Day 1 CIO - Not going well...HELP!

OK, so it’s day 1 of CIO. I’m on my own now with three kids and I have to get the twins sleeping.

I put the boys down at 6:45. My better sleeper has been up and down twice but seems to be able to sleep through the crying.

My other DS has been crying every moment since we put him down. Sometimes loud and angry, sometimes softly. I have not gone in and interfered at all other than to be sure he is safe. It’s now 9pm. I knew it was going to be hard – but this just seems wayyyyyy too long. Should I rescue him? He’s the one who wakes up 4-10 times a night just to be soothed back down. He goes all night without eating so I don’t think he’s hungry. He’s over 20 pounds already!

I knew it would be hard. But wow. I’m wavering here.

Advice?

 

Night 1 is always the hardest. It will get better in a few nights! It's totally up to you. You could go in and put in paci, pat, shhhhh, and leave. It may just make things worse, though. It's hard to say.

 

I would waver too. Two hours is a long time to hear your babies cry. :hug: Maybe its not the right time to do CIO? He is still kind of on the young end of the age guideline.

 

Hugs to you. We tried CIO a week ago and could not do it. My DD screamed for 1.5 hours before we gave up. We decided to wait until they are 7 months, and then we are going to try the Feber method for the first two nights (go in every few minutes).

 

:hug: I think I would have caved if mine cried for 2 hours. Whatever you did last night I hope you got through the night okay!

 

Thanks for the responses. I did cave. And I’m happy I did – I think. :bad:

I put a binky in and he crashed. But then he was up and down all night until 2am, when I went in again and put another binky in. I tried to slip my arm in without him seeing me. No picking up though and I got out quickly. So from 2-5:30am they both slept without a peep. I don’t know that I can count that as a successful first night other than the fact that I’m still alive enough to type these words.

So all in all, first night in their cribs – about 10 wake ups total. *sigh*

Tonight’s another night…. :woah:

 

Good luck with tonight! I would have caved too after that length of time. Maybe tonight will be better. :hug:

 

Just wanted to offer a Day 2 update. The 2nd night was about the same as the first, except that the initial crying before falling asleep part was one hour instead of two. That’s half as long which is good. Plus for the last couple minutes I heard him talking and babbling to himself before it was quiet.

The bad part is that we were still up and down all night long. Every 45 min or so. I’m sure now we’re dealing with being punchy on top of everything at this point, making it hard to get good quality sleep. So tonight I’m going to keep going. I’ve heard that Day 3 either gets dramatically easier or they spike back up with the protest crying once more. We’ll see…

Either way I had two smiling (and sleepy) little angels this morning. I keep telling them how proud I am of them and that I know they can do it. I keep imagining getting them to bed in their own room at 7pm and then having an entire hour to hang out with my oldest DS. And then being able to relax, read, watch TV or even take a bath until I’m ready for bed.

 

Well night 3 was about as bad as possible I think. Tons of crying in the beginning and one of them was up and down about every 30-45 min. There was one point between 4am and 5:30 where I think I got an hour and a half of sleep.

The absolute worst part is that I woke up this morning having a nightmare. In the dream someone took one of my DS when I was out in public. All I could do to find him was follow his cry. Which was hard because I was screaming so loudly too. I know it was because I’ve listened to them cry so much all night and I’m feel so, so guilty. It breaks my heart.

This must be the point where people give up. Because I completely want to. Do you think I could be damaging them by putting them in their cribs like this and making them feel abandoned? So tired and sad right now…

 

I'm so sorry it didn't go well last night. I guess you have to make the decision if you want to try again, or you could wait and try again in a month or so. Maybe they will be better at self-soothing then. CIO is so tough. I can understand why you're sad, especially when the crying lasts for most of the night.