Seriously sleep deprivation and do not know how to deal with it! Have you tried CIO, which of all methods has worked for you??? Need help desperately!
You might find some good posts in the FY forum, just search cio. We did cio when the twins were 9 months I think, and it was our saving grace! I read the Healthy sleep habits happy child book and once I was able to get their naps under control I finally did the cio at nights and when they woke during the night. Good luck, I guess my biggest tip would be to be consistent in any method you try.
i agree with Brigette - whatever you do, you need to do the same thing every night/naptime. if you think you might "give in" with CIO it's probably not the best sleep-training method for you to use. you could try Elizabeth Pantley's methods. :hug: sleep issues are no fun at all! hopefully, you'll be able to get things solved quickly.
I also agree with Brigette, be consistent in whatever sleep training method you use. I did CIO for naps at 6 months and I did it in intervals, I would go in soothe after 5 minutes, 10 minutes, etc. I would say within a week or two, they would be asleep within 5-10 minutes. It was very hard to hear the crying but my two were such poor nappers at that point, I felt I had to do something for my sanity. I did have to do CIO again around a year for bedtime for DD when she was waking for no reason (she was dry, okay, no other issues) and that got her back on schedule within a couple of days.
i bought the books and never took the time to read them. but it was pretty plain and simple, stick to your guns. it's heartbreaking but sooo worth it in the end. we had to do several levels of CIO, first when the girls stopped sleeping with us and moved to their own room, then when we took the bottle away, then again when they moved to big girl beds. it gets easier every time, mentally, i think. it's difficult to hear them crying, but we have a monitor so we know they're not hurt and just have to keep reminding ourselves that so that we don't go in there. remember, they will always eventually fall asleep! good luck!
Ditto here. You have to apply it at all stages I find. But the first time was around 6-9 months. I would go in but only to check on them and I did follow the rules (every 10-15 min, don't look them in the eye, never stay longer than 30 seconds, etc). You can also tell then they are crying because they don't like the new rules or when something is really wrong. 99% of the time they are just unhappy with the situation. And yes they will eventually fall asleep! One trick I did was take a shower or go outside for a walk and let my DH deal with the crying...he was much stronger than me! GL!
