For those considering CIO - BTDT moms feel free to post your experiences too!

DS is 12 months and has been a nightmate recently with sleeping. Up 2-3x a night for really no reason but habit.

He was a great NB, slept 5-6 hours from day 1,never had day/night confusion, was sleeping through by 7/8 weeks.

Anyway around 9/10 months it just went from bad to worse adn we didnt know what to do, so we tried everything, feeding more during hte day, feeding less, 1 nap vs 2 naps, sleeping with an article of my clothing, with sound machine without, ferber method, etc. And nothing changed.

So Friday we tried CIO, I decided against the Ferber method as it felt like I was just making DS mroe angry like I was teasing him by coming in every few minutes or so. So we did just plain CIO. Well I put DS down later than normal b/c we were out, but he was asleep by 10ish...1:15 he woke up adn we let him cry....and cry... and cry he cried for 1hour 15 minutes (I sat the entire time in bed my eyes glued to the video monitor). then he passed out for the rest of the night woke at 7am.
Second night he woke around teh same time cried for about 45 minutes.

Here is the encouraging part. Every morning DS wakes up crying until we pick him up and you can tell he is still tired. But on night 2 of CIO - he woke up talking and playing in his crib, something he hasnt done in MONTHS.

I told DH it makes me feel good because its like a sign that CIO is having a positive affect on DS's sleep! We are not done yet as DS is still waking but his crying last night was down to about 20 minutes of a more mild whimper.

So I know every day someone else is considering doing CIO but is nervous...so I though this might help.

For any other BTDT moms, feel free to post your feelings/experiences.

Message edited 1/12/2009 5:13:17 PM.

Re: For those considering CIO -

Thanks for posting this! We also did CIO and still do on the rare occasion we have to re-inforce. It really does make such a difference in the demeanor of the baby during wake times when they get a good nights sleep the night before. I fully support this method of teaching a child to sleep on their own.

For anyone thinking of trying this method, it's TOUGH. They cry, usually A LOT at first. But be consistent. Be sure you are going to stick with it or they "win" and will cry until you come to them because they know you will. Babies are a lot smarter than we give them credit for. But one of the best gifts you can give your DC is the ability to learn to sleep, and sleep good.

I'm definitely not saying that CIO is best for every baby and every parent, but it did work for us so I'm always happy to share advice on this topic, as are a lot of other mommies on this board.

Re: For those considering CIO -

Re: For those considering CIO - BTDT moms feel free to post your experiences too!

We decided to do CIO when Kaydyn was just about 9 months. She started sleeping in 5-6 hour stretches at 5 weeks and then never went past that. At almost 9 months she was waking up once sometimes twice a night. Both DH and I were working FT and I was commuting an hour and a half each way every day. We were both just exhausted and couldn't do it anymore.

One night we just decided we were going to let her CIO. Luckily for us that 1st night she only cried for 20 mins and went to sleep. She woke up in the middle of the night and cried for another 15 mins and went back to sleep.

Since then she has become a great sleeper. She still cries almost every night when we put her down. And she still wakes up almost every night in the middle of the night, but generally she'll cry for a minute or 2 or she'll just babble to herself for a few mins and then go back to sleep.

She now sleeping 11pm-11:30am practically every day.