Should I try the all-mighty CIO?

KLeighM23 · May 2013

Ok ladies - I'm not sure what to do here...looking for advice/suggestions.

(Let me preface by saying, my son slept through the night from 4-6 months consistently.)

I posted about a month ago about my son waking a lot during the night and I was pretty convinced it was teething (top 2 coming in at the same time). Fast forward to today and it's still happening...

Weird thing is; some nights he will sleep right through. But our typical night these days is to put him to bed around 7:00pm, and he's up every hour on the nose (crying) until 11:00pm. After those wakings, he conks out until morning. We try to not rush in there right away and see if he settles back down, but the last couple nights he turns into an inconsolable baby and we've had to offer a bottle to settle him. Which I'm scared might turn into a habit again...?

I do rock him to sleep at nighttime. It's part of our bedtime ritual and because I work all day, I don't necessarily want to give that up because it's the only snuggle time I get all day. But I'm getting scared that if we don't try CIO soon, we'll miss the window and really have a hard time. But,I know he can put himself to sleep, because he's done it before...many times.

What would you do...consider it a phase and go with it? consider it teething still (the top 2 aren't in all the way yet)? or would you try CIO?

tabbyandluke09 · May 2013

Maybe you are putting him to bed too early. My daughter (8 Months on Sat.) doesn't go to bed till 9pm (If i try any earlier than that she kind of does what your son does or worse just cries like crazy) I give her a bottle at 7pm, a bath at 8, then read her a story in her room with dim lights till around 9 or when she starts to rub her eyes and fuss. Put her down with pacy and she is out till around 6 or 7am. Before i did this routine i was lucky if i could get her to sleep till 11pm.

It could also be that wakeful period. Between 6 and 7 months my daughter woke up at 1am fussing but would go back to sleep after i gave her pacy and at 4am to eat. (before that between 5 and 6 months slept like a dream from 9 - 6am.) Now in just the last week she is sleeping through the night again.

Hope that helps a little....

KLeighM23 · May 2013

Thanks - I thought about that! He takes 2 naps a day - one morning and one lunchtime (usually up from the last between 2:00-3:00 pm) so we then just keep him up until 7:00pm. Maybe I should squeeze in an extra nap toward early evening and keep him up later.

tabbyandluke09 · May 2013

Yeah my daughter takes a morning and afternoon nap too! And sometimes when we run an errand or take a walk around 5 or 6 after work she will nap again in the car or in her stroller. Stinks that there isn't a handbook we can just look at for our kids! lol

Don't worry i'm sure you are doing an amaizing job! When you get frustriated i always tell myself "Just stay possitive this will pass! She is just a baby and she doesn't kow anything different yet" Smile

KLeighM23 · May 2013

I really appreciate the support and advice! A manual would be amazing at this point, but I guess it just comes down to the old trial and error. And knowing his schedule is going to change a million times in the next couple years

linzeek44 · May 2013

For us, waking up a bunch of times at the beginning of the night actually meant he was overtired and couldn't self-soothe.

I'd look and see how long he is awake between his last nap and bedtime. For us, at 8m, 4 hours of awake time is as long as he can go. So if he naps earlier or has really crappy naps, we need to get another nap in there or up bedtime to prevent the every-forty-five-minute wake ups.

KLeighM23 · May 2013

Okay this totally makes sense, too! I think I'm going to try either fitting in another nap - even if it's a catnap - in the evening/late afternoon or putting him to bed after 4 hours of awake-time tops. Thanks so much ladies!

hullmanr · May 2013

My guy started doing the same thing right around that same age, 7 - 8 months. All of a sudden he stopped doing it, might have just been a growth spurt or the beginning of separation anxiety. Now he is almost 9 months and sleeping like a champ. Sometimes they just need a little extra cuddling.

pumpkinhead4 · May 2013

Self soothing would help I bet and he might be overtired as you said. DD goes down at 6:30 and doesnt make a peep until 6 am. I sleep trained though...

Pokedot · May 2013

You could be putting him down too early but what are his sleepy signs? Is he rubbing his eyes, uninterested in activities or getting irritable? DS goes down at 8 sometimes 7:30. We let him make his bedtime naturally. We also used CIO full extinction because he would need to have the bottle and be rocked to sleep. It was very difficult and I almost broke down. We started a week shy of 6 months. He cried for 45 minutes the first time, 3 minutes the second then literally 3 seconds the third. We haven't looked back. He's done AWESOME! Our bedtime routine is dinner about 6ish. Play for a bit then bath and finally PJ's, bottle, book, bed.

We used full extinction because we knew if we checked on him (no video monitor) he would ramp up and start over again. It worked for us!

Also make sure if you think he needs that feeding in the middle of the night to limit it. I suggest looking into this: https://www.troublesometots.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-sleeping-through-the-night-part-3/

I also thinking teething is blamed more than it should be when it comes to STTN or putting themselves to sleep. DS currently has 7 teeth with #8 on the way! He got his 1st tooth at 3 months old. He went through a phase of not sleeping as well but it hasn't coincided with teething its been more related to milestones like sitting up unassisted, crawling, better with his hand/eye coordination.

In the end this decision is up to you and your DS. I would recommend it even though it was very hard. The actual payoff outweighs the 1st night! GL mama!

SnShne322 · May 2013

We sleep trained (Ferber) two weeks ago. I hated every second of the first 3 or 4 nights, but seriously, my kid is a totally different person now. He still sometimes gets up once a night, but he's putting himself to sleep and can play in his crib for awhile without making a peep.

For what it's worth, I still rock him a bit, but not to sleep. I love that part of the day. He gets a bottle, rocked for a few minutes, but I make sure he's awake before I put him down.

He's also the meltdown kind of kid when he's tired. He will be perfectly fine and then just lose it. I don't think 7 is early and it's the bedtime DS "picked". Any later than that, bedtime is out of control. He sleeps until 6AM.

GrantHenson · May 2013

I would suggest that you look into the sleep sense program. There is some crying involved but it is more gentle than just CIO and it gives you steps to follow etc. My baby went from nursing to sleep multiple times a night in my bed to in her crib sleeping 10 hours or more a night and no MONF. She cried 49 min the first night ( me sitting next to crib) and less than 5 the second. You can still rock your baby just not until they are sleeping

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