Yes, I know many of you are anti-CIO at this age. I think I am too... But I am just doing research in case I die from exhaustion & my husband has to sleep train LO in order to not meet the same fate. Anyone do it? I know Mrs Bee & Rubies both did at 3.5 months.
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I was at that age too! But when the 3-month sleep regression lasted for 3+ months, by the time he was 6 months I was exhausted and nothing else was working. We did a modified CIO when he was 6 months old and it took awhile but it worked great for us personally. Modified meaning I broke a lot of the rules in order to make it something I was emotionally comfortable with.
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Oops, I meant to respond on the month thread but I got distracted. My pedi told us they usually don't recommend CIO/Ferber until at least 6 months, but prefer trying other techniques like Happiest Baby On The Block first. They mentioned a few studies about stress on baby brains from CIO. But I take advice with a grain of salt because I asked relatives and they all did CIO and we all seem to be alright lol. I'm in the camp of babies are so individual and unique that you've sometimes got to experiment to see what works. And the pedi said there are two main categories of criers: those that cry to relieve stress, or those that get stressed from crying. We realized LO is definitely the latter and crying escalates her stress. So at this point we aren't trying CIO because she gets frantic.
I'm sorry I'm not more helpful! Hopefully it's just a phase and your LO figures out sleep soon.
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We did CIO at 3.5 months. It sucked and I felt so guilty but you know what? She slept so so much better after. Not great or anything but not "I might die and Dh will have to sleep train alone" bad either. Every baby is unique. If nothing else is working it might be the trick.
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@Foodnerd81: What method did you use? How many wakeups did you "allow"? Obviously she can't make it 12 hours without eating so I am thinking 2 feedings, every 4 hours, is reasonable?
@MapleMoose: Funny how doctors differ on this stuff. Mine was telling me to let her cry 10 minutes at 8 weeks! LO definitely cries to release stress. She cries every time she goes to bed even if I'm rocking her, often for a long time. It's just how she falls asleep.
@Mrs. Pen: Are you glad you waited? I originally wanted to wait until 5 or 6 months but things are so bad right now I don't know if we can
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@daniellemybelle: search for twists posts or write on her wall, I know she posted the same question a while back and did end up sleep training with extinction 7-7? There are other methods you can try first if you don't think CIO is for you (we took another route)
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@daniellemybelle: We did it at 4 months for naps and getting her to fall asleep, but I still went to her for MOTN wakeups. She's 6 months now so we're getting ready to tackle the MOTN wakeups. It worked really well for naps and getting her to fall asleep at nighttime. Only took a couple of days and not much crying. We did it at the same time as we swaddle weaned. I think doing it at 3.5-4 months is ok as long as your LO is no longer swaddled...she'll need some way to self-soothe.
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@daniellemybelle: I am. Those three months were hard, no doubt. But I had been so against it that I needed to exhaust every method I could, and also wait until I was ready. Part of me realized too that he was so little and would only need me like that for such a short time, it helped get me through the hardest nights. But that week of hearing him cry and cry was pretty much just as hard as those months of being up with him all night. But we emerged and it turned out to be the best thing for us! But I know now all babies respond the same way.
If it helps, here is how we did it: http://www.hellobee.com/2013/01/04/the-whens-whys-and-hows-of-our-sleep-training-process/
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We did, she was almost 4 months. She couldn't put herself to sleep so everywake up she need help getting back to sleep. We at 6+ a night and I was losing my mind. So we picked a time no nursing before 2. But she started STTN, well till 4 or 5, nursed and back asleep.
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@daniellemybelle: oh I should have specified- we did CIO for falling asleep, but still go to her for motn wakeups. However, once she learned to fall asleep on her own, it made the motn wakes ups much better. Now I wait a little while (5-10 min) before getting her, and before midnight I'll have Dh go in and try to sooth her first before I feed her. I had a hard enough time letting we cry for falling asleep, and honestly it helped so much (like she went down to 2-3 wakeups right away almost, vs way more). So maybe focus on one thing at a time? We also did night time before naps, even just for falling asleep. You can read a million things, but ultimately you have to see what feels right for you and your baby.
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We did it just before 16 weeks (I think that's the minimum age Ferber recommends). Bedtime was taking 2 hours every night. One hour of walking then she would sleep for 30 min and we had to walk for an hour again. It was a tough routine to break since she was/is a motion addict. It took 4 or 5 nights. We didn't train the MOTN wakings since those weren't an issue for us. We followed the checks recommended in the book at first but they ended up making her more mad. By day two or three we went down to just one check.
CIO was life changing for us at that time. Good luck with it.
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Thanks everyone! Her night sleep has gotten better - I started tanking her up with formula at her first wakeup instead of just nursing. (We already supplement.) But her naps are getting worse & worse... I guess if we nap train, might as well night sleep train. I'm reading Ferber's book now.
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