Cry it out failure

I thought I was tough enough to do this and I really thought I could but it did not go well.... for Noah anyway. Luke did great. But after 3 hours, I felt like I was going to throw up. It wasn't a constant 3 hours. He would cry 20, sleep 15, cry 30, sleep 10, cry 5, sleep 30, that kind of thing. The final round seemed like it lasted forever and he was just frantic at that point. I guess we're not ready yet. I just wish we could get our night times under better control and get them to sleep for longer periods. They're daytime napping is horrible as well. I have very holdy babies. If I hold them they'd sleep for hours. If I put them down, 15-20 minutes tops. The swings will buy me a little extra time. AAAAGGGG!

Anyways, thanks for listening to my rant.

 

Even though many on here swear by CIO and say Ferber only further irritates their babies, only Ferber method was suitable for us. My son did the same as your Noah.

I posted my experience here but can't find it so I'm going to post link to my blog where I described what we did. Click HERE

It was hard because our son is very stubborn but it worked.

Best of luck and keep us updated.

 

:hug: 3 hours sounds pretty miserable. I hope they start sleeping longer for you.

 

:grouphug: It can be so hard! Maybe next month! We didn't do it until 7.5 months and it took a few days. I worked on naps first then tackled bedtime (well actually it was waking in the night, not bedtime). Mine were still eating in the night so it may be a bit different for you.

 

It might go better if you want until they are a bit older. Sounds miserable!

 

You may already be familiar with this, but if you are interested in exploring sleep training options that do not involve CIO you could try the book The No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley. The techniques can take more time then CIO, but if you are going to have to wait a month before trying it again then it might be worth a shot. My twins are only three months old, but I have found it to be very helpful. Ours were very holdy as well, and we found the book very applicable

 

:hug: Could it be that Noah was still hungry, needed diaper change or maybe was having teething pain?

 

Maybe, we had just fed and changed him before laying him down, I haven't noticed any swelling of his gums but I don't what he is feeling. His personality is different from Luke. He is in general not very easy going and much more holdy. Either way, I'm not going to try this again. What we were doing before wasn't horrible and we'll just stick with that until they get a little older.

 

I agree that whatever method you choose (or don't choose if you decide to let it lie), it is best to work on naps first. Once you have overtired babies who haven't napped well all day (they never sleep as deeply being held), then they will fight sleep more and wake more. If you read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, he doesn't preach one method but talks broadly about the science of sleep patterns. The biggest pointer in the book is that SLEEP BEGETS SLEEP! You may even find that you have to use a different technique for nap training than for night sleep, and once they are taking regular naps and following regular scheduled bedtimes the night waking may go away on its own. Do your babies ever self soothe? They are old enough to introduce a lovey or to encourage them to grab a paci or use their fingers/thumb to calm down when upset. If they learn this during the daytime they may use it at night as well. When mine wake at night or too early in the AM and are fussing (different from their hungry cry or pain cry), all I have to do is turn the mobile on and they will fall right back to sleep. I even have a remote control mobile (Fisher Price) so that they don't see me do it. DD puts her first 2 fingers in her mouth and out she goes and DS grabs his lovey and sometimes a paci.