I am so ready to let my baby CIO but....

she is only 11 weeks old. I am telling you the amount of work it takes to get her to nap or go to sleep at night is just obsurd. Every night it's a song and dance for at least 2 hours----rocking, bouncing, swinging, patting her back, putting her in the crib, taking her back out, starting over......I just don't get it. We start at around 7PM and she isn't in for the night until at least 10PM. DH is in her room with her now. She is so tired but she fights it and then falls asleep on us & as soon as we put her down she is awake again. We are both at our wits end with this.

I seriously know she is too young to CIO but if I could, I would.

Signed,
Frustrated Beyond Belief

Re: I am so ready to let my baby CIO but....

The situation you are describing is normal at that age. It won't always be this way. Just remember, your baby is adjusting to the outside world, as much as you are adjusting to your baby. Your child needs those TLC moments at night to feel comfort from all of the newness of the new environment.

Re: I am so ready to let my baby CIO but....

it seems like it is never ending! but it will end, we promise..... is your baby gassy? or just crying? ask ped if u can give baby weak chamomile tea, it worked for us....

Re: I am so ready to let my baby CIO but....

Message edited 6/15/2009 9:50:47 PM.

Re: I am so ready to let my baby CIO but....

I really wish I didn't just read this post b/c I just had ds fall asleep on me, I put him in the crib and now he's screaming - but he's 16 months....

But since I did, perhaps you can try an infant positioner or soft music, a bath, or i think i saw they had some sort of colic mat that gently vibrates? Maybe you are waiting until dc is too tired to start the bed process?

Hope it gets easier for you.

Re: I am so ready to let my baby CIO but....

I would come up with a routine and stick with it. Instead of trying 101 different things. Maybe she is getting tired before 7. I am not a fan of leaving a baby and letting them CIO but letting her cry for a couple min. is not going to hurt her. I remember DS used to get so over tired he would do this occasionally. I had to develop a routine which I continued daily so he knew it was time for bed.

Re: I am so ready to let my baby CIO but....

At that age my baby was going to bed around 10 -- 11 o'clock at night. I wouldn't even attempt putting him down at 7 pm. The good thing was that by that time if he went to bed at 10:30 he would sleep till 6 am.

If she's sleeping through the night I would let her go to bed a little bit later than 7 pm. Also at that time I didn't have structured naps -- he's sleep whenever he felt like it.

Re: I am so ready to let my baby CIO but....

At 11 weeks old DD was a night-owl, not going to bed until at least 10. Is it possible she just isn't tired yet? If she consistently falls asleep by 10, maybe that is the time she is ready.

Re: I am so ready to let my baby CIO but....

We have a routine in place. We put her in the sleep sack, take her out for a walk (when it's not raining), then come back and rock her & I'll sometimes nurse her depending on when she ate last (feeding on demand). She's tired and falls asleep but is up shortly thereafter.

Some of you mentioned that maybe she isn't tired. We have also tried letting her stay up and she is just a weepy mess if we do that.

I just feel like we can't win right now.

Re: I am so ready to let my baby CIO but....

I honestly started DD on CIO when she was 8 weeks old. She cried for a while the first night, but never again unless there was a good reason. I do have to say though, I knew she was "capable" of sleeping through the night the day before I did the CIO and at that point she was only waking up once in the middle of the night. The day before she had her 2 month shots which made her sleepy and she slpt through the night on her own. The very next night I did the CIO thing b/c she woke up at around 3am, but during the day gave her lots of holding and all. I'm hoping to do the same this time around. I agree with the routine thing. It takes time though and everyone feels differently on what they are comfortable with as far as the CIO thing. My ped had no issue with my doing it that early in fact he encouraged it b/c I was going back to work 4 weeks later.

Re: I am so ready to let my baby CIO but....

Up until Jack was 6 months old I had to rock him for hours at a time - for naps and bedtime. The day he turned 6 months I did CIO.

Do you have a sound machine?
Do you swaddle?
Try giving her a burp cloth that she can use as a lovey?

ETA: I agree with the others - put her in the crib by 6:30. You might be missing her window and at that point she is too overtired to fall asleep.

Message edited 6/16/2009 8:30:14 AM.

Re: I am so ready to let my baby CIO but....

I think maybe she is overtired, if you read Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child, they say to watch for sleepy signs. Putting them to bed is MUCH easier if they are not overtired.

My DD needed to be in her crib by 6:30 at that age, and the book says that most infants should be going to sleep before 7 (I know not all, but most).

Did you read that book? It is confusing but I def. took the sleep signals from it and when they should be napping/sleeping.

GL!

Re: I am so ready to let my baby CIO but....

Re: I am so ready to let my baby CIO but....

at 11 weeks Noah never fell asleep before 10 pm. It was usually 10-10 he slept. How many Hrs does she sleep consistently?

It will get easier you know that. This is the awakening period after that newborn daze, just continue , stay string and you will forget this was even a problem soon.

do you swaddle? Watch the DVD the baby whisperer ( again if you saw it the 1st time).

Re: I am so ready to let my baby CIO but....

Posted by aliwnec10

Posted by karanthony

My DD needed to be in her crib by 6:30 at that age, and the book says that most infants should be going to sleep before 7 (I know not all, but most).

Same here. We were putting ds to bed around 9-10pm and he would always have this "witching hour" around 6pm. We eventually realized that it wasn't his witching hour, but it was him trying to tell us it was bedtime. So we starting putting him to bed around 6pm and voila!!!!!

Re: I am so ready to let my baby CIO but....

At that age, our routine (if I remember correctly), was a bath, then a bottle, and then the swing until she fell asleep. Once she was in a deep sleep, we'd transfer her to the crib.

Re: I am so ready to let my baby CIO but....

After going back and re-reading your responses I think that the walk may be stimulating her instead of making her think bedtime is coming up. I would take the walk out completely before bedtime.

Give her a bath, nurse her, and then put her down. Keep all the lights dim after 6pm so that she knows it's quiet time.

Re: I am so ready to let my baby CIO but....

Posted by Lucky

Posted by pjay

it seems like it is never ending! but it will end, we promise..... is your baby gassy? or just crying? ask ped if u can give baby weak chamomile tea, it worked for us....

She's not gassy---she passes gas and burps like a champ. She just fusses and cries if we don't help her get to sleep.

Maybe I'll check out the chamomile tea. Will it soothe her? Is that the idea?

Editted for wacky spelling!

Re: I am so ready to let my baby CIO but....

Re: I am so ready to let my baby CIO but....

Re: I am so ready to let my baby CIO but....

Just wanted to thank everyone for sharing their experiences & lending me some advice. I will check out the video and book as per your recommendations.

Message edited 6/16/2009 11:12:55 AM.

Re: I am so ready to let my baby CIO but....

At that age, both of my girls were going down a bit later (closer to 9-10). With #2, I forgot how late her sister went to bed at that age, so I was shocked when she wasn't going down at 7 (like her older sister was at that point).

We kept trying and it took a long time but by 4 months old, we had her down by 8:30 every night. Now at 7 months she goes down at 7 and sleeps through.