CIO Help!

[kvalentine]

Alrighty, I need some help…..my DS is 6.5 months and still struggles to sleep at night. He fights going to sleep and when we finally calm him down and he falls asleep he wakes almost every 3 hours.

Two nights ago I started to try the CIO, as advised by our Ped, when he woke at night. It went okay first crying for an hour and falling asleep then waking only on other time and crying for 45 mins. I was excited and thought last night would be better. He woke up at midnight and cried for over an hour then asleep, woke again at 4 and cried for over two hours and I gave in and nursed him and he fell asleep.

Now I think I am doing something wrong; Both nights I went in a few times to let him know I was still around but did not pick him up.

I know this doesn’t make a lot of sense but I’m so exhausted I can’t even think straight

Any and all help would be great
Thanks

[nini02]

My guess is, since he's only 6 months old, that he's hungry! I definitely wouldn't do CIO in the middle of the night since it's very normal for babies that age to need to eat in the middle of the night still.

I wouldn't listen to your ped on that one.

ETA - I'm not a fan of CIO at all, but I really think doctors need to stick with practicing medicine and stop with the parenting advice.

[napua]

My only help on CIO would be don't do it. It is perfectly normal for a 6 month old baby to wake up to nurse throughout the night. Their bellies are so small and breastmilk digests quickly. I cosleep with my kids so the night nursing doesn't wake me up..is that an option for you?

[Nicki]

Originally Posted by napua My only help on CIO would be don't do it. It is perfectly normal for a 6 month old baby to wake up to nurse throughout the night. Their bellies are so small and breastmilk digests quickly. I cosleep with my kids so the night nursing doesn't wake me up..is that an option for you?

Can you get help for some of the middle of the night wakings? Do you have any EBM on hand?

[LilyGrace]

Unnecessary crying is stressful. If a need isn't being met, that's going to raise the stress levels, raising the cortisol levels and changing/inhibiting brain development. Not only that, but when the need is unmet, the crying stops because the communication tool isn't communicating. In other words, the baby gives up on trying to reach you.

Babies cry for a reason. It's okay for them to wake still in the middle of the night - especially for hunger. Heck, even adults wake in the middle of the night, still!

There's the review further down the page for Lull-a-baby sleep training, and the No Cry Sleep Solution may be worth a shot if you haven't looked at that ye.

[sailor-san]

peds should give out medical advice, not parenting advice. imo, CIO is tantamount to abuse. maybe re-think your approach. no little baby should have to cry for hours.

[napua]

I wanted to come back and say that I hope that you don't think we are being mean or hateful to you. You asked for help and we are offering it...even if it is different than you expected. You are a new mama...and it is not easy! We certainly know that. (((hugs)))

[waitingtobe]

I am sorry mamma that this is getting to be stressful for you...This is what I did for the middle of the night feedings.

We used the CIO method on our DD and it really helped with the night feedings.

I would keep a timer on my night stand to make sure that I followed the time limits. (With you LO crying, it sometimes seems like an hour when it has only been 10 min, KWIM?)

Once she would wake up fussing/crying I would set the timer for 15 min and wait. The first few nights, I would listen to make sure she sounded alright, ie not hurt. After a week or so, I would turn off the monitor during that time.

If she was still crying I would then go in, tell her that she is alright and give her the paci and walk out. If she started crying again, I would then set the timer again for 10 min. If she was still crying, then I went in and feed her.

Most of the time she would fall back to sleep within the first time limit but if she didn't I knew that she is actually hungry.

I completely understand being fustrated and think that the method of CIO DOES work. Brooklyn was sleeping through the night by 4 months with maybe a feeding here or there once a week.

If you have any more questions, just let me know, Or PM me!

[andrea0324]

Hey mama-- it's tough when you're not getting much sleep, we can all relate to that!

I did CIO with both of my girls, but they were a little older (around 10 or 11 months) so I can't offer you much other than support...

[mizzou2798]

My ds is just a month older than yours and we did CIO with him and he is generally a very good sleeper. As we worked through this, I began to hear distinctly different cries. He just sounds different when he is hungry as opposed to angry or tired. I learned to distinguish by not completely following CIO as I would pick up my boy if he had been crying for 10 minutes and showed no signs of giving up, if he is hungry he goes right for it, if he is not he just stops crying. Then we try again, but this time I know he isn't hungry but fighting sleep. Sometimes it takes him awhile to get to sleep. Does your lo go down for the night easily and then wakes and cant' get back to sleep or are you fighting from the beginning? If you are fighting from the beginning, start with that one and worry about the middle of the night wakings separately. HTH, I am glad to fill you in more, just pm me.