CIO Method

hushpuppy201 · June 2014

My DS turned 4 months old yesterday. He has never been a good napper. He usually sleeps 30-40 minutes at the most. I have tried other methods to lengthen his naps but nothing has worked. I am considering trying the CIO method. Is he too young to start using this method?

If not, does anyone have any advice or suggestions that would be helpful when using this method. I really hate to hear him cry but I've got to try something to extend his naps. I can't get anything done not to mention the fact that my DS is fussy and cranky most of the time from lack of sleep. He sleeps great at night...anywhere from 10 to 11 hours. We just need to work on the naps now. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

WashingtonQueen · June 2014

Yes, he is too young. Don't do it.

RCLARO · June 2014

I agree with......don't.....just try to keep things consistent at nap time...when he wakes after 30 minutes have you tried getting him back to sleep with patting or other soothing methods. that seem to work for me

hushpuppy201 · June 2014

When is an appropriate age to try the CIO method?

The problem with my DS is that he cannot hold a paci in his mouth well. He falls asleep with it in his mouth and when he wakes up and realizes it has fallen out, he starts crying. I go in and put the paci back in and he falls asleep again but then I end up going in every 2 or 3 minutes when he wakes up to put it back in. This gets so frustrating. He will not fall asleep without it in his mouth. What do I do?

hushpuppy201 · June 2014

He does sleep pretty good at night. He usually falls asleep between 7:00 and 7:30 at night. He does tend to wake up at around 5:15 in the morning which I feel is too early for him. Is there any way I can get him to sleep a little longer in the mornings?

Overall, naps are his only issue. I feel like he needs to sleep longer than 30-40 minutes because when he doesn't, he seems to be fussy and in a bad mood. I've noticed he tends to be in a better mood when he naps longer. I just feel like he doesn't get enough sleep during the day.

I'm just at my wits end. I can't keep running in his room every 2 to 3 minutes when he wakes up crying. Should I just get him up after so many attempts at getting him back to sleep?

cagoldi · June 2014

CIO is not okay before 6 months at the very soonest. You should look at other methods like the No Cry Sleep Solution or the Sleep Lady Shuffle.

Also, I think you're entertaining CIO to address sleep problems that don't exist. Your baby is sleeping like a normal 4 month-old baby. Just be glad you haven't hit the 4MW. There was a period when my LO would get up 6-8 times in a 9 hour stretch.

flcl · June 2014

This thread has been so helpful. LO had a couple of weeks where he slept for 8-9 hours, woke for a feeding, and then slept for another 2-3 hours before he was up for good. Those couple of weeks were great. This week, he's been much more inconsistent, waking up after 4-5 hours and then every 1-2 hours. Not sure what's causing it, teething, growth spurt, 4 mos wakeful... whatever it is, it's stressing my DH out and he just can't wait to use CIO. I keep telling him that I"m not comfortable, LO is still so young and DH has agreed to waiting until his 4 mos appointment to talk to the pedi. That buys me two weeks!

@hushpuppy201: I feel your pain with the short naps. My guy is like that... he takes four 30-50min naps and it's tough to get things done the way I'm used to before becoming a mom. There's no schedule which means no schedules set in stone. My personality is type A and I just can't be like that with a baby. Some babies nap for hours, others will always be cat-nappers no matter what. I've found that the less I try to focus on how long he's napping and just accept the fact that he's a cat-napper, I've been a lot less stressed and anxious about it. It really does seem like your LO is doing great with his sleeping... try to enjoy it!

hushpuppy201 · June 2014

At 4 months old, how long should he be able to tolerate being awake between feedings and how many naps should he be taking a day? Currently, he can only handle being awake for about an hour and then he gets a little fussy. He eats every 3 hours. Since he can only handle being awake for an hour, that leaves two hours until his next feeding. He definetly does not sleep for two hours each nap. I usually end up getting him up an hour before his next feeding, after which he is ready for another nap. I am trying to get him in the feed, play, sleep routine but it usually doesn't work that way.

