Curious - does anyone else "Wait It out" for their kiddos? I have 21 month old twins. After attempting traditional sleep training for a day or two, I knew I wasn't cut out for it, and then I found WIO.
Any like-minded mamas on here?
ETA: A great article explaining what WIO is all about:
http://nurshable.com/2012/07/19/the-wio-wait-it-out-method-of-sleep-training/
grapefruit / 4291 posts
@Shimmer: yep, still waiting it out at nineteen months! Miss A has just stopped nursing to sleep but I stay in the room with her till she's out, I also bedshare with her from her first wakeup of the night. Sleep training was a bad fit for us and WIO made life much more pleasant!
kiwi / 553 posts
@Kemma: Yay, another WIO mama! My baby A learned to sleep through the night all on his own a few months ago... his brother on the other hand... we cosleep with him after the first wake up as well. He has reflux and we're just getting his symptoms under control. He'll get there eventually!
WIO definitely changed my life since it changed our perspective. Much more peaceful now 
nectarine / 2280 posts
I'm still nursing to sleep. We bed share and she has maybe 1 or 2 wake ups. It's just easier for me at the moment. She's 19 months. I'm getting ready to get a big girl bed so she can have a place to nap. She's really close to falling asleep on her own for naps. She's tired and she wants to sleep. Gets really close but she doesn't have a dedicated place that means sleep.
pomegranate / 3845 posts
@Shimmer: yes!! I didn't realize there was a name for it and I'd been wanting to post about it. My LO is 13m and we have our share of sleepless nights and frustrations but I just can't get onboard with CIO. I just can't. As LO gets older, I get so much peanut gallery nonsense about his sleep! So grateful to hear I'm not alone!
persimmon / 1363 posts
I am a fellow WIO-er! I still bedshare with my 10 month old and nurse on demand and nurse her to sleep! I have notice lately that she's less snuggly than she used to be so I have experimented with moving her to a crib mattress beside the bed so she can sprawl out a bit more, and then I come down and nurse her in the night to see if that works. I consider it to be the "do nothing" method of sleep training. I have noticed that her sleep has gone through all kinds of phases while I have done exactly the same thing, so I figured I would just observe and ride it out! Also I am lazy, hahaha.
kiwi / 553 posts
@katsupgirl: Yay big girl bed! Lol ... I'm afraid of big boy beds just yet. They go down in their cribs ok right now and I bedshare with my one twin that doesn't STTN so we're riding it out now too.
@Applesandbananas: Yay more WIO mommies! Feel free to post on my wall if you want to discuss strategies. I'm in a great facebook group for WIO too!
@Rockies11: I don't think you're lazy! I feel that WIO is just as hard as any other sleep training. It's just different!
I can't expect my LOs to STTN if I can't. I get up to pee, get a drink, roll over and reposition... they just need to learn how to settle themselves back down. They'll get there. I'm pretty sure I won't be cosleeping with my boys in HS!
GOLD / squash / 13464 posts
Yup. Definitely a WIO mama. Pre baby I thought I would totally do CIO, but now that she's here I just can not get on board with letting her scream all by herself for hours (because I promise you, she could and would go for HOURS). CIO is just not the best option for our child.
pomegranate / 3192 posts
This is what we've been doing. It feels right to me. However I'm about to go back to work working 12-hour days and nights (DS is 11m) and I know DS will freak when he wakes up and only DH is home, so I'm not sure what to do. Sigh.
pomelo / 5607 posts
I will be. LO is due in September, and we're planning to bedshare, etc. I'm not sure DH knows anything about CIO, and he definitely hasn't heard of WIO, but he's very open to listening to my reasoning behind these sorts of things, and definitely won't like CIO once he understands it, so I'm not worried.
honeydew / 7295 posts
You know it. I don't think CIO is a bad thing either but I think a momma has to trust her gut and mine told me WIO was better for our family.
