Tips on putting a 3 month old to sleep

We had Julia's 3 month appointment yesterday and discussed a few issues.

First off - She has been drinking about 35 oz a day of formula - doctor said that is WAY too much - but DD will NOT fall asleep if she doesn't have that extra ounce or so......well she insisted i absolutely do not give her more food after her 7 ounces till 3-4 hours later....

Doctor said to just give her her binky and lay her down and have her cry it out till she falls asleep. Mind you - my DD isn't heavy - she's 24 inches and 13.5 lbs and growing well.

Well - I also have a tendency to have her get sleepy in my arms and then put her down. Doctor said that DD should be fulling awake and should learn to go to sleep on her own - we tried it last night and made her cry it out for 10 minutes - no luck - i went upstairs gave her another ounce and she was falling asleep in my arms - so I put her in her crib.

Am i doing something wrong?
Do you put your children awake in their crib to sleep and take naps all the time?

How does CIO work? Can you suggest something some tips for me to try please? How long should I make a 3 month old cry?
Thanks.

Re: Tips on putting a 3 month old to sleep

Your daughter is starting to associate food with sleep. In order to break her of the habit, you need to put her down when she's showing signs of being tired (7 mile stare, rubbing her eyes, turning away from stimulus). She's start associating her bed with sleeping. The only problem is she's going to hate it at first - so she's going to cry enough to break your heart. One way to do get through her crying is to think about it like "She's already cried for x number of minutes, if I go in & get her I have to start all over again."

Like how I can freely give advice on CIO,having been a complete failure at it with my son?

Re: Tips on putting a 3 month old to sleep

we tried CIO and it was awful...DH couldn't take it. Alyson falls asleep with her bottle as well but does not rely on it. She's at the point where if I put her down with her binky and cuddle next to her and hold her hand she'll fall asleep on her own or in her crib as a I pat her back (she likes tummy sleeping).

CIO you start with 5 min (or less--whatever you are comfortable with)...let her cry 5 min, go in soothe, next time interval you add more time, 10 min......again, go in soothe, next interval...15 min and hold at the 3rd interval

next night you start at the 2nd interval as the night before (10 min).

some do 1 min, some do 3 min and increase from there.

Alyson is slowly doing it on her own, so we're just going with the flow.

Re: Tips on putting a 3 month old to sleep

My dr gave pretty much the same advice except that he said that with her last bottle to not let her fall asleep with it - to put her down drowsy, but awake. It took a few nights but it worked.

IMO - 3 months old is too young to let CIO. Try and get her on a daytime schedule with feedings - and a night time ritual so that she knows bedtime is coming. If she starts to cry, I would sooth her - Let her get used to the new routine.

Re: Tips on putting a 3 month old to sleep

I used to time it so Jack would get his last bottle at 6 pm. At that time he was getting five, 6oz bottles a day. Then by 7 he is getting sleepy, so I would usually lay him down away by 7:15 and by 7:30 the latest he would sleep.

CIO worked for us and I started a little before 3 months. He never cried long and never really hard the whole time. It only took a few days and he has slept through the night since. I would ease her into it and I am sure she will be fine.

Good LucK!

Message edited 5/25/2006 9:35:18 AM.

Re: Tips on putting a 3 month old to sleep

We havent found CIO to work that well for us. Either me or dh just get too upset and go in or dd just gets more worked up.
We do find that if we watch for her tired cues--now it's rubbing of the eyes and we put her down in the crib with her binky--which I plan on doing away with soon - she will fall alseep within a few minutes. If that doesn't work after about 10 minutes I play a cd that has white noise and that almost always puts her to sleep...she especially likes the vacuum track.

Re: Tips on putting a 3 month old to sleep

Oh man, my son is also 3 months old and I am going through the same exact thing. The only way I can get him to go to sleep for the night is when he falls asleep while I'm feeding him. Otherwise, I can just forget it. I was also wondering if 3 months was too young to try CIO.

For naps, though, he will go to sleep in his swing. I just watch for signs that he's tired (yawning, wiping eyes, cranky...) and put him in his swing and he usually falls asleep within 10 minutes.