https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Fri, 08 May 2026 05:58:48 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-445003 Wed, 12 Dec 2012 14:14:49 +0000 bienlivingdesign 445003@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs Checkers: I just read the Weissbluth book as well. For sleep training, did you follow his extinction method? </p> <p>Did you write a pot about your experience? If so, sorry for the double questions!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-380083 Mon, 05 Nov 2012 19:20:55 +0000 googly-eyes 380083@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MrsCheckers Thanks!</p> <p>@caffeinated I studied child development and had (have) a decent idea of how I want(ed) certain things to go...but with an infant, all I've realized, is there is NO one size fits all. There just isn't. And even what may be best for the baby might not be best for the family as a whole, which is also important IMO.. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-365855 Mon, 29 Oct 2012 09:21:59 +0000 meredithNYC 365855@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@caffeinated: You know, I just think some people don't consider that the things they say can be hurtful. That's the best case scenario. Otherwise, it seems that some are just 100% certain that they're always doing the right thing for their child and they're very vocal about it (to put it mildly). They could be right, of course. Then again, they could also be in for a rude awakening when they come across an issue with their child that they don't have all the answers for. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-365638 Mon, 29 Oct 2012 03:09:11 +0000 loveisstrange 365638@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@skibobrown: See, there is nothing wrong with not being ready. C... she's just very independent on her own. It's her personality. I felt in my gut that she was ready to be STTN on her own.</p> <p>@caffeinated: I kind of judge it on how she's crying. I can tell the difference at this point. She does not fuss for a dirty diaper. It doesn't bother her. The only thing she gets really worked up over is food. Normally, if she cries for more than 10-15 minutes steadily, she's hungry. We still have the odd night where I get up and feed her. It just happened like 3 days ago, I fed her at 5am. If I can tell she's calming down after 10 minutes, I leave her. OR, if she wakes up fussy and then cries, I leave her. If she needs something, she wakes up wailing. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-365568 Sun, 28 Oct 2012 23:29:50 +0000 Mrs Checkers 365568@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Oops, that should read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-365567 Sun, 28 Oct 2012 23:28:11 +0000 Mrs Checkers 365567@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@googly-eyes: 4 hrs. for 6 weeks I think is pretty normal/good! I think around the 8-10 week mark you will probably see a noticeable stretch in sleep, little by little. I want to say by 10 weeks my LO was able to do a 5 hr. stretch, and by 12 weeks a 6 hr. stretch. Hopefully each week will get better and better!</p> <p>Like others said, it's really about the self-soothing, not necessarily about eliminating night-wakings. We did a very mild form of CIO around 3 months, but she was a pretty good sleeper than so we didn't really have to sleep-train. Then at about 5.5 months she had a sleep regression, which is when we actually did CIO and sleep-training. We were still giving her a dream-feed at the time (she was on formula by then) and I knew she did not need to eat in the middle of the night. After about 1.5 weeks of sleep training, she slept like an angel, and any mama who has successfully sleep-trained will tell you it is glorious!</p> <p>I have heard that Happiest Baby on the Block is a good book for sleep training w/o using CIO, but I have not read the book myself. I used Weissbluth's Happy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child book. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-365560 Sun, 28 Oct 2012 23:12:37 +0000 skibobrown 365560@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@zippylef: Really?! Only 10 minutes? I'm so jealous. We made a halfhearted attempt to start sleep training one night a few weeks ago. Our daughter (who is also usually very laid back) completely lost it when we wouldn't replace her binky. We tried Ferber, but when we were going on the 4th interval and DD had no problem continuing to scream for 15 minutes straight with no signs of letting up, I lost my resolve and replaced the binky. We haven't re-attempted sleep training since then. I know we probably should in the near future, since DD should really have her own tools for putting herself to sleep other than having one of us stick a binky in her mouth, but I'm not quite ready yet. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-365559 Sun, 28 Oct 2012 23:12:33 +0000 googly-eyes 365559@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Hah I thought I had a semi routine..but today LO just would not fall asleep. She's finally asleep in the swing..let's see if this lasts. I mean she was up almost ALL day with fifteen to thirty minute naps here and there, but everytime I stopped bouncing her or rocking her or swinging her she woke up. Usually I can turn the swing off during her nap and she still naps. If I leave it on she can nap for hours. Oh boy... