If Ferber/CIO worked for you...

Mustang Sally · December 2008

How long did it take? ?As in, how many nights until YOU considered it a success, and what did that mean for you? ?e.g. sleeping 12 hours with no wake ups, down to one feeding,...????

Or, is it always a work in progress (i.e. they still cry periodically)??

Just curious.

franciscaz · December 2008

Have you actually read Ferber yet? If not YOU NEED TOO!!!!!!!!!!! It is more than just CIO. It is schedules, routines, etc. Doing it properly we had quick results.

We do still have an occasional morning or night wake but it is rare (unless he is teething which right now he is... AGAIN).

bim38106 · December 2008

We just recently did naps/night together (I think it helped a lot to do both!) and it took 3 days. By the 4th day DD was going down for both w/ minimal fussing or none at all. We had tried modified Ferber in the past but I think we weren't consistent enough and we were putting her down 1/2 asleep at night which probably made it worse. DD was also napping in her swing up until 7 months. At that point we went OOT and didn't have a swing so she was forced to nap in her crib.. then after that it was about 50/50 if she would or not once we got home.

Then she got sick, then teething, then sick again. She was up way too often and would stay up for long periods of time, like hours in the middle of the night. Once she was better we decided to go for it full out Ferber. Especially since she's almost 10 months! It was much easier then we thought it would be, probably because at this point she is ABLE to do it and I'm not worried about her being not ready to self soothe...

For us success was DD being able to put herself to sleep (no rocking, bottle, nursing, etc..), us being able to put her down awake after her bottle or even just a story and DD actually falling alseep. Both for naps and night. That felt like a miracle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also success for us was DD only waking once at night to eat. We're fine w/ feeding her once and since starting Ferber we only had to let her CIO for one night wakeup (3 nights but only at one wakeup. As soon as we started, she just stopped waking up all the other times.)

Another thing I've noticed since starting is that DD's 1 night waking time seems to be pushing further and further back! The first few nights it was 2:30, then 3:30, then 5, then 6 and last night she made it until 7am (bedtime is now 10pm). So I think that by doing Ferber and letting her keep one night feeding, DD is dropping that feeding on her own as she's ready for it.

She has also gone from fighting sleep at night and waking early (early being 8:30 which is early when she's fighting sleep until 11+pm!) and now she's consistently sleeping 10-10 (with that one wakeup) and today we had to wake her at 10:20. Next step is to move bedtime back!

So ya.. this is long enough. As you can see.. Ferber was a huge success for us in many ways. Hopefully I'm not jinxing it by posting this since it's only been a little over a week... We're going on vacation next week so I'm hoping that doesn't mess it up.

GL with whatever you decide to do!

bim38106 · December 2008

*francisca*:
Have you actually read Ferber yet? If not YOU NEED TOO!!!!!!!!!!! It is more than just CIO. It is schedules, routines, etc. Doing it properly we had quick results.
We do still have an occasional morning or night wake but it is rare (unless he is teething which right now he is... AGAIN).

My other post is long enough so instead of editing it I though I'd quote Francisca

I agree you need to do it properly for quick (best and lasting) results. You HAVE to be consistent for it to really work. We learned that the hard way. Hopefully for our next baby we won't have to deal w/ all these crazy sleep issues.. but if we do I know now that if it takes CIO/Ferber, I will know to be very consistent and not try to modify it to make it "easier" on me or baby, because that did not work.

KKM · December 2008

We did Sleep Easy Solution. I considered it a sucess after one night when we were only up 4 times (as apposed to 10 as it was)...but really I would say a sucess after 4 nights. He goes down at 7pm, up once to eat around 3, then back down until 6am. I would like to wean the 3am feeding, but I think he still needs it.

It is still a bit of a work in progress. He was sick about a week ago and I went in and nursed him each time he woke up (about 4 times a night). After I was convinced he was feeling better we let him cry a bit. I was surprised that he actually only fussed and it took about 2 nights to get back on track. This convinced me that I did what he needed (ie-went in and nursed him when he cried) and that I had waited long enough to let him cry a bit when he was feeling better

ebb7 · December 2008

We saw success, honestly, by night 2. She went from waking every 20 minutes all night long to waking three times on night 2. Now we're on night 8 and since that second day she fusses maybe 2 times for a few minutes. The fact that I go to sleep in my own bed and wake up in my own bed makes it a success in my eyes!

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