grapefruit / 4291 posts
@Shimmer: my LO is an incredibly inconsistent sleeper, some nights she'll sleep till 5 or 6, others she wakes before midnight! We have made progress with sleep since Chrustmas though and Miss A has often put herself to sleep for naps and occasionally night time sleep but I firmly believe that she's big on the need for comfort
pomegranate / 3565 posts
This is us. DS1 co sleeps with us because that is how he sleeps best so that is how I sleep best. I just never felt comfortable letting him cry. If I respond to his cries during the day, why wouldn't I at night? One day he'll sleep by himself but for now I enjoy the cuddles.
kiwi / 553 posts
@QBbride: I worked 12 hour nights for a while and the boys adjusted pretty quickly to just daddy. We started sending daddy in first when I was home so they would get used to him responding.
apricot / 322 posts
I love this.. it made me start to tear up a little! I just figure I'll go with the flow, since I have the blessing of being a stay at home mom. Thanks for sharing this!
watermelon / 14467 posts
This is us. I can't stand to hear my girl cry, and I don't mind to wake up multiple times to nurse her. My mom tells me I need to let her cry because her waking up is a learned behavior, but it's not for me. We bedshare sometimes and at least one wake-up a night since I bring her to bed to nurse.
It's good to finally have a name for it and for others to say it's okay that you don't sleep train.
pomegranate / 3192 posts
@Shimmer: thanks! I really need some reassurance that it will be OK when I'm gone! Were your boys still nursing when you were back to work? If so, did DH offer them a bottle of just cuddle or ? Our DS doesn't currently bottle feed but I'm wondering if it would make the transition easier. I'm also hoping that once he gets used to Daddy going on with no milk, he'll be less interested to wake at night!
@avivoca: I can't stand listening to my DS cry and not responding either. I feel like crying is his only way of communicating and he's trying to tell us something. It breaks my heart to think he needs/wants something and the people he feels most safe with won't respond to him.
pineapple / 12793 posts
We waited it out and got lucky and didn't have to wait too long. Hugs to the mamas that are still in the trenches, it's so tough.
kiwi / 553 posts
@QBbride: my boys had stopped nursing consistently around their year birthday. Daddy went in and offered cuddles, but if that wasn't enough he'd make a bottle. We recently came away from night feedings and bottles (21 months) and offer water to DS2 who wakes up thirsty. And I agree - my boys can't talk yet so their cribs are their only form of communication. I can't ignore that. The only time I ever let them cry in their cribs is when I'm reaching a breaking point and need to leave for a minute or two. But then it's back to the grind
honeydew / 7091 posts
This was us until 14 months.
She was a pretty decent sleeper though, so it wasn't TOO much of a pain to just give her what she wanted when she wanted it. From 6 months - 12 months she would wake up once, maybe twice a night and I would give her some milk and she'd happily go back to sleep. From 12 - 14 months she was waking up 3 - 5 times a night and having difficulties getting back to sleep. That wasn't working for any of us and by that time I was confident that I KNEW she was okay and just manipulating us, so we did CIO for one night and she's been STTN ever since. I'll be doing the same with future babies - just wait until I'm sure that my baby is okay and not scared/just needing her mommy.
kiwi / 553 posts
@swurlygurl: I'm glad you found what worked for you! As the kiddos get older they definitely know what's up and I'm glad that only one night of CIO did the trick for you!
In our case, we had severe reflux issues with pain... I think my son is scared of his crib because he had many painful moments in there. DS2 finds comfort in leaning on me to sleep because it keeps him upright and he feels safe because mama is there. I have had many people tell me that he's manipulating me, but even if that's the case, I don't mind. If I'm upset or uncomfortable, I want DH so why not let DS2 find his comfort in his mama when he's hurting? Voila, our version of wio.
The great thing about WIO is that you can do what's best for you and your family and it's still wio!
@oliviaoblivia: lucky mama! Lol
@avivoca: glad we could get a post of like minded mamas together!
pomegranate / 3580 posts
That's totally us. DD is still young yet, but I've never even considered CIO. I know for some it's great but it's definitely not for us.
@Mamasig: You hit the nail on the head! I just cant ignore cries at night.
blogger / nectarine / 2608 posts
Yes. My oldest nursed to sleep until age five, and bed-shared until then as well. My youngest still bed-shares the bulk of the night, and is nursed to sleep. I am a big fan of whatever works. 
