Experience with CIO?

Eitak82 · May 2013

DS is 4 months and until now has slept swaddled. We decided to attempt sleep training because he was previously STTN, but has started to wake 13 times each night not for food, diaper, etc and because we need to stop swaddling as he has started rolling back to tummy, but can't go the other way. We know he's at the young end of the suggested age for sleep training, but decided to give it a try now based on feedback from others on The Bump who have had success with CIO.

We just started last night, so it's too soon to say whether it's going well or not, but I have a question for those with experience. Did you initially notice LO waking up from sleep in the morning and from naps more upset than usual? DS usually wakes pretty happily, but this morning and today has been waking up upset/crying. Just wondering what experiences others had.

Thanks!

nanabanana06 · May 2013

CIO isn't recommended until at least 6 months of age. I have to use CIO with my daughter since she'll escalate if she sees us. However, she's almost 3, I didn't even use CIO until over a year when she would get fussy about bed time. Your child is also going through the 4 month wakeful. I know it can suck, but try to not do too much of any CIO techniques until he's a little older.

ngarden01 · May 2013

I wasn't necessarily planning on letting my son CIO yet - but we were struggling with getting him to sleep unswaddled in his crib so one night I decided to just give it a try. He cried for a little less than an hour and I went in there every 5-10 minutes. When he fell asleep, he slept for 10 hours. The next night he cried for 10 minutes and slept another 10 hours.. and it's been the same every night since! We started naps in the crib and it was the same thing. One time and then he seemed to get the hang of it.

My son always woke up in his crib a little more upset than normal. I think it's because I didn't hear him waking up and by the time I did, he got mad. So in my case, I don't think it was just because I had let him cry himself to sleep.

Litgirl77 · May 2013

If you haven't, I suggest reading Ferber's book. He has suggestions of things to do besides letting them CIO and his plan is different from what most people actually say is CIO. We're considering using CIO with our LO, but so far, it's been "fuss it out."

I'm not comfortable do a full on CIO until he's older. We're also transitioning a lot lately with a move to my parents for 2 weeks and then to a new house. We also have a similar situation as PP where our LO escalates if he sees us. I'm sure we're headed in the direction of having to CIO, but I'm putting it off a bit yet.

Eitak82 · May 2013

Thank you for your feedback! I did read both Ferber's book and Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child already, so please know that I'm not just blindly letting him scream his little head off. Both books indicated that this could be an appropriate age to start sleep training of course that being dependent on the individual child, which is why we are giving it a shot.

On night 1 he "cried" a total of 51 minutes over falling asleep and 3 wake ups, so he's certainly not screaming for hours on end, I was just unclear as to whether a grumpy wake up was common during this process. I do want to give it an honest effort over the next 34 nights so I can actually see if things are improving or not.

Thanks again!

mben1119 · May 2013

Nana_Osaki06:
CIO isn't recommended until at least 6 months of age. I have to use CIO with my daughter since she'll escalate if she sees us. However, she's almost 3, I didn't even use CIO until over a year when she would get fussy about bed time. Your child is also going through the 4 month wakeful. I know it can suck, but try to not do too much of any CIO techniques until he's a little older.

This. They get over the wakeful and rolling over thing pretty quickly. You just need to work through the wakings. It sucks, but its part of being the parent of an infant. Letting them cry at that age isn't recommended.

DCKate · May 2013

This seems really young for CIO, right?

ForeverEverAfter · May 2013

If your LO was fine before, its the 4 month wakeful. It passes. I wouldn't do CIO yet.

this decaf life · May 2013

I've seen CIO more for 6 month olds but even if it's worked for some people at 4 months doesn't mean it'll work for you yet. Babies learn to self soothe but I think it's like anything else they learn. Sitting, crawling, standing, walking all have ranges for normal & I think the same goes for self soothing. I know my DD isn't ready, she'll learn but on her own time not just because I want her to be able to do it right now.

GL, I know it's tough. DD STTN [7 hour stretches] when she was 12 weeks old for 8 nights and then hasn't slept more than 5 hours in one stretch since and averages 3. She's 21 weeks now.

Rosebean · May 2013

We've read Ferber and are implementing it tomorrow night and DS will be 4 months. Him relying on being held for every nap and being held to sleep at night is really taking a toll on his napping. He barely naps at all during the day unless he is held, which means his naps are 20 minutes long if we put him down. If we hold him through his nap, he can nap for 2 hours. I personally feel like this is effecting his abilities to play and develop during the day because all we do is fight for naps and he is exhausted as a result.

OP, I know we are a few days behind in starting the process, but I will let you know how he goes after the first couple nights and we can compare the wake ups. Who knows, by then your LO may be past it.

Also, just as a general note, Ferber does write in his book that he feels that his process can begin as early as 3 months. We waited until now because we truly feel that he needs to go through this process to get the rest he needs. It has nothing to do with 4 month wakefulness, it's only to help him learn new sleep associations when going to sleep.

momofmanyinthemitten · May 2013

I just wanted to throw out another book that might be worth reading: The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems. She is basically my hero. I tried CIO with DD at about 8 mos and it just didn't work for her. PU PD worked like a charm. I also used her method to get DS to go to sleep on his own at about 2 mos. Prior to that, I was rocking him to sleep.

Eitak82 · May 2013

Rosebean thanks... I'd appreciate hearing about your experience too!

As I said, based on what I've read, DS is on the young end of starting sleep training, but I feel his issues sleeping have stemmed from him making inappropriate sleep associations, which is why we're trying.

Last night he "woke up" 5 times although for 23 of them I'm fairly certain he was asleep the whole time. He cried each time, with the shortest crying episode lasting 1 minute and the longest lasting 3 minutes. He got so much more sleep, settled back into sleep well after wake ups, and when I woke him up at 7:00 am this morning he was a happy camper.

Here's to hoping things continue in this direction and he continues to wake up happy!

dande2129 · May 2013

Litgirl77:
We're considering using CIO with our LO, but so far, it's been "fuss it out."

This, for us. We don't get LO unless he is actually crying. If he wakes up, it's usually early in the morning and he's fussing. When he sees us, he is wide awake. We have a video monitor and a sound monitor, so we watch them, let him fuss it out for a few minutes and he will go back to sleep for a couple of hours. If he is full on crying, then we don't hesitate to go in. None of this has contributed to a change in how he wakes up--- he still wakes up with a giggle and a smile and is an overall happy baby.

He's also teething, so he's bound to be uncomfortable, unfortunately. His two bottom teeth are thisclose to popping through.

spritz · May 2013

I hate the term CIO because it can mean so many different things. We did some sleep training with both our babies, which resulted in them crying as they tried to learn new sleep habits, but we were with them while they were upset and there were time limits on how long they could cry. That being said, we are in the process of sleep training ds and I did notice he woke up crabbier the first morning than he usually does. After night 2 and 3, he seems to be back to normal.

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