ok. so I tried earlier bedtime and cio- more thoughts in first post

And all hell broke loose. Reg routine is bath. Bottle swaddle me rnp by 1030. Goal is by 9 bath boittle no swaddle me and in crib. Ds is 5 and a gald months old. Sooooo did cio a total od 19 minutes with only escalating screaming thjat resulted in swaddle and rnp anyways. I don't know how I feel about cio but I know he cany be swaddlked and in rnp much longer bc he is a big baby and startiung to roill over. But the minute he hits the crib he freaks out. During the day we can play in the crib but if he is left there for more than a few minutes forget it. Do I just keep this battle up til his spirit breaks? He literally was whimpering in my arms even 10 minutes after the cio session was over more thoughtts- you are all so awesome to help me so thank you. As far as naps go he will only nap being held or take short naps in his infant carrier. I try napping in crib but he wakes right up screaming. As far as doing one thing at a time... I realllly thought it was a major nono to keep baby swaddled in crib so I thought ui had to go cold turkey. He is also about 20 pounds and is almost at the busting out of the swaddle point so I feel a bit frantic to find something that works. I know if I stick with it he eventually will sleep and when I said break his spirit.... I suppose what I am worried about is finally during day time hours he is happy and his horrid colic is gone and I am terried that if his sleep gets screwed up again that colic like baby will come back full force and mommy will end up with full time residence in the cookoo bin lol. I am going to talk to dh more about all the suggestions you all mentioned and see what we feel is the best course of action at this point cause what we are doing right now for sure isn't working. Tia!!!!!!

Message edited 10/17/2012 12:30:31 PM.

ok. so I tried earlier bedtime and cio

THe transition from teh RnP to the crib was not an easy one. I suggest doing it when you can do without sleep for a few nights. The first night I caved. After that I let him cry and by night 3 we were all happy. I had a hard time with CIO but my DH kept me strong and it works....its just a tough few days and now unless my DS is sick he is sleeping.

This is coming from a kid who would cry for hours as a newborn.

Re: ok. so I tried earlier bedtime and cio

I think you are making too many changes at once.

Why not keep him swaddled and just transition to the crib first?

You don't have to do it all at once.


Also, I think you either need to comit to CIO or don't do it. IMHO right now you are teaching him that if he cries long enough you will come in and swaddle put him in RnP.

It's negative reinforcement. Think of it like a slot machine. Eventually it is paying off with

There is nothing wrong with not wanting to CIO but if you are going to do it you have to stick with it or it doesn't work. One of my sons cried for an hour and 45 mins the first night. It was AWFUL for both of us but now I can put my twins down wide awake and they just roll over and out themselves to sleep.

Did you read any books on sleep training? I liked Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Baby

Re: ok. so I tried earlier bedtime and cio

Re: ok. so I tried earlier bedtime and cio

Although I had no issues with the rnp to crib transition, I did read from someone on here who transitioned by putting the rnp insert in the crib. How its done exactly I'm not sure but it worked for that person. I'll see if I can find the thread.

And I agree with pp. Too many changes at once. One thing at a time. He prob went into shock from shying away from the norm

Message edited 10/17/2012 9:36:51 AM.

Re: ok. so I tried earlier bedtime and cio

I agree with the poster who said keep him swaddled.
When I transitioned DD from RNP to crib I kept her swaddled.
It's too much at once and they will feel very insecure in the big crib with no swaddle.

FTR- she was swaddled until around 7 months old!

Re: ok. so I tried earlier bedtime and cio

Re: ok. so I tried earlier bedtime and cio

Re: ok. so I tried earlier bedtime and cio

Can I use the swaddle me in the crib even if he he roll over? Dumb question sorry

Re: ok. so I tried earlier bedtime and cio

Re: ok. so I tried earlier bedtime and cio

I would make his bedtime no later than 8.

I would swaddle, or give paci.

I would create a new routine, starting much earlier, and do it every day.

I would do CIO for however long it takes.

Re: ok. so I tried earlier bedtime and cio

I also wanted to say its not about keeping it up until his spirit breaks.

The goal is not to break his spirit.

The goal is to teach him a very important life lesson of self-soothing and falling asleep on his own.

ok. so I tried earlier bedtime and cio

The Ferber book says you should actually start with a later bed time bc they are more tired and then gradually make it earlier. I know you are doing cio not Ferber but I think the premise makes sense.

Re: ok. so I tried earlier bedtime and cio

Re: ok. so I tried earlier bedtime and cio

IMO I think 5 months is too young for CIO. That being said, I also think you are doing too many things at once.

I would pick a goal and complete that before adding to it.

Oh I also kept them swaddled for a long time. Longer then I should have, but they just would not sleep without it.

Message edited 10/17/2012 11:49:46 AM.

ok. so I tried earlier bedtime and cio

Sorry I thought I responded to your other thread....