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-365517 Sun, 28 Oct 2012 22:05:00 +0000 Freckles 365517@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@googly-eyes: If you look at previous threads, no mom is happy doing it but in the end, it helps your baby learn to sleep which is so important. I thought i escaped the cio path, but at 4.5 months, she just would not fall asleep. I think it's easier to sleep train via cio at an earlier age than at the 8+month mark when they're more aware of things, but that's just my opinion. I think you're on the right track with the routine. At 6 weeks, i thought i had the worst sleeper ever but once she learned how to sleep due to good sleep habits, i would say she's better than most.</p> <p>@meredithNYC: This one girl in my new mom's group said that she hates it when moms let their babies cry so hard that they're coughing. That made me feel like such a bad mom since the first time we did modified CIO, she had a few moments where she was crying like that. :( </p> <p>@zippylef: That's it? 10 minutes? Ugh, i try to wait for 15 minutes, but she still fusses and i'm reluctant to ignore it in case it's a poopy diaper. Of course, it ends up being clean and i know that once i leave the room she'll start crying. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-365274 Sun, 28 Oct 2012 18:55:19 +0000 Sammyfab 365274@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@googly-eyes: I just wanted to say that it sounds like your LO is doing great. At 6 weeks, my LO was doing 4-6 hr stretches but it wasn't a linear progression like others have mentioned. Now my LO is a fantastic sleeper but it took a lot of work with developing good routines and respecting his sleep schedule!</p> <p>We were fortunate to not have to do any sleep training to get LO to fall asleep on his own at bedtime. We started a consistent bedtime routine at 3 weeks. At 4 weeks when he started breastfeeding I would nurse him until he was completely asleep and gently put him down. After a week or two I would start passing him off to daddy who would gently put LO down. Then we just started being less and less gentle and eventually he was wide awake going into his crib. It was a nice and easy transition but my LO has always been resistant to rocking and he never, ever slept in the swing (despite my best efforts to get him to nap during the day)!</p> <p>I also wanted to say that CIO is never something a parent WANTS to do. No one ever likes hearing their baby cry. Sleep training is about teaching healthy sleep habits so that your LO can get the rest she needs...and yes, it may take a bit of crying. But what's worse?...rocking and bouncing a baby for 2 hours while she's crying in your arms or letting them cry for 20-30 minutes in the safety of their crib so they learn how to fall asleep on their own? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-365244 Sun, 28 Oct 2012 18:38:41 +0000 meredithNYC 365244@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Like @zippylef, we do/did a moderate amount of CIO, but we're lucky that our LO never really cried for more than 10 minutes, and the majority of the time it was for 2-3 minutes. We started really focusing on the training around 3 months, but prior to that, we just tried to do exactly what you're doing as far as setting a routine. It may not seem like much of a routine, but trust me - you are doing a great job setting a foundation for training. There's every chance that your LO could have an easy transition to sleeping through the night, much like has happened for quite a few Hellobee moms.</p> <p>I also hate it when people who are anti-sleep training talk about it in such harsh terms, as if I'm abusing my child by teaching her to self-soothe. I'm sorry, but let's save the judgment for parents who are actually abusive or negligent, of which there are far too many, unfortunately, in this world.</p> <p>For what it's worth, my LO is a great sleeper and such a happy baby. Is sleep training the only way to arrive at that result? Absolutely not. But it did work for us and I'm grateful for that. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-365219 Sun, 28 Oct 2012 18:04:17 +0000 littleveesmommy 365219@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@googly-eyes: Oh your LO is still very young. I think a 4 hour night stretch at 6 weeks is pretty awesome! It will probably naturally start stretching out on its own if she's already doing so well. DDs night stretches was around 4-5 hours at that age and started stretching to 5-6, then 7-8. We are at a 9-10 hour stretch, nurse then another 2 hours right now at 9 months. It will get better. =) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-365121 Sun, 28 Oct 2012 16:28:28 +0000 KT326 365121@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We did a modified CIO at 5.5 months. Worked great for us.. He started sleeping almost 12 hours with one wake up in the middle. Then he got sick. And we went on vacation. And he got sick again. Now at 7 months we are starting to get back to only one wake up a night and we haven't had to do CIO since. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-365109 Sun, 28 Oct 2012 16:19:40 +0000 loveisstrange 365109@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@caffeinated: For us, it was only a couple of days. C is very easy when it comes to sleep, so it only took about 10 minutes for her to settle herself again. