Just looking for a little information from those of you who used CIO or Ferber method - when did you start it? I am thinking we are going to start at 6 months, but dh has been told by numerous people that they started with their babies at 4 months, just wondering what is typical with you other twin parents? As others post when talking about CIO, I know that it is not the method for everyone but it is what we think will work best for our family and after thorough research what we have decided to do so please no debates on the merits of the method !
QUOTE(Fossie @ Feb 3 2009, 02:30 PM) [snapback]1174523[/snapback] Just looking for a little information from those of you who used CIO or Ferber method - when did you start it? I am thinking we are going to start at 6 months, but dh has been told by numerous people that they started with their babies at 4 months, just wondering what is typical with you other twin parents? As others post when talking about CIO, I know that it is not the method for everyone but it is what we think will work best for our family and after thorough research what we have decided to do so please no debates on the merits of the method ! We did it with DS at 7 months. I think 6 months is a good line. It really depends on their self-soothing skills. My DD STTN great at 4 months and could self-soothe wonderfully. My DS just didn't have the ability at 4 months, so I don't think CIO would have worked. So, you have to really consider their developmental pace.
We did it around 6/7months. My boys were preemies so I used their adjusted age for everything then. It was about the time that their hand motor skills were good enough to put the paci in themselves.
We started at 5 1/2 months. They were totally ready. We kind of did it in 2 steps. Below is our story.... Around 5 1/2 months, I decided to try CIO. Before doing CIO, my boys would have their 7:00 bottle and then go to bed. Then they woke between 10-12am for another bottle AND then 2 times during the night. I came to the realization that they did not need to be eating that much at night anymore. They had 4 6-8 oz bottles during the day and solids twice a day. I finally realized they are eating out of habit and I could not do it anymore physically. My boys are big boys and were in no way lacking nutrition! I decided that I would give them one bottle each after their 7:00 bottle if they woke up crying and then if they cried anytime after that, I just let them cry. We did that for about 2 weeks. After the first night of not feeding them after their last late night bottle, during the day they began to drink 8 oz consistently rather than sometimes 5 oz. Then, after those two weeks, we did a true CIO after their 7:00 bottle to eliminate all night feedings. They cried a little during the night but I just left them and they ended up sleeping anywhere between 6-7. When they woke in the morning, they were happy and not crying of hunger. That proved to me that they were eating out of habit. So officially, I would say 6 months and 1 week until completely sleeping throught the night. Also interesting was that I have heard if they wake to eat even if it is just a little, it is out of habit. My boys though were eating a lot at night. Well, I stopped feeding them anyways. My boys were in the higher weight percentile and my Dr. said they wont turn into skeletons if I didnt feed them in the middle of the night! So, even though my boys drank full bottles at night, with a few days of CIO, they didnt wake to eat anymore. ------------------------- Here are notes from my journal during this time: On Tues, when they usually wake for their 1st middle of the night feeding, I let them CIO. I did not feel bad at all when I heard them cry. THis is because I knew they just ate and diaper changed. One slept right through the others cry and then the next hour the reverse happened. I also did not feel bad because I made the decision to CIO because I was so tired and it felt great to not get up and get a bottle! They basically cried on and off throughout the night. The next night, they slept until 4 (huge for us!) and then I had them CIO. They woke at 6:00 and were ready for their bottle. The good thing is they ate 4 8oz bottles that day. They had room since they were not getting calories at night. Last night they woke at 5:30 and i had them CIO until 6:00. ----------------------------------------------- We never went in to sooth them. I always felt like that would be taking a step backwards and they would expect me to come in when they cried. I wanted them to teach themselves how to fall asleep on their own and how to go back to sleep on their own after waking inthe middle of the night. They sleep through each others cry to this day.
I used CIO with my 3 boys(girls slept through on their own). I did it with Justin at 9 months, Josh 8 months, and Jake 6 months. Jake was the easiest by far, and he was actually up the most during the night before CIO. GL!
QUOTE(seamusnicholas @ Feb 3 2009, 03:39 PM) [snapback]1174544[/snapback] We started at 5 1/2 months. They were totally ready. We kind of did it in 2 steps. Below is our story.... Around 5 1/2 months, I decided to try CIO. Before doing CIO, my boys would have their 7:00 bottle and then go to bed. Then they woke between 10-12am for another bottle AND then 2 times during the night. I came to the realization that they did not need to be eating that much at night anymore. They had 4 6-8 oz bottles during the day and solids twice a day. I finally realized they are eating out of habit and I could not do it anymore physically. My boys are big boys and were in no way lacking nutrition! I decided that I would give them one bottle each after their 7:00 bottle if they woke up crying and then if they cried anytime after that, I just let them cry. We did that for about 2 weeks. After the first night of not feeding them after their last late night bottle, during the day they began to drink 8 oz consistently rather than sometimes 5 oz. Then, after those two weeks, we did a true CIO after their 7:00 bottle to eliminate all night feedings. They cried a little during the night but I just left them and they ended up sleeping anywhere between 6-7. When they woke in the morning, they were happy and not crying of hunger. That proved to me that they were eating out of habit. So officially, I would say 6 months and 1 week until completely sleeping throught the night. Also interesting was that I have heard if they wake to eat even if it is just a little, it is out of habit. My boys though were eating a lot at night. Well, I stopped feeding them anyways. My boys were in the higher weight percentile and my Dr. said they wont turn into skeletons if I didnt feed them in the middle of the night! So, even though my boys drank full bottles at night, with a few days of CIO, they didnt wake to eat anymore. ------------------------- Here are notes from my journal during this time: On Tues, when they usually wake for their 1st middle of the night feeding, I let them CIO. I did not feel bad at all when I heard them cry. THis is because I knew they just ate and diaper changed. One slept right through the others cry and then the next hour the reverse happened. I also did not feel bad because I made the decision to CIO because I was so tired and it felt great to not get up and get a bottle! They basically cried on and off throughout the night. The next night, they slept until 4 (huge for us!) and then I had them CIO. They woke at 6:00 and were ready for their bottle. The good thing is they ate 4 8oz bottles that day. They had room since they were not getting calories at night. Last night they woke at 5:30 and i had them CIO until 6:00. ----------------------------------------------- We never went in to sooth them. I always felt like that would be taking a step backwards and they would expect me to come in when they cried. I wanted them to teach themselves how to fall asleep on their own and how to go back to sleep on their own after waking inthe middle of the night. They sleep through each others cry to this day. Thanks all, great info! My boy, the little troublemaker , take 8 ounces 4 times a day and has oatmeal, my little girl doesn't always take 8 ounces but it is usually over 6 and most often 7 to 8. Oddly, she is the one that would sleep through if we let her, he is the one that is up and I do think it is habit. I think I am going to give him another month of mom and dad time in the middle of the night and then we'll go from there!
My girls were born at 34 weeks, but my pedi said not to worry about adjusted age and gave us the go-ahead to start at 4 months, and we did. I mean I had it marked on the calender when we could start.
