Couple of questions.

My girls will be 5 months old on the 4th, one of them has already gone through CIO about 3 weeks ago and she's doing great (except for sttn). The other one is smaller than her sister, she's more sensitive and she's kind of our baby of the two. When I did CIO with R she handled it great as I knew she would, but I haven't done it with M because my mom intuition keeps telling me she's not ready. However, the kid doesn't take decent naps, she doesn't sttn, and she's AWFUL to get to sleep. We have to put her on our chest and pat her butt and cover her face with a blanket in order to get her to sleep and then we put her in the crib. Lately she's been awful on our chest, she moans and fights us but I just don't know if I could handle CIO with her. I just don't know if she's "ready," if that makes sense. I tried one time and she screamed bloody murder for 15 minutes (WAY worse than her sister did) and I couldn't handle it.
Also, they both wake up some time betweem 4 and 6 to eat- sometimes R doesn't wake up and she will go 11/12 hours sleeping but 4 out of 7 nights a week she wakes up. M wakes up consistently every single night to eat, and I know every child is different and some families have babies that are way older and still don't sttn. I know all of that, but I want to know if there's any tips to help them sttn- both of them. they eat about 5 bottles a day, each being 5 ounces.

Any advice would be great.

 

My DS was the same way. I just did not think he was ready until 7 months. He didn't have a self-soothing ability.

Have you tried letting her nap or sleep in a swing? Seriously, that was the lifesaver for us! DS would go to sleep and then when he woke up, he'd spend the rest of the night swinging happily away and sleeping like a baby (ha ha!) He and DD napped in swings until 7 months. The transition was easy for us. Maybe try it if she'll sleep well in a swing.

 

I would agree with Rachel on using the swings, I did not attempt CIO (we had to do it for naps) until they were 6 months old. Swings helped us to get naps in and at night time my DS had a difficult initially transitioning to the crib so when DH and I would put them to bed, we would put him in his bouncy seat. That would help him get to sleep at night and then he woke for the first night time feeding, we could put him in the crib to sleep in for the rest of the night.

 

I would go with your intuition & wait awhile longer. See if the swing helps or just keep doing what you are doing for a bit longer. Almost always Mommy knows her baby best. :hug:

 

It does sound like she's not quite ready for CIO. My ds sleeps like a dream most of the time, but my rylee has to fuss for a bit for naps and nighttime. She's not screaming, she's fussing, and once I go in and soothe her once she's out for the night too.

As for the night feeding, do you mean including waking at night they are only getting 5 5oz bottles a day? Have you tried increasing the daytime bottles? Mine are the same age as yours (I think within days of each other :wub and they are getting 5 bottles a day, 4 of 8 oz (they don't quite drain them all but most of them), and one that's between 2-4 oz. I think they are trying to drop a bottle but I'm not sure yet. Anyways, increasing the daytime feeds should help eliminate the nighttime feeding completely. But then again some babies can't handle more per bottle during the day. I was always lucky my kids are piggies and can drink a full 8 oz bottle and it doesn't bother their tummies! :hug:

 

My son didn't sleep through the night until he bumped up to the 6 ounce bottles - 5 times a day. After that it was like a flip switched and he's been sleeping through the night ever since (he was almost 5 months old). I didn't force the extra ounce but after 3 weeks or so of taking 5, I tried it and it worked. I didn't do CIO until 6 months old either - DD had to learn to soothe herself to sleep at naps once we took her paci away. Also, things got much easier once we had a set bedtime routine and started putting the babies to bed earlier (7-7:30pm). I found mine can get overly tired and that made them nearly impossible to get down for bed or naps. Good luck!

 

you don't HAVE to every do cio with her. esp if you feel she's not ready.

mine went through a phase at that age where every single nap had to be prefaced with 20-30 minutes of rocking, patting, frustrations and manipulations. there were times i had to put one on my back in a beco carrier and hold the other in my arms and bounce around the apt until they were OUT. it was very rough.

on one hand i think they grew out of that phase.. on the other, i know we did a lot of hard work to turn things around. we got strict with a sleep routine as described in the "no cry sleep solution"... we did all sorts of things to make their crib and room more inviting... i went through 2 months of letting DS sleep in a "nest" of comforters and pillows on my bed for naps.

eventually they "got it" and both nap very well and STTN and we never did CIO with either of them. DD is particularly awesome... she rubs her eyes, you put her in crib with lovey and blanket and she rolls over and puts herself out.

DS can put himself to bed as well, but it works best if i cuddle him for 5 minutes to help him settle down (he's CRAZY active) before laying him in the crib. a lot of times its longer than 5 minutes just because i love him so much.... however, when i have things to do, or when i just CAN'T, i can lay him in the crib and although he'll crawl all over the crib for 5 minutes, he knows what's expected of him and he goes to sleep.

i know that everyone does what works best for them, but please don't think that CIO is the only solution to what you are going through. for us, it was a last resort that we luckily did not have to resort to. personally, i'm not sure i have the constitution for it.