Any suggestions?

flcl · June 2014

Hmm... the answers to your questions depends on who you ask. Roughly at this age, your LO may stay up from anywhere between 1-2 hours and may take 3-4 naps a day. My LO isn't on any sort of set schedule. We have routines (wake, eat, play, eat, nap or some variation of it) and I try to watch for his cues. My husband has been pushing CIO and extending LO's wake time. I'm not keen on CIO at this age but have been trying to see if LO can stay awake 10-15 mins longer after his first drowsy signal. That being said, LO is still napping at least after every 2 hours. The trick is to find that perfect balance (I'm still searching!) as if he gets too tired, it's more difficult to get him to sleep and then his nap is even shorter than normal. Have you checked out troublesometots.com? It has helpful information on infant sleep, sleep training, etc...

hushpuppy201 · June 2014

@ lbs2012 - I have been feeding him on a strict 3 hour schedule. My husband and I felt that it was best to try and set a schedule for our LO. At this age, is feeding him on a schedule okay? He eats 5 ounces every 3 hours. I guess it's just hard to think that he may be hungry after an hour or so but I guess babies are hungry when they are hungry. Here is a rough idea of what our daily schedule looks like:

5:15am - 5:30am: Wakes up; I try to get him back to sleep until at least 6:15
6:30am: first feeding of the day
7:30am: down for a nap
8:30am: first dose of reflux meds (has to be given an hour before eating)
9:30am: second feeding of the day
10:30am: down for a nap
12:30pm: third feeding of the day
1:00pm-1:15pm: down for a nap
3:30pm: fourth feeding of the day
4:30pm: down for a short nap
5:30pm: second dose of reflux meds
6:30pm: final feeding of the day
7:00pm: in crib for night
7:15pm-7:30pm: usually falls asleep

Our schedule usually gets out of whack due to my LO taking very short naps. Should I start trying to feed him when he wakes at around 5:15am and do it as a night feeding (in the dark, etc.)? I read that if baby wakes early like this, you should treat this as a night feeding and put him back down after he's done eating. After that, you can go in at a predetermined wake time that you have set, get baby up and try feeding him again at that time. I feel so lost at this point. I feel like I don't know what I'm doing most days and that I'm just searching in the dark for something that will work for my LO.

savedgracie · June 2014

I feel like I could have written this. As a ftm there is so much information out there! Pedi, books, websites, friends, mom's, etc. I found it overwhelming and it shook my confidence as a mom. Type A here too, and sleep has been the hardest thing with my babe.
Things that helped me:

-trying to relax and go with the flow (hard for me!) my baby sleep obsession is crazy lol,

-troublesometots

-figuring out his awake time which for my lo is 1.5 hours. Once I figured this out, the short naps didn't bother me so much because I knew what to do next (wait 1.5 hrs and do it all again) not a schedule but a routine at least.

-white noise, dark room, swing, paci, and swaddle

Now my biggest worry is when and how to get rid of all his "sleep crutches" and teaching him to fall asleep on own! Yikes!

TeacherVicky · June 2014

Your child is too young for CIO.

At that age, we were dealing with short naps (still do sometimes) and I would be sure to limit awake time to 90 minutes to avoid the overtired state and try to have most naps in the crib. 3-4 naps/day is normal.

Set a naptime routine, use white noise, use blackout curtains and try to soothe your LO back to sleep at the 45 minute mark. Naps should start to lengthen soon.

cagoldi · June 2014

My LO has reflux and there is no need to have him on any kind of a feeding schedule.

As your baby gets older he'll develop his own routine. You are just going to cause yourself a lot of unnecessary stress trying to impose a feeding schedule in an infant this young.

Seriously, this is really very simple. Feed him when he's hungry, play with him when he is alert, and put him to sleep as he starts to slow down and get tired.

If he's waking up at 5:30 he is probably hungry. Do you mean you try to shush him and replace his pacifier while he is restless for the next hour? That's nuts. Nurse him or offer him a bottle, and when he's done try to get him back to sleep.

We get my baby up at 6:15 M-F. If he wakes up hungry at 5 I feed him and rock him and let him sleep until it's time to get up for the day.

dglvrk2 · June 2014

I agree that he's likely hungry at 5:15 am. My first daughter did this for about six months, from 9 months to 15 months. She'd go to sleep easily around 8pm. She'd wake and need a little formula at 5ish. If she stayed awake, she'd be grouchy all morning. We'd treat it as a night time feeding. One morning, while we were on vacation, she slept through this feeding and it never resurfaced.
I think having some semblance of a schedule is helpful for you and your LO. That way you can predict when he'll need feeding and make plans atound this. That being said, dowhat you feel is right and easiest for you. I too have my second daughter (5 months old) on a flexible schedule - as does our DC - and it helps us make plans etc. As PPs mentioned, naps will get longer soon, and he'll start going a bit longer between feedings. Remember: most circumstances we encounter with babes at this age are short lived situations. Take a deep breath. You're doing well!

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