This whole CIO thing is making me nuts.

First off DD is 8 months old. From the time she was 2 months old she has slept through the night. We would give her her last bottle and right after that put her in her crib. She would lay there quietly until she fell asleep. It was heaven. Well, all of a sudden for the past 3 weeks or so she has been very difficult when we try to put her to bed. The second we lay her in the crib she starts screaming as if we were hurting her. I let her CIO for about 10 minutes before going in but the cries get louder and louder to the point where she can barely catch her breath. When we do go in there I try to rub her back or belly and tell her everything is ok and then walk out of her room. Well, that just makes it worse. She does this when its time for her afternoon nap too. I am at my wits end and don't know what to do. She has been teething for months now and already has four teeth so I really don't think its that. If her cries get so bad I do pick her up to console her and rock her but just when I think she is asleep she wakes up again when I go to put her back in her crib. Any advice?

Re: This whole CIO thing is making me nuts.

I am the wrong person to ask because my dd gets rocked to sleep every night

I have began to put her down while she is still semi-awake and sometimes she will fall asleep on her own if she is really tired, sometimes, I need to rock her to sleep

I cannot do CIO for too long as my dd get hysterical too

Re: This whole CIO thing is making me nuts.

DS is about 6 months and I don't believe in CIO.

I just don't want my DC to go to sleep stressed out and crying. I want him to be calm and feel that we are here for him. He has fought sleep many times especially when overtired. I stay with him until he sleeps.

Re: This whole CIO thing is making me nuts.

I used the principles in the book, "Good Night Sleep Tight" by Kim West. I couldn't do CIO either; after 10 minutes of her crying, I'd break down and go in her room & end up picking her up. In the book, they call it the sleep lady shuffle. It basically has you gently removing yourself from the room. It took a week but it worked for us. You start by putting a chair right up against DC's crib and talking to them and rubbing their back or belly if needed. Then basically every night you are supposed to do less talking and less rubbing. At night 3, you should move your chair about a foot away from the crib so you can still console them with your words a little but no rubbing. If they calm down, you don't continue to talk to them. I used to close my eyes and with the night light DD would see me "sleeping". You keep with this pattern night after night getting your chair closer to the door until you are out.

For us it worked, the first 2 nights she cried for about 15 minutes but it was just b/c she was frustrated that I was there and wouldn't pick her up. After those 2 nights, she really chilled out. She'd cry a few wimpy cries and I'd just tell her "time for night, night, shush". I'd leave the room as soon as she drifted off to sleep. We started with it taking her 30 minutes to fall asleep but by the end of the week....I was out the door within 5 minutes. Ever since then....it's been smooth sailing. This is not to say that now she falls asleep within 5 minutes. We did this when she was 5 months and now she's 14 months. She is totally fine though hanging out in her crib until she falls asleep on her own.

I felt good knowing that I was there rather than outside of the room listening to her crying. Believe me, the method was not without tears but it was better than CIO IMO. It's worth looking into it or trying it.

Message edited 12/17/2007 2:43:10 PM.

Re: This whole CIO thing is making me nuts.

Thanks for the advice.

Re: This whole CIO thing is making me nuts.

When dd started to stand about three weeks ago she started hysterically crying. After two sleepless nights I new I had to do something different and we let her CIO. She did cry three nights in a row for 45 minutes a few times duiring the night but within a week of the problem starting, it ended. She is now back to falling right asleep and sleeping for 11 hours. It was a hard few nights, but VERY worth it!

Re: This whole CIO thing is making me nuts.

Sounds like a phase that hopefully is temporary...I wouldn't be able to do CIO either...just try to console her as much as possible...

Re: This whole CIO thing is making me nuts.

Well, I decided not to let her CIO last night and so I rocked her. After about 10 minutes she was fast asleep and stayed asleep all night. I guess I will rock her everynight now. Maybe this is just a phase and will end soon. Part of me always thought if she only fell asleep by me rocking her then I was creating a monster...but it was nice not hearing her scream for an hour.