CIO help needed please

DD is 6 months. She usually sleeps anywhere from 8-3 to 8-5 before having a feeding and sleeping more. Ped says it's time for us to get rid of the middle of the night feeding. Last night she slept from 7:45-4:20. We decided to let her go for awhile to see if she'd fall back asleep. She whimpered and cried until 5 when I finally fed her, then she fell back asleep til 7. She nursed for less than 10 minutes before she passed out.

My questions are:
- when is it considered a middle of the night feeding vs. actually sleeping through the night (8-9 hours), just not on an adult schedule?

- she falls easily to sleep (nursing) every night - it's just the middle of the night when she gets up. do you have to do CIO for the beginning of the night in order to get it to work in the middle?

She's such a good sleeper that I am afraid if we switch things up and put her down awake she will be up all night and it will totally mess her up.

All advice appreciated!!

Message edited 8/14/2009 11:23:55 AM.

Re: CIO help needed please

For me, I had to do CIO at the beginning of the night, for it to be effective throughout the night.

They say that the child should go into bed the same way they would wake up in the middle of the night...no parents there, no night light(if you dont keep it on all night) no rocking to sleep. They have to learn to be able to put themselves to sleep.

Good luck!! Its tough, but as someone who NEVER thought she could do it, it really helped my children (and me, once they got used to it---which only took 3 days, MAX)

Re: CIO help needed please

Are you dropping the middle of the night feeding b/c you want to or b/c your pediatrician recommended it? If you don't mind waking once to feed her, I'd continue doing it. Some babies, especially BF ones, aren't ready to STTN at 6 months old. Some wake out of habit, but others are still hungry in the middle of the night.

I'm EBFing. DS usually woke up 2-3 times per night until he was 6 months old. Then, he started waking up once per night, sometime between 2 and 4 a.m. He'd nurse for 10 minutes (during the day, he nursed for 25-30 minutes) and fall back asleep. At 7 months, he finally started STTN.

I'm not an expert on CIO, but if you want to do CIO, I'd just do CIO in the middle of the night. Just be consistent about it. If you don't want to do CIO yet, I'd give it another month or so and then re-evaluate.

Re: CIO help needed please

Thanks - on one hand, I want her to be a good sleeper and I don't want to hold that up by maintaining a bad habit. On the other, I kind of feel like she's already a good sleeper (at least 7 hours in that first stretch) and I really don't want to mess with that by changing her bedtime routine and making her cry.

What's really motivating me to try it is the nap situation. She's a great napper at daycare (probably because they rock her ) but WILL NOT NAP on weekends. I literally have to take a nap with her or put her in her bouncy after she's dead asleep. It's like she knows she's home with us and wants to play and not nap. If I put her in the crib during the day on a weekend, even if she's completely asleep, forget it.

Should I try it?

Re: CIO help needed please

DS was getting up for a middle of the night feeding at 6 months. He just started dropping this feeding himself at 7.5 months. Now he sleeps from 7-5. So I say keep that feeding if you are ok with getting up to do it. When she is ready, she will stop waking up for it.

As for naps, I had the same issue. I didn't do full out CIO for naps, but will let them fuss and cry for a few minutes and I'll keep going in to give them their paci or rub their backs. Now they pretty much fall asleep on their own all the time.

Re: CIO help needed please

For me giving DS a bottle of formula or with BM at the last feeding of the night I think really helped him sleep thruogh the nigiht. Reason being because I controlled the ounces in the bottle and I knew he was getting enough to get him through. He's been sleeping through the night 7pm-7am for 2 months now. (He's 7 months)
I give him a 9 ounce bottle b4 bed and he drinks between 7 and 9 depending how hungry he is. You can pump a bottle of however many ounces you feel your baby will have and try that see if it helps.

Re: CIO help needed please

Posted by A-Nonny-Mouse

Thanks - on one hand, I want her to be a good sleeper and I don't want to hold that up by maintaining a bad habit. On the other, I kind of feel like she's already a good sleeper (at least 7 hours in that first stretch) and I really don't want to mess with that by changing her bedtime routine and making her cry.

What's really motivating me to try it is the nap situation. She's a great napper at daycare (probably because they rock her ) but WILL NOT NAP on weekends. I literally have to take a nap with her or put her in her bouncy after she's dead asleep. It's like she knows she's home with us and wants to play and not nap. If I put her in the crib during the day on a weekend, even if she's completely asleep, forget it.

Should I try it?