First Night of CIO

Thanks so much everyone for your encouragement yesterday ! We survived night one! DH was actually fairly supportive and the initial crying at bedtime was a lot less than what I expected. However I did end up going in to feed each baby twice.... :blush:.

This is an account of our night:


6:45 Both in bed.... crying

7:15 Both asleep!

7:45 One wakes up....crying

8:15 Both asleep!

10:15 Both wake up... feed them, but do not nurse to sleep, lay down drowsy but not quite asleep

1:00 Cassidy wakes, crys for 30 minutes ... I feed her

3:30 Candace wakes, crys 30 minutes.... I feed her

5:00 Cassidy wakes, crys 30 minutes.... I feed her

6:45 Candace wakes... Both up for the day


This certainly wasn't the full night's sleep I had hoped for, but compared to what I have been doing it is actually major improvement!

So tonight should I stick to my guns and not feed them at all? Feed them only once? I know "they" say that at their ages and weights they shouldn't need to eat at night, but it seems too much to ask them to go from 4, 5, 6 or more nursing sessions a night to none! And what if they really are hungry? Should I set a 4 hour limit (they go 4 hours between meals during the day)? I just feel so bad because when I finally did go feed them they were really eating, not just comfort nursing.

I suck at this CIO stuff :huh:.

 

QUOTE(Outnumbered @ May 14 2008, 08:16 AM) [snapback]772409[/snapback]
Thanks so much everyone for your encouragement yesterday ! We survived night one! DH was actually fairly supportive and the initial crying at bedtime was a lot less than what I expected. However I did end up going in to feed each baby twice.... :blush:.

This is an account of our night:
6:45 Both in bed.... crying

7:15 Both asleep!

7:45 One wakes up....crying

8:15 Both asleep!

10:15 Both wake up... feed them, but do not nurse to sleep, lay down drowsy but not quite asleep

1:00 Cassidy wakes, crys for 30 minutes ... I feed her

3:30 Candace wakes, crys 30 minutes.... I feed her

5:00 Cassidy wakes, crys 30 minutes.... I feed her

6:45 Candace wakes... Both up for the day
This certainly wasn't the full night's sleep I had hoped for, but compared to what I have been doing it is actually major improvement!

So tonight should I stick to my guns and not feed them at all? Feed them only once? I know "they" say that at their ages and weights they shouldn't need to eat at night, but it seems too much to ask them to go from 4, 5, 6 or more nursing sessions a night to none! And what if they really are hungry? Should I set a 4 hour limit (they go 4 hours between meals during the day)? I just feel so bad because when I finally did go feed them they were really eating, not just comfort nursing.

I suck at this CIO stuff :huh:.



Yay! Any improvement is a great improvement! I pumped for the boys so I am not much help there. But if they can go 4 hours during the day.... It looks like you fed at 10 and 1. I would maybe try to drop that 1am feed. Maybe try dropping a feed? I'm sure those in the b/fing forum can help you with this.

Maybe set a time limit. Feed until midnight... Or feed once in the night. Like you said-to go from 4, 5, 6 nursing sessions/night to nothing-might be hard. I did CIO when my boys were eating once/night-and playing. It's definitely hard!

I will be interested to see what others have to say...

 

Oh look how big the "C"s are now! I was looking at pictures the other day from the tea a few months back and they were so tiny!

I have no idea about CIO, my two are great at sleeping through the night. In fact, most nights they sleep with no issues, just night before last Alice had serious teething pains at 3:30 in the morning (3 top teeth coming in) and the tylenol had worn off.

 

Hooray! I found the 3:30/5am feeding the easiest to drop first. Tonight I would try to just do the 10 and 1 feeding then stick to your guns until 6am. The next night drop the 10. They will probably wake at 11/12 to eat instead of 1 then go until 6ish. My advice is to make a plan before they go to sleep and stick to it. I agree it's not logical to expect them to drop 4 feedings all of a sudden. Take it one night at a time. Also tonight, I would let them cry 45 mins before feeding.

So happy you got a little bigger chunk of sleep! The first time I slept for 5 hours I was thrilled!

 

When I did CIO, I fed them one time (I think it was 12:00am) and then they CIO the rest of the night. I think the following week, I let them cry through that 12 am feeding too.

 

I think thats a GREAT improvement! :clapping:
I would definitely do a 4hr rule at night, and maybe try doing 3hrs during the day so YOU know they are getting enough to eat and dont need the night feedings.

 

Hang in there!! You can do it!

 

Any improvement on the first night is just awesome! So proud of you!

I still have the issues you have in terms of feeling like my boys "need" to BF at night. I have read that regardless of weight, until they are 9 months old, they very well truly COULD need to eat night. Not 5-6 times, of course... but they really could be hungry. Only you know your babies, but I'm thinking if you can work it down to 1 or 2 night nursing sessions with at least 4-6 hours in between, that would be a great place to start.

That said, my concern now is that my busy-body 11-month-olds will NOT sit still for good nursing sessions during the day, so I think they truly do get the bulk of their breast milk from feeding sessions at night... and I don't want them to be hungry at night as well as dealing with the emotional anguish of CIO. So, I feel like I am in the Catch 22 from ****!!! However, I know that not eating at night might be tough for them, but they shouldn't NEED to eat at night at their age... and I think their bodies would adapt to eating more during the day if only I could do full-fledged, hard-core CIO. If I were you, I'd eliminate a lot of the nursing, but still feed at least once at night because I think your mama instincts are right-- they really could still be hungry and need to eat.

Good luck-- you're doing great!! Keep your eye one the prize... more sleep for all, and healthy sleep habits for the girls!

 

Hang in there Nicole. I would do what works for you. If you want to slowly wean them down to no feedings, I would try and stretch it as long as you can. Good luck!