She has never gone to bed before 9am. EVER. I tried and she’d wake up at 2/3 am. Kills me. So we’d let her nap earlier say around 7pm. Then wake her up around 8:30 or 9 (yes you heard, me wake her up) and keep her up until 10pm then back to bed. She still woke up around 5am but 5am was closer to our normal 6am wake up and it gave us sleep. Doc only cared that the TOTAL hours per day were there. How she got them didn’t matter to him, but it mattered to us! He told us to try to get her to go to bed earlier, pfft.. riiight, whatever. Our scheduled just worked itself out. But we did NOT get her sleep sleep until 10pm. Even if it meant waking her up a half hour after sleeping with food.

She hated being swaddled. Stopped that early because she'd get so mad and struggle to get out.


ETA: Im also anti-CIO. The horror, the screaming the shakes and crying. No I'm not for it. But that's just me and my child. You do what you need to do. But I have heard its not best until after 6m

Message edited 10/17/2012 12:07:26 PM.

Re: ok. so I tried earlier bedtime and cio

Re: ok. so I tried earlier bedtime and cio

Re: ok. so I tried earlier bedtime and cio

I agree with the others. Keep the swaddle for a little bit longer until he gets used the the crib. Where does he nap? Can you try getting him used to the crib by napping him there?

Re: ok. so I tried earlier bedtime and cio

If you plan on Cio, you have to keep up with it . A day is not enough time to decide it's not working. We did Ferber Method with my ds at 7 months . It was sooooo hard, but after 4 days he was sleeping like a champ. And this was a boy who would wake 4 times a night prior to doing Ferber. My ped. Told us to do it at 5 months, but I felt he was too young, so we waited until he was 7 months.

There are various sleep training methods out there. Whatever you decide is right for you guys, just try and be consistent with it.

ok. so I tried earlier bedtime and cio- more thoughts in first post

I would try to move up bedtime 15 minutes at a time - an hour and a half is a big time span for a baby who is used to routine.

Also - if he's outgrowing the swaddle, maybe try a sleep sack - that's what our ped recommended while weaning DS 1 from the swaddle.

Re: ok. so I tried earlier bedtime and cio- more thoughts in first post

I know you had a rough start with him as a newborn, and I can completely understand not wanting to mess things up and be back where you were. I get it.

But sleep training requires a commitment on the part of everyone (you, your DH, and any caregivers he may have). Not just for nighttime sleeping but also for naptime.

Your end goal should be that all sleeping including naps should be in the crib, in a dark room, and possibly with a noise machine that stays on all night long. Unless you are out for the day, he shouldn't be napping in the infant carrier. In a few months he'll outgrow it and you'll have another battle to contend with. I'm curious why you didn't have him nap in the RnP until now?

Anyway, those are your eventual goals ...

Right now you have a few things to solve. Tackle them one at a time.

Sleep begets sleep. Better more consistent naps during the day will make bedtime easier.

ok. so I tried earlier bedtime and cio- more thoughts in first post

My DS was never swaddled but he was in the R&P for overnights and naps until he was 6 months old. I wrote so many posts on here freaking out over the transition and it ended up being fine. My idea would be bath, bottle, R and P without the swaddle. Then 5 nights of that. Let him get used to not having a swaddle first. Then If you have a Pack and play, let him do 5 nights in the pack and play (put it in the same place as he slept in the R and P). Finally, I would try the crib. change one thing at a time. I think changing the swaddling, what he is sleeping in and where he is sleeping is too much. I couldn't do CIO it just wasn't for me. I let him cry for up to 5 minutes and then I would go in and sit next to him, get in the crib, whatever worked. I just NEVER took him out of the crib. By the 3rd night, he was fine. I think everything in moderation is ok. I didn't do naps in the crib until after he was in overnight. I was ok with R&P naps for a while. Now at 9 months, he thinks his crib is the coolest thing ever :) FM me if you want to chat!

Re: ok. so I tried earlier bedtime and cio- more thoughts in first post

Definitely do one thing at a time. That's what someone told me on here and it was definitely true.

If you look at my old posts, we had trouble with the RNP to crib transition too. We also swaddled my son until he was 7 months i think. So we started off putting him in the crib- swaddled. Do you have the video monitor? best thing ever. He didn't try to roll over until much later so we kept him swaddled for about 2 weeks.

But then he started fighting the swaddle and waking up a lot. So we switched over to a sleep sac and it was SO EASY. I think he was happy he could finally sleep on his side, which he seemed to like to do. Plus he could find his own pacifiers too. So we didn't even need to do CIO like i thought we would have. Does your son take a pacifier?

I would definitely try to move bedtime up earlier, but start slow. Do 15 minutes earlier each night. I would do a bath every night if you can so he realizes that bedtime is coming shortly after. Get a sound machine for his room if you don't have one already.