CIO for naps

One of my girls has been on a nap strike going on 2 weeks now. I have to figure something out. Should I just CIO? How long? Is it possible to CIO for naps?

 

Never worked for us. We have had nap strikers since in utero-- but they sleep through the night 13 hrs straight so I don't feel like I can make them CIO for naps..

You can do it if you want to. Some people swear by it. The only thing that puts mine to sleep for naps-- even tho it's 45 min ones-- is the Vacuum cleaner! I turn it on and they go to sleep... That's it. Otherwise- I tried CIO 3 times and they screamed for over 2 hours and I will NEVER do that again.

 

It worked for one of my girls, I did naps and bedtime. After a week I couldnt take listening to the other one cry anymore, but I am going to try her again next week.

Good luck!

 

Ditto here -- nap CIO worked for DS but not for DD. I let them cry for 20 minutes. At the end of the 20 minutes if they were still crying hard I took them out. DS will now nap in his crib most of the time and he started sleeping better at night too. It didn't work at all for DD. I even let her go another 20 minutes several times and it still didn't work. She will nap on my bed (without me) -- sometimes. She refuses to nap in the crib or the pack n play. My fail-safe is the swing -- but I don't know what I will do when she outgrows it (she is getting pretty close to being too big for it).

 

I did CIO for naps - starting at about 6 months. I never let them cry for more than an hour - if they cried the whole hour, then I took them out of their cribs (I have them separated for naps) and tried again two hours later. It took a couple of weeks (I won't lie) for them to be consistent at going to sleep - after a couple days it was hit or miss, then after a couple of weeks I was pretty sure I'd get a nap - albeit sometimes a short one. After they got it, I do now sometimes go in if they are crying and re-soothe them and they will usually fall asleep quickly. I'd say what helped the most was age: once the girls hit about 8.5 months it has been pretty good for naps (except for the week they learned to crawl - they were too interested in crawling than sleeping!).

It sucked, but with two I didn't feel like I had much options as far as lying with them or whatnot.

(P.S. - My nap routine: nurse if they want, read a book (same book each time), sit in the swings for 10-15 minutes, then into sleep sacks and I sing (badly) to them (same song) as I put them down, then I walk out). This has changed somewhat, it used to be nurse always and basically to sleep, then to bed halfway asleep - but now they go to bed awake. It'll change soon too - they are about too big for the swings.

HTH.

Erica.

 

Sure, you can definitely do CIO just for naps. I did a sort of gradual CIO - unlimited pickups at first, then a couple, then one, then none. If the crying was really bad, and it was obvious that the baby was just getting more and more worked up, not winding down, I'd give up and try next time. I tried to be consistent, but within reason - still took things case by case. And it worked great! My babies (usually) put themselves to sleep very well.

Of course you can also do the "put them down for 1 hr" thing too - really depends on what suits their temperament and yours.

Good luck! Nap strike BITES! Hope things get better soon. :hug99:

 

I let mine CIO to get them in their cribs for naps. They cried maybe 15 mins the first time then 10 then 5.. They are getting the hang of it. I DO NOT go in and tell them that mommy is here.. I just let them cry. I feel that if you go in.. It just makes them cry for longer.. I do however go in and see if something is wrong..

 

QUOTE(AshleyLD @ Mar 3 2008, 08:22 PM) [snapback]651290[/snapback]
I let mine CIO to get them in their cribs for naps. They cried maybe 15 mins the first time then 10 then 5.. They are getting the hang of it. I DO NOT go in and tell them that mommy is here.. I just let them cry. I feel that if you go in.. It just makes them cry for longer.. I do however go in and see if something is wrong..


I agree here. It sucks...it really does but they will fall asleep. They HAVE to sleep is what I tell myself. Like today, nap #2 DS cried after sleeping for 30 minutes. They both usually take a longer nap for #2. I told myself not to go up but after about 20 minutes I decided to and he was crying but his eyes were still closed (silly boy) so I gave him his binkie and out he went for another hour. At night I never go in anymore and 9 times out of ten they never cry. But if they do I won't go in cuz it makes it worse. Same for naps which are harder but they are getting better.