger than a 2 month old baby's. Holy crap, babies are only little for such a ridiculously short period of time... If attending to a baby for 4 or 6 months on demand is too much- people really shouldn't have kids. I'm all for balance and independence- but when a baby is old enough that it can start to be learned. Your pedi should really stop giving sleep advice if they obviously have no clue what they're talking about. Not only does good ol' common sense trump her but so does every actual expert on the matter. I'm going to stop now because I could go on and on about that jack.ass.

All of this!

OP personally I would ignore your pedi's advice to you on this one.

EarsToYou · January 2011

Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of CIO anyway, although I will let LO cry for about 3 minutes when he's going to sleep. I just thought it was ...interesting... that that's what she said. It's hard to believe that we all get such different advice from our professionals about things you'd think would be more standard!