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-365106 Sun, 28 Oct 2012 16:18:22 +0000 loveisstrange 365106@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@sarac: Okay, seriously? CIO has many different forms. Only ONE of them involves ignoring your child completely and that is CIO in it's most extreme form. Please do some research before you come in making judgmental statements like that </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-365104 Sun, 28 Oct 2012 16:15:14 +0000 Mrs. Jacks 365104@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We didn't do it with either girl, though we probably easily could have with M. I always think of it as something parents do when the parents are at wits end and need more sleep. I think some babies must need it to sort things out. It's not one size fits all though. We would have broken our first daughter's spirit if we did it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-365101 Sun, 28 Oct 2012 16:12:33 +0000 sarac 365101@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>The thinking is that ignoring your child will teach them to stop expecting you to come and feed and comfort them. It works for many children. I didn't do it, and my daughter has easily dropped her night feeding at 13 months. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-365091 Sun, 28 Oct 2012 16:03:12 +0000 cvbee 365091@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think it is for different reasons at different times, and is not for all babies or for all mamas. </p> <p>I did it at 5 months old after more than a month of LO waking up every 2 hours (or less) all night long. And this was after him sleeping very, very long stretches at 2 and 3 months old. They call it the 4 month sleep regression and I thought we would just 'out grow it'. But he really did need to learn to fall asleep on his own. There are other ways to teach babies to fall asleep on their own, and I tried other things and researched so much, but in the end it was like a lightswitch-fix when I did CIO. </p> <p>When I did it, I was worried about how to know in the night when he was hungry vs not, but once we did the CIO for bedtime he went back to sleeping the normal long stretches and waking up just a couple times a night to eat. </p> <p>Fast-forward to 6 months, and now he's started waking up every hour all night all over again. I'm quite sure it's not teething or a growth spurt, so I'm giving him one more night an d then it is a CIO bedtime again.</p> <p>At 8 months, my friend just used CIO at night-wakings to teach her baby to sleep through the night. (IT's her 2nd and she said she was comfortable doing it at that early of an age this time, but waited til 10 months or so with her older daughter).</p> <p>It is such a personal choice.</p> <p>As a parent, I want to always help my child do what he cannot do, but not do for him what he can do for himself. I know he can fall asleep on his own again. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-365082 Sun, 28 Oct 2012 15:46:13 +0000 googly-eyes 365082@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@caffeinated Yeah I really am not sure I like CIO at all... but I also am aware that it is pretty difficult to get LO to sleep (needs rocking, swing, sometimes during feeding) and on occasion night awakenings resulted in a fully awake baby that would not go back down. So I'm just thinking ahead a little. For now I'm just working on trying to make sure her day/night confusion is ending. Lights off at night, door closed (so it's quiet) and nothing stimulating. Sleep sack before bed. Not a huge routine but it's what I can manage right now. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-365061 Sun, 28 Oct 2012 15:21:09 +0000 Freckles 365061@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@googly-eyes: 6 weeks is still young, and you definitely wouldn't do it to eliminate night feedings since most will still need to eat. I started working on better sleep habits around the 8-9 week mark by introducing a routine and working at putting her in the crib for naps. </p> <p>We did CIO because she had a hard time falling asleep on her own.</p> <p>@zippylef: how long did it take to wean night feedings through CIO? LO went from 1 wakeup to 2 wakeups (midnight, 5:30am) recently at 6 months and i'm dying here! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-365054 Sun, 28 Oct 2012 15:14:35 +0000 googly-eyes 365054@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@littleveesmommy My LO is only 6 weeks so we aren't doing any sleep training. I'm just curious about it for later on. I hope that she just naturally starts to sleep longer stretches at night. However right now her longest stretch at night is usually four hours and that's the same as she can sometimes nap during the day. As far as things go now we are just putting her in her sleep sack, feeding her, rocking her or putting her in the swing (whatever works) and then putting her down in her room dark (still in the pack n play that had been in our room.) Whenever she wakes up I get a bottle, leave the hallway light on, change/feed her, try to burp her, and rock her a little. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-364965 Sun, 28 Oct 2012 12:55:54 +0000 skibobrown 364965@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our daughter hasn't been waking in the night for food since 3.5 months. She does wake crying multiple times in the night though for her binky. As soon as we get up and put her pacifier back in (and turn her sleep sheep back on), she falls right back asleep. It's annoying to say the least, since there's nothing technically wrong when she wakes up. She just wants to suck on her binky, and she doesn't yet know how to find it and put it back in herself. For this reason, we're planning on sleep training soon. I just haven't bitten the bullet yet... