https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Fri, 17 Apr 2026 03:38:47 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/overall-time-limits-on-cio#post-1690847 Tue, 10 Jun 2014 11:44:35 +0000 raintreebee 1690847@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@abbydabbydoodlebug: Good for you guys! Please let me know how it goes!</p> <p>@Grace: Encouraging! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/overall-time-limits-on-cio#post-1690774 Tue, 10 Jun 2014 11:14:55 +0000 Grace 1690774@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>If she's crying for 2 hours anyway, might as well give her 2 hours to see if she'll figure it out. And just for encouragement, when mine stopped being happy with rocking, she fell asleep super-fast (like in 10 min versus 30 min) when I just put her down. I think the rocking was too stimulating for her. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/overall-time-limits-on-cio#post-1690755 Tue, 10 Jun 2014 11:07:22 +0000 abbydabbydoodlebug 1690755@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@raintreebee: After another horrible evening yesterday, DH and I decided to CIO for naps and bedtime today. I also watched her roll over in the merlin suit last night to hey tummy! Eek. So we ditched that today and put her in a Halo sleep sack for her first nap. immediately rolls to her tummy, so I left her and she was asleep in about 20-25 min. Good luck! It was really hard for me to decide to CIO, but she was crying anyway, so might as well let her try to figure it out and help herself. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/overall-time-limits-on-cio#post-1690658 Tue, 10 Jun 2014 10:29:57 +0000 raintreebee 1690658@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@loveisstrange: @sunny: Thank you! That gives me hope that this might be less painful than it sounds.</p> <p>@abbydabbydoodlebug: Aahh, I am so sorry. It really is heart-wrenching and totally makes me feel helpless. My husband works late so I generally do it alone, which might be better for our marriage's sake!</p> <p>@Jess1483: @shellio: Two hours I *may* be able to handle. Not sure my neighbors will though! </p> <p>@Trailmix: I can't imagine sleep-training two at once! </p> <p>Thanks, ladies. Now I just have to figure out whether to ditch the magic merlin suit before sleep training. My instinct is yes since I don't want him getting to hot in there while he is crying. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/overall-time-limits-on-cio#post-1690102 Mon, 09 Jun 2014 23:30:41 +0000 shellio 1690102@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ugh I'm so sorry. This is exactly how my son was - except at 6 weeks. He did not go to sleep with: nursing, rocking, swing, cuddling, ergo, nursing, nursing, nursing. Seriously. And when he was totally exhausted, like after 4-5 hours awake, he would wake right back up if he did fall asleep with any method that involved another human being. Just wanted to say - I can empathize with spending hours trying to get baby to sleep and then having them wake right back up. Because of this we had to cry it out way earlier than we wanted to, at 8 weeks. But I have no regrets and he actually cried less after the sleep training. It sucks A LOT but I agree with previous posters that you should set the limit way higher than you think - maybe 2 hours? - but he might really surprise you how fast he catches on. I would add that you should set a limit of say 4-6 days and if you don't see improvement after those days, rethink your method. If you are considering Ferber I can't specifically comment because we didn't do that but many have said that their child just got upset with the checks rather than soothed and that was my experience when we tried to comfort DS. Good luck and you are in the right place - there are tons of helpful posts here about CIO/sleep training and many bees around to support you. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/overall-time-limits-on-cio#post-1690025 Mon, 09 Jun 2014 21:34:03 +0000 Jess1483 1690025@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>The problem with an overall time limit is that if you say, well, 1.5 hours, and baby cries longer than that, then you have taught the baby that you will come back and do whatever kind thing you are doing to help them sleep after 1.5 hours, and the crying will get much worse before it gets better.<br /> If you set an overall time limit, and you hit it, then I'd say you need to give it at least a week before trying again. But I'd say if you're going to do it, you probably want to commit. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/overall-time-limits-on-cio#post-1690019 Mon, 09 Jun 2014 21:28:19 +0000 sunny 1690019@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We did really well with CIO with no checks at 4.5 months. The first night she cried 1 hr. Every night she cried less and less and after a week she was down to 10 min and after 2 weeks she was down to 5 min or less. She did continue to cry for 30 seconds for MONTHS though. I don't remember when she stopped but she eventually was happy to go to bed. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/overall-time-limits-on-cio#post-1690014 Mon, 09 Jun 2014 21:25:15 +0000 Mrs. Oatmeal 1690014@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>When we did CIO with checks at 6 months, I set myself a limit of 1.5 hours. It only ever got to that point once or twice though.</p> <p>Now at 10 months, we're doing some retraining, and I know after about 40 minutes whether she is going to go to sleep, or whether she's just standing in her crib and won't settle. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/overall-time-limits-on-cio#post-1689997 Mon, 09 Jun 2014 21:17:52 +0000 Trailmix 1689997@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Mine was a little older, around 8 months, I think, but I let DS cry for over two hours until he finally fell asleep (this was for motn wake-ups, not going to sleep). It was awful but he got the message.<br /> My ped gave me the go-ahead to sleep train at four months and we did our first round at 4.5 months to drop one feeding. It's worth it long-term, I wish I'd stuck with it then so I wouldn't still be dealing with 1-year-olds who wake up at night! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/overall-time-limits-on-cio#post-1689929 Mon, 09 Jun 2014 20:33:37 +0000 abbydabbydoodlebug 1689929@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>No help, but just wanted to let you know that we're going through the same exact thing. The past 4 days have been hell. She used to fall asleep drowsy but awake for naps and nurse to sleep no problem. Now she cries and cries. It took 3 hours to get her to sleep the other night. DH and I's evenings are now spent frustrated, snapping at each other, etc. Listening to her cry. It's awful. And honestly, I wanted to wait until her well check next week but I don't know if I'm going to be able to deal with it for that long. She's 18 weeks.</p> <p>I really hope it gets better for both of us soon. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/overall-time-limits-on-cio#post-1689904 Mon, 09 Jun 2014 20:14:48 +0000 loveisstrange 1689904@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think you may be surprised how well he does. In my experience, CIO worked really well for us, and it worked quickly. The thing about it is, you have to stick to it. If you cave and go get the kid, you teach them that eventually they will win and they'll keep going.</p> <p>I think maybe give it a trial run and see how it goes. If he does poorly, wait another week or two and try again. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/overall-time-limits-on-cio#post-1689894 Mon, 09 Jun 2014 20:09:13 +0000 raintreebee 1689894@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Oh Bees. I dreaded the day when I would have to seek you out for sleep training advice but here I am. LO is 4.5 months old (4 months age adjusted) and is a total beast to get to sleep at night. It usually takes me 2 hours (with a LOT of crying, almost nonstop). I have tried shifting the timing so that he's not overtired, within the two hour window of wakefulness, etc. I used to get him to sleep by rocking and nursing but that just doesn't work anymore (we never mastered the drowsy but awake thing). He always wakes right back up after I put him in the crib. My new nanny stayed late to help me, and I think he was the worst she'd seen in her 19 years of raising 9 infants. I am thinking of sleep training him with Ferber checks since he is crying so much anyway even though I originally thought we'd wait until 6 months. </p> <p>Anyway, I am okay with letting him cry for several intervals, but when you sleep trained did you have an overall limit on how much you'd let them cry? I just am afraid he is going to go 2-3 hours with checks, and I am not sure I could handle that. Does that mean I am just not ready to sleep train? </p>