Moms who used CIO

BunnyLove416 · March 2014

So we used CIO a few months ago with L and he learned pretty quickly to self-sooth and put himself to sleep, he even started sleeping through the night and frankly it was a surprising success all around (other then the ungodly wake up time but I'll take what I can get). Fast forward to now, bedtime is fine, he goes down pretty easy and other then occasionally needing me to step in and give him a quick comfort pat, he goes to sleep without a fuss BUT the kid is now waking up constantly during the night.

Here's my question: What are you guys doing if your kid has learned to put themselves to sleep but are still waking up a lot? Do you let them CIO again? Do you just keep going in and comforting them? Do you blame it on a sleep regression and hook up your IV of coffee until it passes? I guess I'm just confused because I did CIO in the first place because he was seriously lacking the skill of putting himself to sleep, but now he has that skill and uses it at bedtime so is CIO still useful? I've scoured the Troublesome Tots site but I feel like I must be missing something. I've considered weaning him off the pacifier but I'm not sure how much that would help, it's not like when he wakes up at night he's easily pacified by a quick pop in.

I hope this made sense!

TheTamedShrew · March 2014

Could be a growth spurt. I think they hit a growth spurt at 9 months. Nora was waking up at night again for a few nights and then it passed. I would go in and nurse/soothe and then let her CIO til she fell back asleep on her own. She was only waking up once though, so it may not be the same thing. Of course, it could also be the ever-elusive reasons, like teething or gas or separation anxiety.

BunnyLove416 · March 2014

Thanks all, good to know we're not the only ones! I haven't honestly tried letting him CIO it out during the night, I avoid going in for a bit to see if he'll settle but maybe I need to start really trying it...

@xBlueFrogx that's such a sad mental image! Poor baby. L was teething a couple weeks ago and that was waking him up for sure but a little tylenol or motrin seemed to help. I don't think he's teething right now but maybe he got used to those MOTN cuddles..who knows.

LiLi23 · March 2014

I was (am?) having that same exact issue. R finally learned how to put himself to sleep, and back to sleep if he woke up, but then out of the blue started waking multiple times and just wailing. He used to just whine/fuss a little bit and then back to sleep he went. I'm assuming it's his teeth bc he'll wake up in the middle of the night biting on his A+A blanket and crying. Two popped through about a week ago and his sleep has been better. But in the in the meantime, I've had to rock him a bit to get him to settle down enough to fall back to sleep. I've also given him some ibuprofen for a few nights before bed time hoping that would take the pain away enough for him to get a good sleep in. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not.

Hoping you both get some rest soon!

BunnyLove416 · March 2014

LiLi23 said:

I was (am?) having that same exact issue. R finally learned how to put himself to sleep, and back to sleep if he woke up, but then out of the blue started waking multiple times and just wailing. He used to just whine/fuss a little bit and then back to sleep he went. I'm assuming it's his teeth bc he'll wake up in the middle of the night biting on his A+A blanket and crying. Two popped through about a week ago and his sleep has been better. But in the in the meantime, I've had to rock him a bit to get him to settle down enough to fall back to sleep. I've also given him some ibuprofen for a few nights before bed time hoping that would take the pain away enough for him to get a good sleep in. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not. Hoping you both get some rest soon!

This is L exactly. Used to just fuss a little and eventually put himself back to sleep. Occasionally he might need me to come in and give him a pat or redo his blanket but now he's up yelling and wailing.

Babies are random little creatures.

LiLi23 · March 2014

@BunnyLove416 They really are! He was a bear, an absolute BEAR, over the weekend. Cried most of the day and I couldn't figure out why. His sleep was terrible. Medicine did nothing. Then yesterday he fell asleep in the car around 6:00 and slept until almost 8:30 (insert curse words here), got a bath with his sister when he woke up and past out cold around 9:30 and didn't wake until after 9:00 this morning. Strange bird I tell ya! Tonight I'm sure we all won't be so lucky, but that was really strange to say the least!

BunnyLove416 · March 2014

LiLi23 said:

@BunnyLove416 They really are! He was a bear, an absolute BEAR, over the weekend. Cried most of the day and I couldn't figure out why. His sleep was terrible. Medicine did nothing. Then yesterday he fell asleep in the car around 6:00 and slept until almost 8:30 (insert curse words here), got a bath with his sister when he woke up and past out cold around 9:30 and didn't wake until after 9:00 this morning. Strange bird I tell ya! Tonight I'm sure we all won't be so lucky, but that was really strange to say the least!

@lili23 HA! Oh man, strange indeed. I can just imagine your dread as he kept sleeping and sleeping until 8:30! I swear that's the thing that gets me the most about the sleep training, every night I go to bed and I have no idea how the night's gonna go. I'm starting to dread going to sleep because I just know he's going to wake up an hour later but then out of no where he'll sleep all the way through the night and lull me into a false sense of security. I told my husband that setting my alarm for the morning is hands down the optimistic thing I do every day.

lioness13 · March 2014

We were going through this last week. The first night I went in and nursed. Now we let her CIO. It only happened 3 or 4 nights once or twice during the night.

Maelara · March 2014

N started doing this when she learned to stand in her crib but not get down on her own. Honestly, if all her needs are met (food, bum, etc.) I let her CIO in the middle of the night. She learned to get down on her own very quickly

taraleanne · March 2014

I never did the CIO thing but he could put himself to sleep just fine until about 8m when what you described above starting happening. I believe the "regression" or whatever you want to call it happens sometime between 8-10m. A lot going on. Separation anxiety peaks around now. Nightmares. A whole host of new developments. Several people in my moms group suggested that numerous night wakings often mean that baby is actually overtired at bedtime from all the daily activity now that they are so active and that an earlier bedtime helps. We bumped it up by 30m or even earlier if he was showing signs and he never fought it and the night wakings seemed to stop. Before that I did a lot of picking up and putting down again and some controlled crying. It took a few weeks but it eventually passed. Not sure which worked (early bedtime or controlled crying or both!) He's still going to bed at the first sign of being ready for sleep, regardless of how early it is. You could try a little earlier bedtime? Do what you have to do to soothe him otherwise, I think it could be a phase/separation anxiety too. It's tough. GL!

GRJC · March 2014

My LO had the same problem about four months back. We just let him CIO at night if he ever woke up. Within a week he was sleeping through the night again. Once in a while now he might still wake up. We let him CIO but if it keeps going longer than 10 mins I'll make sure nothing is wrong. Poopy diaper, etc. If it isn't then we CIO until he falls asleep. He'll get it eventually.

The only thing I would say is if you're doing CIO make sure he's eating enough during the day because maybe your LO is waking up from hunger in which case I would feed him and make sure you try and feed him more during the day.

Good luck!

BunnyLove416 · March 2014

GRJC said:

My LO had the same problem about four months back. We just let him CIO at night if he ever woke up. Within a week he was sleeping through the night again. Once in a while now he might still wake up. We let him CIO but if it keeps going longer than 10 mins I'll make sure nothing is wrong. Poopy diaper, etc. If it isn't then we CIO until he falls asleep. He'll get it eventually.

The only thing I would say is if you're doing CIO make sure he's eating enough during the day because maybe your LO is waking up from hunger in which case I would feed him and make sure you try and feed him more during the day.

Good luck!

Thanks! It's so nice hearing what worked for other people. L loves eating, the type of kid who never says he's done in fact so I'm not super worried that he's hungry during the night but this was a great reminder to look at what he's having for dinner and make sure it's stuff that'll get him through the night.

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