Hellobee Boards

The way that I made peace with CIO (repeatedly!) was that my son was miserable and crying whether I was there with him or not. I didn't seem to be a comfort to him and most nights was actively ramping up his crying and keeping him awake longer than he otherwise would have been. One night we decided to go 20 minutes before checking on him and he fell asleep at 19 minutes and slept through. The next night it was after about 5 minutes, and from then on its been pretty much fuss free. Your mileage may vary of course, but it was kind of the only way for us.

Solidarity, mama. We also sleep trained DD around 6/7 months and she was a sleeping angel for a long time. Ever since about 22 months she's been more difficult, especially at bedtime.

I've had some luck with the sleep lady shuffle - you start by staying in until they fall asleep, then move a little further from the crib for a few nights, and then further until you're out the door. We've also had some luck leaving a hall light on and giving her books and letting her "read" until she falls asleep. Most nights it still takes a while, but I can usually leave for decent periods of time before I need to go in for one more story or song.

She's also started skipping nap some days at daycare and it's much easier to get her to go to sleep those nights. Do you think your LO might be ready to nap a little less?

We started CIO last week with my 22 month old based on advice from other Bees. It was rough, but last night she gave me a hug and a kiss and leaned into her crib, rolled over and went to sleep. I was AMAZED. She still has motn wakeups but I'm so impressed and proud of her.

So my suggestion is CIO again. It sucks, but it works.

That age sucks for the regression.

We did cio but would stand right outside his door and say "I'm right here, it's ok!" And leave it open a crack. Then when we put him to bed we'd say "I'll be right outside the door". It worked really well.

He would scream hysterically but going in just seemed to restart the process. Eventually we went from screaming every night (I guess we did cio for months without it working really. He'd cry 10-15 mins hard and then pass out) to not crying at all. The crying started around 19 months and lasted until 2 years when it got even worse and he was having multiple long wake ups. The standing outside the door was my husbands idea and worked like a charm.

ETA: he's now 3.5 and for a long time now we just say good night and close the door and leave. Sometimes he's up for 30 minutes chatting away to himself. But there's no bed time drama. No getting out of bed. Chats for a bit and sleeps.

@Waterbaby: It was rough for about 4-5 days? She went to bed even better last night, so I'm about to start CIO for middle of the night wakeups. It's magic.