HSHHC

Anybody successfully use CIO (extinction method) successfully at 4 months adjusted age as per HSHHC? Or was that too young?

 

We started CIO at 4 months. It worked fine for us, but I do want to explain that my kids made it REALLY easy for us. When we put them down at 7pm, they cried for like 15-30 minutes MAX. Then once they feel asleep, they usually stayed asleep. Every once in a while they would wake midnight, but again, 10 minutes of crying MAX. I'm not sure I could have handled the 2-3 hour crying jags that some moms have experienced.

Our pedi said it was fine to do it at 4 months, so we did. But don't put too much pressure on yourself. Give it a try, and if you decide they are freaking out and you aren't ready, then don't push it.

 

You are bfing right? If so I would really hesitate to use it this young. The main reason I say this is because you cannot see how much they are taking in during the day and you really need to be sure they are getting the 24oz's they need before you can safely CIO at night. Once they are really efficent and you bf on demand I would be less hesitent. I personally wouldn't do it before 6 months.
BUT I am very much pro-CIO, used it for my two with GREAT success. I just think there is a time and place for it. For now you certainly can try prolonging time between feedings at night.

HTH

 

QUOTE(excitedk @ Jan 26 2008, 08:56 PM) [snapback]591232[/snapback]
You are bfing right? If so I would really hesitate to use it this young. The main reason I say this is because you cannot see how much they are taking in during the day and you really need to be sure they are getting the 24oz's they need before you can safely CIO at night. Once they are really efficent and you bf on demand I would be less hesitent. I personally wouldn't do it before 6 months.
BUT I am very much pro-CIO, used it for my two with GREAT success. I just think there is a time and place for it. For now you certainly can try prolonging time between feedings at night.

HTH


Thanks! I am bfing, but Cassidy has been STTN (8 hours) pretty consistently for two weeks and Candace only wakes twice, so I am considering CIO at 4 months just to get them to GO to sleep in their cribs, more than to STTN. From what I've read on other posts, it DOES seem people have more success waiting until 6 months. It's encouraging to hear it worked for you! I guess I'm just hoping to get them in their cribs before that :mellow: ...

 

Oh, just to get them fall asleep? I think I would start doing that now!!!! I say go for it, you know they are fed and changed, they just need learn to fall asleep.

 

i have the same problem! they are used to falling asleep at the bottle. blah.

 

Go for it to fall asleep - we did it at 5 months. We had a horrible time between 3.5 months and 5 months trying to get them to go to sleep, part of it was my stubbornness of NOT wanting to do CIO, we finally did it and now they go to bed without a problem (most days). We did rename their sleep sacks "scream sacks" because they now know they are going to bed when we put them in the sacks and they usually start crying, until I can get them set up for tandem feeding, then they are happy again!

Erica.

 

The nursing to sleep thing.... easier than I thought it would be to break it!! Sofia would NOT fall asleep without sucking/nursing. My sister even had to give her pacifiers when I wasnt around to get her to fall asleep at naps.

Last week the girls got a mild case of thrush and have to have Nystatin coating their mouths, I always give it after each meal before bed/naps. So Sofie can NOT nurse to sleep now.
She was rooting around and whimping for a few days but she DID fall asleep after a few minutes and stay asleep. It took less than a week to break the habit!!!

(The worst part was the whimping and rooting, it broke my heart. But she still woke up smiling!)

Good luck!

 

We tried CIO to teach them to fall asleep on their own at 4 mo adjusted, and it was a disaster, so we held off for a while. At 5 mo it worked great.

There's nothing wrong with giving it a try at 4 mo corrected age! If they're not ready, you'll know.

 

We started it at 4.5 months with Emma (Lauren slept through without CIO). It took us 10 nights total, with nights 4 and 5 being the worst, but they have slept 10.5-13 hours per night ever since.

 

We are trying it (again) for falling asleep at night. Tonight will be night 3. One the first night they cried for 3 hours and last night...3 hours. It's super special times here. However, we have to do it. They take that long to fall asleep WITH my help. They must learn. My whole family is suffering from close to 5 months of no evenings. No dinner with my older kids, no check-in time with my husband, nothing...for almost 5 months. These babies need to learn to sleep. So, we're sticking with it for 5 days and I'm so hoping it will work.

BEST OF LUCK TO YOU!