CIO for a toddler... How did you do it?

DS is 14 months and refuses to sleep in his crib. He can be almost asleep after his last bottle and as soon as I lay him down in his crib he stands up and starts SCREAMING.

He was sick with a stomach virus and cold and then a double ear infection back to back over the course of a month so I started co-sleeping during that time.

Now, he won't sleep without me.

We did CIO successfully at 8 months, but this seems worse. He stands up in his crib and SCREAMS etc. until I go in there and pick him up.

Last night I slept on the floor of his room with him because he wouldn't sleep in his crib and DH said no more to the co-sleeping (which I sort of agree that it is time)...

How did you sleep train your toddler? Any advice? I am desperate....

Message edited 5/3/2010 2:12:22 PM.

Re: CIO for a toddler... How did you do it?

At 14 months, you just need to not go in. We did it at 12 months with DS and it didn't take very long for him to get used to it.

I feel that if you go in, it sort of makes it worse at this age b/c they KNOW you can come in and don't, they get more worked up

Re: CIO for a toddler... How did you do it?

i agree. it takes a little longer with a toddler. my dd was 13 months when we had to retrain her.. between a stomach virus and a cold, she was in our bed cosleeping for a month.

then when she was better, i would try to put her in her crib when she fell asleep and she would wake up immediately.

it took 2 days but the first day, i kept picking her up when she would wake up. i would then space it out... like go in every 10 min,.. then every 20...
the 2nd night i stayed in her room while she cried.. i stayed there for like 10 min.. then i went to my room and watched her on the monitor. she cried for 45 min. to an hour.. and then that was the end of that.

Re: CIO for a toddler... How did you do it?

i was in the same position with my 18 month old. We went away and she slept in our bed, then we got home and she got sick so again we co-slept. i finally went back and did Ferber with her and it only took about 3 days for her to get into the routine. Now i put her down she cries for about a minute if that, and its not even crying its faking, and then goes right down. She also used to get up at 2:00 everynight and she stopped doing that as well. I am not a CIO mom and don't like the idea of letting her CIO for hours. I tried it once and she just wouldnt stop and got so upset. HOpe this helps!

Re: CIO for a toddler... How did you do it?

We started having some sleep issues with my DD a few months back where she did the same thing as your DC.......she would stand up and scream and cry and not lay down to go to sleep. She was waking up screaming at night and just wanted to be picked up again. She would only sleep if we took her in bed with us. It was a NIGHTMARE especially because we were use to a child who had been STTN with NO issues since she was 8 weeks old. Anyway, someone had posted a few days back regarding sleep issues and this was my response. Hope it helps! Good luck!!

BTW.......my DD's started all this behavior when she had gotten sick too with a cold and then strep. That's what kicked off all of the sleep problems but she's back to normal now since we made some changes.
_____________________________________

My DD is 19 months old too and we started having a problem with her about 3 or so months ago where she would fight going to bed all of a sudden and then even when she did she was waking up screaming and wouldn't go back to sleep unless we took her in bed with us. It was out of control especially since she had been STTN since she was 8 weeks old with not one problem. I tried CIO (not a fan), shushing and patting her back, laying her back down every time she sat up, etc. etc. Then I took a look at her routine and realized we needed to make a change.

We use to brush her teeth, take her in her bedroom for pj's and then we would let her come back in the den with us and cuddle and relax for a bit while we watched TV then we would put her in bed. That worked fine when she was little but now that she is older I realized I wasn't sending the right msg. to her about it being bedtime and bringing her back in only made her want to go to bed less because she didn't want to miss anything with us. SO..................I changed up things.

Now at 745 I brush her teeth, we go into her room and with dim soft lights and her classical music on I put on her pjs and then we sit in the glider together and read 3-4 books before bed. When I am done reading I give her a big smooch, tell her good night, and put her in the crib and she is asleep in under 5 min. EVERY night. She sleeps from 8pm to 7:30-8am EVERY night with NO wake-ups, NO fidgeting, NO crying, NO fighting, NO nothing! We've had the new routine now for over a month and it's working like a charm.

So, maybe look at you're routine and see if you can make a change somewhere. I would really try to avoid giving a sippy cup of milk. It will start a bad habit with her wanting milk every night and then using that as a way to stay awake or get picked up AND it's not good for milk to be sitting on their teeth all night. Anyway, I would try something new in your bedtime routine or try another way of getting her back down to sleep and see what works. It may take a few tries but you'll figure it out. Chat Icon