aliwnec10
mom of 3 boys
Member since 4/06 11426 total posts
Name:
Ali
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Horrible napper and my experience with CIO
Lately my sons napping has been horrible! So has the nighttime (waking A LOT). He was getting so overtired that he was miserable almost all of the time. Our once easy baby transformed into this demanding fussy baby. It has been a nightmare for the past 2 months. Some people have told us to s*ck it up... that's what babies do... etc. However that wasn't good enough. Since he used to sleep through the night at 2 1/2 months and nap well... i just couldn't accept things as they were now. After i read countless books and was online all the time trying to find the solution, this is what we did:
My son used to sleep hour and a half naps, about 3 times a day. Then all of a sudden, he was only napping 30-45 minutes at a time and in order to get him to nap, we had to walk around the house with him, bouncing him for 15 minutes. Then we had to put him down at just the right moment or he was awake and naptime was over. It was beyond exhausting!!!!!
Now i know many on here don't agree with CIO, especially under 6 months. But everyone has to do what's best for their baby and their family! 
My son is 5 months old. We started to do CIO for naps with him a week ago. Now i'm not going to lie. It was hard. The first nap, we brought him to the nursery (he has always slept in his swing), closed the blinds, turned on his sound machine, put him down and walked out. He cried for 40 minutes before falling asleep.  It was hard. But necessary for us.
The 2nd nap, he fell asleep in my husbands arms (which he rarely ever does). The 3rd nap, he fell asleep on the couch while my husband was playing with him (he NEVER does this. it's unheard of in our house). The 4th nap, he fussed for 3 minutes before falling asleep.
On day 2 and 3, sometimes he went down without a peep. Sometimes he fussed for 2 minutes. Yesterday at the first nap, he cried for 10 minutes (i think testing us). It's a process.
But just being able to do this is a huge relief for my husband and I. We finally have some time to ourselves. Yes he may only nap for 45 minutes and sometimes longer, but we'll get there. But not having to bounce him around all day and him being able to put himself to sleep is such freedom.
Don't know if it's related, but last night he got up 3 times before 10pm and each time he put himself back to sleep within a minute. He got up only twice during the night for a feeding which hasn't happened in weeks!!!!  For the past 2 months, he's been getting up 4-5 times.  We also put him to bed earlier than usual, which i think helped. Previously he had been getting up at 5:10am (usually wakes at 6:30) so we put him to bed at 6:15pm (usually goes to bed at 7pm). When they don't nap well, you should put them to bed earlier.
Anyway, my point is to let some of you know that CIO does work and if you were as exhausted as my husband and i (who both work FT)... it might be something you may want to consider.
Oh and i should mention that my son is much happier during the day, easier, and smiles just as much.
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aliwnec10
mom of 3 boys
Member since 4/06 11426 total posts
Name:
Ali
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Re: Horrible napper and my experience with CIO
Posted by headoverheels
i am so glad he is sleeping better! thank you for sharing your methods, i hope they continue to work!
me too! 
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And thanks for being open and honest. Thanks for sharing your experience.
