Question to those who have had success with CIO for naps

katfaz · September 2013

Hi all,

My LO fights day-time naps and gets fussy when she is over tired, which makes putting her down to sleep at night that much more difficult.
Note: night time sleep is going *much better than napping. She can put herself to sleep on her own most nights and night time wakings are rare....when they do happen she puts herself back to sleep on her own. During the day she is not the type of baby that will just fall asleep anytime, anywhere which is why I've had to just put her down and hope that she starts to understand that when she goes down in the PnP at the same time every day that it's time to sleep. If I let her go, she'll stay awake for 4 hours and be very tired and cranky. She does not use a pacifier and I've not had any luck with "soothing" her to sleep.
For those of you that have ventured into CIO land..... If you had to use CIO for napping, how long did it take for your LO to get the hang of falling asleep without crying? My 4.5 month old cries more at nap time than at bedtime. She is much better at being able to fall asleep on her own at night vs day time naps. There are very few times that she hasn't cried when I've put her down for her nap. I feel like I've figured out her threshold for how long she can/should stay awake for during the day, and I've been trying to time it right so that don't put her down too early or too late to avoid over tiredness. Last week there were 3 days in a row that there were no tears for naps, but then the past 2 days she has cried at EVERY nap time. It's a nightmare to listen to her cry for 25 min only to have her nap for 30 min. Every once in a blue moon she will bless us with a rock star nap and sleep for 1.5-2 hours but that is not the norm. She has issues breaking the 30-45 min napping habit. So I guess this is a multi-part question:

1a) How long did you have to let them cry if you did CIO at naptime?

1b) Any suggestions for helping alleviate the crying at naptime?
2) Any suggestions to help her sleep longer than 45 min at a time?

Thanks in advance!

HZ2012 · September 2013

Perhaps if you rocked/held her when you start to see signs of her getting tired, she would get drowsy and have a longer/better nap, and eventually learn that when she goes down in the pnp that its nap time. Maybe this way she doesn't have to CIO? My guy will fuss a bit before he gets it together and soothes hisself to sleep, but I don't let him CIO. He clearly needs me if he's crying at this age (15 weeks). Sometimes all he wants is to be rocked for a few minutes and then will go down without a problem. He takes a 4 hour nap everyday, in either his crib or swing.

Bensmom13 · September 2013

I'm a CIO believer and it really worked wonders for my LO and he's so much happier.

Like yours, he still usually takes 45-1hr naps, sometimes as long as 2hrs but that's unusual but he's happy as a clam between naps. I've heard and read that 2-3 hour naps are not the normal for small babies, that its more a toddler thing. It will happen eventually!

As for your question- I had 1 bad day of crying about 8 minutes every nap, but after that I usually have max 2 minutes and its usually less than 15 seconds as he rolls over, sticks his thumb in his mouth and falls asleep.

Pitterpatter44 · September 2013

I have an LO who was a NapFighter big time, esp in the afternoon, but she totally needs a 2 or 3 hr nap. A could weeks ago I decided to give up my afternoons and every day for 7 days at 2pm I have her a bottle and held her for 2+ hrs while she slept. By the end of the week, the house was a mess, I was behind on work, but she developed the habit of sleeping in the afternoons. Same as I would if I napped for a week. Now she goes right down in her PNP for a 2-3 hr nap everyday. Even if we're out, she's ready for her nap at that time. Nothing to do with CIO, but this was my last resort before we tried that. So thought I'd share! GL! I know how hard it is to go through, esp when they NEED that sleep!

maritimeme · September 2013

Same situation here. I used to walk DD to sleep and she would only sleep 30-45 mins. Tried CIO at 5 months and it would take 5-20 mins to fall asleep. But naps were not any longer. By the end of the week the crying ( more like strong fussing) was just getting longer.

Now the only way she will fall asleep is if I lie down with her and let her nurse to sleep. And I have to stay with her. Walking doesn't work anymore and rocking/other soothing methods has never worked.

So now I am waiting until after 6 months to try CIO again. I am thinking she was too young. I just want her to sleep for an hour with minimal crying! And I want others to be able to put her down for a nap.

jlpev · September 2013

DD will fuss and I leave her in there until she starts to really cry. Then I go soothe her and then I will lay her down again. Thankfully she is a great napper but my son wasn't as a baby. He's 2.5 now and is great! With him I did the same except he took awhile to self soothe. But after a week of doing the fussing and help soothe him it worked! Good luck! Consistency is the key!

watermellens · September 2013

katfaz said:

Hi all,

My LO fights day-time naps and gets fussy when she is over tired, which makes putting her down to sleep at night that much more difficult.
Note: night time sleep is going *much better than napping. She can put herself to sleep on her own most nights and night time wakings are rare....when they do happen she puts herself back to sleep on her own. During the day she is not the type of baby that will just fall asleep anytime, anywhere which is why I've had to just put her down and hope that she starts to understand that when she goes down in the PnP at the same time every day that it's time to sleep. If I let her go, she'll stay awake for 4 hours and be very tired and cranky. She does not use a pacifier and I've not had any luck with "soothing" her to sleep.
For those of you that have ventured into CIO land..... If you had to use CIO for napping, how long did it take for your LO to get the hang of falling asleep without crying? My 4.5 month old cries more at nap time than at bedtime. She is much better at being able to fall asleep on her own at night vs day time naps. There are very few times that she hasn't cried when I've put her down for her nap. I feel like I've figured out her threshold for how long she can/should stay awake for during the day, and I've been trying to time it right so that don't put her down too early or too late to avoid over tiredness. Last week there were 3 days in a row that there were no tears for naps, but then the past 2 days she has cried at EVERY nap time. It's a nightmare to listen to her cry for 25 min only to have her nap for 30 min. Every once in a blue moon she will bless us with a rock star nap and sleep for 1.5-2 hours but that is not the norm. She has issues breaking the 30-45 min napping habit. So I guess this is a multi-part question:

1a) How long did you have to let them cry if you did CIO at naptime? I do about 20 minutes; if he's still crying, I'll get him up and play and then try again in 10-15 min.

1b) Any suggestions for helping alleviate the crying at naptime? not really - I introduced a lovey and that might have helpeD?
2) Any suggestions to help her sleep longer than 45 min at a time? Once he started falling asleep on his own, he naturally could put himself to sleep for another cycle. Not all the time, but his first and second nap are *usually 1-1 1/2 hours now. Last nap is almost always 30 minutes

Thanks in advance!

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