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-364962 Sun, 28 Oct 2012 12:51:16 +0000 Mrs. Pen 364962@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>For us it wasn't to eliminate all nights feedings. Ds wouldn't go to sleep at night, if he did it was half and hour and then crying until past midnight, usually 1-2 am before he went to bed and then he'd get up between 6-7 am so neither of us were getting enough sleep.</p> <p>Sleep training allowed him to learn to fall asleep on his own, stop waking up 4-5x a night (it was reduced to 1-2x), sleeping longer stretches and staying asleep when we put him down.</p> <p>I don't regret it at all </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-364952 Sun, 28 Oct 2012 12:38:59 +0000 littleveesmommy 364952@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We let DD fuss and soothe herself back to sleep starting around 3 months only because I would spend a long time putting her to sleep only to have her wake 30-40 minutes later. I know she was not hungry and had a dry diaper, so she wa just tired and had trouble transitioning into the next sleep cycle. I didn't just stop with night feedings cause she still seemed to need it. She's just shy of 9 months now and still wakes at 5a for a night nursing session after going to bed at 730p and is up for the day at around 730a. Technically she is old enough to probably not need the night session and if I wean her, she can probably just eat more during the day to make up the loss but I'm having trouble letting it go. We are moving in a few weeks so I want to wait until we settle to wean. I'd hate to wean then move - too much change. </p> <p>If you feel your LO is ready for some sleep training, go for it but don't deny night waking if she is genuinely hungry. DD has a pretty good nursing session at night so I know she's not just playing around. It also took a bit of training for her to put herself back to sleep after the night waking. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-364942 Sun, 28 Oct 2012 12:29:35 +0000 MamaBehr 364942@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We didn't do CIO with DD until she was 15 months old. So, when she woke up in the middle of the night, we ignored her. However, with my son, we did CIO whne he was 5.5 months old. When he woke up in the middle of the night I went to him. Now, at eight months old, he sleeps through the night will few nights where he wakes up. </p> <p>With my son I noticed that once he was able to self sooth and put himself to sleep at the beginning of the night, he was able to stay asleep all night because he didn't need me rocking him to sleep when he woke up a little bit. Because we did it this way, he even decided when he was done with his night time feeding (about two weeks ago). </p> <p>I wasn't a fan of CIO with my daughter, but after my experience with my son I am a believer! He sleeps through the night now, whereas my daughter was closer to 16 months old when she started to sleep through the night. It is all about them learning how to put themselves back to sleep, and obviously when they are little they need night time feedings, but around 6 months old you can cut those out. </p> <p>Does that answer your questions? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-364941 Sun, 28 Oct 2012 12:29:18 +0000 loveisstrange 364941@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yes, the point is for them to learn to self-soothe back to sleep and sleep without the parent having to go in and soothe/feed/rock/etc. My daughter did this on her own from 2-3 months of age, did 1 night waking where I fed her from 3-6 months and then at 6 months, we had to do a bit of minor CIO to get her to drop her night feeding. Now, she happily sleeps from 6:15pm until 8/8:30am without waking. She is capable of soothing herself back to sleep.</p> <p>Now, she was giving cues that she didn't really need her one night feeding anymore. She had been eating less and less of it. She was playing around with the bottle instead of eating, etc. That's when I decided to go for it. If she had seemed like she still needed that feeding, I would have let her keep it. I think in her case, it was just a habit. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/the-point-of-ciosleep-training#post-364931 Sun, 28 Oct 2012 12:22:33 +0000 googly-eyes 364931@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ok so I've read that babies can be sleep trained as early as 3, 4, or 6 months (and a minority of people have done it even earlier.)</p> <p>I get the part about wanting LO to fall and stay asleep on their own, but does that mean you don't do ANY night wakenings? If you do, then do you feed them, change them, and then just let them CIO again?</p> <p>Is the point to get them to sleep from a set bedtime to a generally set morning time? With them soothing themselves back to sleep in the middle of the night? Or just to get them to sleep on their own until the first night bottle/wakeup. (I'm assuming that at 3-6 months they still have a need to eat rather than it just being a comfort thing. I could be wrong though.) </p>