I posted yesterday for advice on transferring my sleep on mummy baby to a Moses Basket and got some great tips. I just posted the same question on Facebook and can't believe how many people said to let them cry it out. She's three weeks old! There's no way I'm comfortable with doing that, but I appreciate it works for some.
Did you let your newborn CIO? Did it work?
hostess / wonderful grape / 20803 posts
Nope! I felt more comfortable letting him squak a little bit when he was a few months old. Only let him cry a little at 4 months.
nectarine / 2964 posts
Oh yeah. We are horrible people.... but not at a few weeks old....
White noise usually do the magic when LO was just a few weeks old. Did you try that? It is when he grows older (like 2 months), still hasn't learned to self soothe to sleep and the white noise is not as effective anymore that's when the trouble starts....
I wasn't a believer in rocking the baby to sleep, or let him sleep on me, or cosleeping... We do offer the white noise, the mobile (that hang above the bed) and swaddling when LO was 0-6 months (I think we stopped swaddling around 3-4 months). That usually works but there are nights that it fails.... I still remember there was one night he cried for 1-2 hours (we put him down at 6:30 but he cried until 8!) I just couldn't take it anymore, I shut his door and I bang my head on the wall while he cried in the room 
But the result is, LO learns to self soothe and he is a pretty good sleeper now. He falls asleep within minutes we put him down, and even if he didn't fall asleep immediately, he'd play quietly in his crib until he's tired and falls down.
So that was my experience...
coconut / 8305 posts
Nope. DD is 7months and I've never done CIO nor will I. We co-sleep & co-bed dream feeding through the night (some more than others) and DD has recently, all on her own, begun putting herself to sleep without any tears. (TBH it made me kinda sad she doesn't need me to fall asleep anymore).
nectarine / 2504 posts
No, we didn't let our baby CIO until he was 5 1/2 months old. 3 weeks is way too young!
GOLD / papaya / 10166 posts
I wouldn't let her CIO until around 6 months, and that was only because she was waking about 4x a night. Up until that time, they really don't have the ability to learn to soothe themselves. I wanted nap/bed time to be something she looked forward to, not have anxiety towards.
cantaloupe / 6630 posts
@irene: lol, you're not horrible people! Yeah we tried white noise, worked for two nights....
I wonder if the crying advise is an English thing then... It's all my English friends telling me to do it. I bet they're all tutting at how soft I am and how I'll learn 
GOLD / papaya / 10166 posts
@travelgirl1: It's not just an English thing. I had plenty of people tell me to do it, but I learned from this site that a baby that young has no way of knowing how to self soothe. That takes time, and usually starts around 6 or 7 months. So I say to just nod and smile to the people that told you to let your baby CIO 
pomegranate / 3414 posts
We started with DD when she was 5w old and would only let her cry for about 10 min before checking on her and restarting the clock. With DS we started a little earlier probably about 4w because of our experience with DD. I have to say that it was so very hard for me to do but neither would fall asleep in our arms and were too young to self-soothe, wouldn't take a pacifier and were swaddled.
Both are great sleepers/nappers and do not seem to have any emotional/attachment problems as a result.
grapefruit / 4110 posts
My son did CIO (we didn't do CIO as a sleep philosophy) as a newborn. He cried 12 -15 hours a day/night. At about 3 am we were too exhausted and we just put him down because he cried with or without us. It made him not trust sleep and we are still trying to work through those issues at 18 months old. He hates to sleep and he hates being alone to sleep.
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
we never tried CIO until either baby was at least 4 months old and able to self-soothe.
coconut / 8681 posts
We don't let our 7 week old CIO, just because we aren't comfortable with it while he's this young. He was an only sleep while being held baby too. To transition him we started putting him into his crib once he's really deeply asleep. If he woke up we'd go in and pay his back while shushing him. If he was really upset we'd take him out and do that with him on our shoulder until he went back to sleep. We did it with both naps and at night. At first it was quite a process to get him to stay down but it got better as he got used to it. Swaddling helped/helps a lot too. His arms and legs distract him if he isn't swaddled. Good luck!
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
No way. It hurts me too much to hear her cry. I also don't think it's right to let a baby that young, who really doesn't know what's going on, to cry it out. At tihs point, she is 5.5 months and I know her cries. She has one that is just a pitiful, "I'm tired and miserable and just want to be asleep" not a "Mommy, I need you!" cry so, we'll give her a few minutes with that one and normally, she puts herself to sleep. Never at 3 weeks, though!
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21616 posts
We didn't do CIO until 6 months and even then it was only because I was desperate... NEVER would have done it earlier - especially not at 3 weeks! Honestly, at 3 weeks old, I would go as far to say that is neglect.
nectarine / 2964 posts
@travelgirl1: Actually I agree with everyone though - although we did CIO we didn't do it until he was 2-3 months old.
Then we also didn't let him CIO if he woke up in the middle of the night. I usually wait 10 minutes to see if he would go back to sleep and if he didn't, I'd go and breastfeed him. That happens from 0-7 months and then he slept through the night on his own. Our pediatrician actually pressured me to let him CIO so he "sleeps through the night" but I didn't listen. And I am so glad I ignored him haha. So basically we just CIO when we put him down for naps and sleep (ie we don't rock him to sleep).
To put your LO to bed, Maybe try a different type of white noise? We have a library of white noises on our iPad LOL. There is only a specific few works. At the end my husband has to record the sound from a hair dryer, make it into an mp3 and loop playing it.
If playing white noise doesn't work, how about if you operate a real hair dryer or a vaccum cleaner?
Then I am not sure if anyone suggested "The Happiest Baby On The Block" to you. It was a lifesaver on calming a newborn and putting him to sleep
pomegranate / 3604 posts
a 3 week old can't self soothe, so CIO doesn't work. I don't think a lot of people know that - they just hear off-hand about the CIO method and think it applies no matter what age.
I let him "CIO" in the car seat when I'm driving alone. It's not like I can do anything in that position. He usually falls asleep once he's done. (and he's 3 months, not 3 weeks, just to be clear).
cantaloupe / 6630 posts
@irene: Ah I have heard of that book, I'll check it out, thanks!
Thanks everyone, I was starting to think I was too soft after the Facebook 'let her cry' campaign...... there's no way I could let her cry it out when she's so young.
nectarine / 2019 posts
I disagree with CIO ever. I've read to many psych studies and mental development studies to ever do it.
GOLD / papaya / 10206 posts
Not that early, at 3 weeks the only way they have to say they need something is to cry, so I was always there fairly quickly.
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
No way would I do CIO with a newborn. If I were to do it, I would wait until at least 4 months.
nectarine / 2964 posts
@travelgirl1: Don't bother reading, just watch the DVD ! Oh man I wish I can send mine to you because we have no use of it anymore!
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