Just for fun, I can tell you that our oldest now sleeps all night in her own bed (though she sometimes asks to have a sleep-over with Lorelei and me), falls asleep on her own, and has fantastic sleep habits. So it does NOT ruin your kids to not sleep train.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
My son is almost 3.5 and we still cosleep, partly because I was never able to fully sleep train.
We tried 3 times before the age of 11 months, had some success for the next year, and then had a major regression around 2 years of age. My son likes the comfort of having someone close to him and I do not mind providing him that comfort as long as he wants it. I will not lie, though, there are nights, like last night where I was so touched out that I couldn't handle having his hand on my face and I was wondering what the heck I could do to get out of this situation, but we both eventually got it sorted and slept fine.
It's incredibly limiting, because we can't just call a sitter and go out to dinner if the sitter has to put him to bed. So, it's got both its pros and cons, as does everything else.
persimmon / 1178 posts
WIO mama here.
We never co-slept (she didn't like it) and stopped nursing to sleep pretty early, but I continued to nurse on demand at night. Her sleep was terrible and we tried a variety of things (not CIO) before just letting it go.
She started sleeping through the night, literally overnight, at 23 months. I do not believe there was anything I could do to make it happen sooner. Was I tired? God, yes. But I held on to knowing it was a window of time.
Loved the article.
apricot / 498 posts
Hi Shimmer! I haven't seen you in a while. Our twins are also in the WIO camp at 22 months. DD wakes once if at all but DS is still up at least 2 times plus early wake up's.
pear / 1693 posts
This is exactly what we are doing. My pediatrician keep lecturing me about how LO does not need to nurse at night any more and how we need to implement CIO to get her to STTN (she's 9 months, wake 1-3 times a night). This does not sit well with me. We tried to crib train for a while, but the whole family is happier with baby in the bed, and I feel she will stop nursing at night when it is right for her.
coffee bean / 43 posts
Yes, although it is rough right now. Naps are in the crib and he goes down for the night in the crib (if I am lucky) and bed shares once I go to sleep. Lately he has been waking up every 1-2 hours when he is not in bed with me and I am afraid he is confused about why he sometimes get to sleep/nurse with mommy and other times does not.
P.S. I love Nurshable
honeydew / 7811 posts
I think I fit in here! We tried CIO for about half a day - not for us! I co slept roughly from 4 months to 10 months and nursed at night until LO was almost a year old! Now he's 13 months and sleeps awesome in his own crib with no night nursing. He had to be ready!
kiwi / 553 posts
I'm so glad to see so many other mamas who WIO! Yay for following those mama instincts!
cantaloupe / 6630 posts
Oooh I didn't know it had a name! But yes, this is what we do. Sometimes it means she falls asleep in our bed and I transfer her when she's asleep, sometimes she falls asleep in her crib with me in the room. I know for sure CIO would not work with my daughter, she would cry herself sick for hours.
nectarine / 2771 posts
This is us! My LO is not a candidate for CIO as she has and would cry for hours on end, and she has never once put herself to sleep while crying. We were lucky that she was always an average sleeper and STTN on her own at 5 months. We've had our bumps in the road, but we've just waited it out and she's reverted back to her version of normal, which is initially sleeping in her crib and then co-sleeping with us for the rest of the night from midnight on. I enjoy the baby snuggles and since she weaned herself from night nursing, I know she isn't going to want to sleep with us forever, and I prefer to take her lead.
persimmon / 1355 posts
Us too!! Good to see so many of us on here. Before having DD I thought I would sleep train, but it just doesn't feel right to me now. Luckily, my initially reluctant DH likes cosleeping. I hope to start having her sleep in her crib for the first part of the night but we will see. I actually think I need to block the sleep training threads, because one made me almost cry a week or two ago. We may eventually do some light (no cry) sleep training when she gets closer to a year, but we are just playing it by ear for now.
kiwi / 553 posts
@Zbug: I didn't know you could block threads... I may need to do that. They make me so sad, damn these pregnant hormones!
My hubs surprised me by liking cosleeping, especially once they got bigger. He was terrified when they were younger.
persimmon / 1355 posts
@Shimmer: I've heard you can but haven't tried yet. It could be just a gold feature??
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