Moms that do CIO, Can you give me some info?

Moms that do CIO. I have some questions. We agreed not to let her cry, but I don't know how much more of this we can physically take and we really need her to go to sleep and her own at night and stay asleep. I just want to get some more information, if that's okay :)

How does the process work?
How long do you let them cry?
When/what situations do you go to them?
What if they are standing/sitting in their cribs screaming?
What if they can't be consoled?
What do you do when you go to them?

If you were successful...

What type of personality is your baby?

DH and I really appreciate your honest answers

Re: Moms that do CIO, Can you give me some info?

I'm a successful CIO mom. Worked for us BEAUTIFULLY. My daughter is INCREDIBLY strong willed, stubborn and has more personality than her little 25lb body can handle, BUT, she's a quick learner. She adapts and learns within about 2-3 days.

Many women use the incremental measures technique - go in every 5 minutes to console, then 10, then 20, etc. This didn't work for us. Because Alex IS so strong willed and stubborn, if she even saw my face or hubby's face, it sent her reeling and into even further hysterics. The only way it worked for us was to just let her cry in her room, with the door shut.

In the beginning, the first time she cried, I would make sure we had all our bases covered. I would offer her milk, water, change her diaper and give her her binky. Then, I would put her back in her crib. If she continued to cry, that's it, I knew her physical needs were met.

First night was hell. She cried for about 20-25 minutes. She woke up maybe once or twice in the night and cried again for 5-10 minutes. Next night wasn't so bad - cried for about 15 minutes, woke up maybe once, cried for a minute and fell back asleep. By about 4-5 days, I could put her in awake, she would fall asleep and sleep through the night.

You also have to tune into their cry - now I know the difference between whining and real distress. At this point, if Alex wakes up in the middle of the night and cries for more than a minute or two, I KNOW there is a problem and I will come get her.

Re: Moms that do CIO, Can you give me some info?

I agree w/Bxgell2 and just recently had to break his 4am wakeup cycle. I would feed him, soothe him, put his paci back in and nothing would help he still wanted to start his day at 4am. So one morning I let him cry. I hated it, but I was out of options and runing on empty for too long. An hour later he fell back asleep. next morning he fussed a little at the same time but fell back asleep. Now he talks to himself a little while then falls back asleep. If he's really crying I'll go change him (he often has a poop diaper in the AM) and put him back w/paci and let him fall back to sleep.

Today he slept til 7. I could not believe it!!

He is generally an easy baby, but NOT a good sleeper at all and I am desperate to fix it. I know it's his inconsistent daycare napping routine but there's not much I can do about that. Good luck, it's so hard to do but I had to at least try it and for us it so far seems to have worked. Hopefully I just didn't jinx myself by writing this!!!!

Re: Moms that do CIO, Can you give me some info?

Realizing I didn't answer all your questions:
How does the process work? I just let him fuss/cry unless he's all out wailing, then I know something else is up
How long do you let them cry? as long as it takes, not more than an hour on/off
When/what situations do you go to them? screaming/unusual crying, stuck on his belly, might have poop diaper
What if they are standing/sitting in their cribs screaming? Not there yet LOL
What if they can't be consoled? I combat this by bouncing him in my arms in his bathroom (total darkness) with the bath fan running (White noise) if he is tired he falls asleep and I have to wait a good while to put him down.

Re: Moms that do CIO, Can you give me some info?

Re: Moms that do CIO, Can you give me some info?

Posted by sweetness

Moms that do CIO. I have some questions. We agreed not to let her cry, but I don't know how much more of this we can physically take and we really need her to go to sleep and her own at night and stay asleep. I just want to get some more information, if that's okay :)

How does the process work?
How long do you let them cry?
When/what situations do you go to them?
What if they are standing/sitting in their cribs screaming?
What if they can't be consoled?
What do you do when you go to them?

If you were successful...

What type of personality is your baby?

DH and I really appreciate your honest answers

Re: Moms that do CIO, Can you give me some info?

This worked for us, but the first few nights were hell. He cried for 2 hours the first night,,,then it went down to 1 hour and progressively went to nothing. So just be prepared and try to sit somewhere in your house that will tune out the crying a little.

I would sit outside with my monitor on, but the volume off, so I could just see the red bars on the monitor go up and down. It was easier than listening to the crying for hours at a time.

But it worked!

Re: Moms that do CIO, Can you give me some info?

We had to use this method recently. DD is almost 9 months old. She recently had a cold and was teething and started waking every 3 hours at night to eat again because she wasn't eating/drinking enough during the day. Her Ped said we had to stop feeding her at night and let her CIO. She didn't really have much trouble initially going to sleep (we don't put her to bed at a set time. We wait until she is sleepy and then put her to bed. She is usually in bed between 7-8pm). When she woke to eat in the middle of the night I went in and tried to give her the pacifier and she refused it. I left the room and didn't go back in and she screamed for 30 minutes before going to sleep. She woke up a couple more times briefly during the night. The next night she woke up and screamed for 40 minutes. The third and remaining nights have been better. She still wakes up a couple of times a night and whimpers for less than a minute or two. If she cries for more than 5 minutes, I go in to check to see if her diaper leaked. The video monitor helps a lot - I can check on her without going into the room. It was very difficult and I would lie in bed and feel sick to my stomach. Now she goes to bed so much more easily and stays there. We didn't use the method where you go in to the child at certain time increments because we felt it would be more difficult. We expected her to continue to cry for us if she knew we might come back in. Good luck.

Re: Moms that do CIO, Can you give me some info?

would LOVE to know how to do this with twins...without waking the other?