More sleep/CIO questions

So after 3+ months of miserable sleeping we did CIO and it worked. Took nearly a week...but they were sleeping until 7:30 some days! Then it became 7, 6:30, 6, 5:30, and this morning 4:50 :icon_eek: . We are back at square one b/c this is where all our sleep problems started 3 months ago when we started bringing Nick into our bed for the last hour or two, which suddenly became 3am, became 1am, became 10pm!


I made him cry until 6am. Technically Ferber says if they are still crying w/i an hour of "wake up" you go and get them, but I feel that we need a definate line of what time morning begins. He is literally standing up, shaking the crib and WAILING. He wakes Joe up (seperate room, but with a common wall) EVERY morning. 90% of the time Joe is happy to sing/play in his crib until I get him.

Any suggestions? I feel like I'm not accomplishing anything by letting him cry if he never does get back to sleep...and feel that all he's learning is to keep crying b/c eventually I do show up and get him at 6am. But I refuse to start the day before 6am. I am at a loss with Nick. He now screams himself to sleep at nap and bedtime every single time (although usually not longer than 20 minutes). Joe just plays with his taggie and sings himself sweetly to sleep. I wish Nick came with a manual (or at least a return policy )

 

I say give it a week of not going in before 6am, if he still cries for a long period of time then you can reassess. I don't go in before 6am for this exact reason!!! They learn quickly that if they wake earlier they get to mommy earlier, smart little cookies!!

 

I agree with Kristi. 7am was the earliest I would get mine during the CIO phase, so 6am sounds very generous to me. Anything earlier and it's still the middle of the night! Good Luck. My boys did not sleep 100% through the night with zero wakings until they were 3 years old.

 

HI SweatPea.. No great advice, but you are not alone. My son doesn't seem to know how to play by himself in his crib. When he wakes up he just screams and screams, jumping up anddown. And We are So Lucky if that happens after 5:30am. Sometimes it's barely 5am. I usually take him in my bed (with his co-sleeping sister - another disaster), but just as you described the wakeups get earlier and earlier!!

Do your guys share a room at night?

 

This might sound off the wall, and you probably won't want to try it. What about putting them in the same room? Mine wake early some mornings and they are happy to talk and play in their cribs until I come get them. Bea usually wakes before Ainsley, and every once in a while I hear her say "Ahs? Seep?" and she sees that Ainsley is still asleep and she either stays quiet or goes back to sleep. Do you think maybe having company would help Nick when he wakes early or in the night?

I had mine separated for several months when I sleep trained Ainsley and I was scared to death to put them back together (they were separated from 8-13 months). But it really has turned out to be a good thing.

 

QUOTE(heathernd @ Jun 24 2007, 03:20 PM) [snapback]305477[/snapback]
7am was the earliest I would get mine during the CIO phase, so 6am sounds very generous to me. Anything earlier and it's still the middle of the night!


7am would be totally preferable to me also, but we're grasping for anything we can consider a success right now...and compared to 4:50, 6:00 seems awfully successful.


QUOTE(stacyann_1 @ Jun 24 2007, 03:57 PM) [snapback]305502[/snapback]
Do your guys share a room at night?


No, they are in seperate rooms, but the rooms have a wall in common and Nick's antics wake Joe up if it's 5:30ish. Joe sleeps well. He sometimes wakes around 2ish but fusses himself back to sleep w/i 5 minutes and would wake around 6:30/7:00 if it weren't for Nick.



QUOTE(Snittens @ Jun 24 2007, 06:02 PM) [snapback]305564[/snapback]
This might sound off the wall, and you probably won't want to try it. What about putting them in the same room? Mine wake early some mornings and they are happy to talk and play in their cribs until I come get them. Bea usually wakes before Ainsley, and every once in a while I hear her say "Ahs? Seep?" and she sees that Ainsley is still asleep and she either stays quiet or goes back to sleep. Do you think maybe having company would help Nick when he wakes early or in the night?

I had mine separated for several months when I sleep trained Ainsley and I was scared to death to put them back together (they were separated from 8-13 months). But it really has turned out to be a good thing.


God, you know we've been meaning to do this FOREVER. We seperated around 6 months, thinking we'd put them back together once they started sleeping through the night. Well, here we are at 15-months and I'm terrified to do it. Not sure who it would be "punishing" more, Joe, or DH & I.

Another TS friend of mine just put hers back together at 15 months and it seems to have helped also. We are going on vacation in a month and I was toying with the idea of doing it when we get back simply b/c I am bracing myself for transitional sleep problems upon return, and why not kill 2 birds with one stone?

I think I will stick it out for another week of screaming until 6am and see if that gets me anywhere. Today I installed "morning lights" to help the boys know when it's time to get up. I attached green night lights to a timer so they are set to come on at 6am. I made a big deal about it and showed them the pretty light and am hoping that with a week of going in and applauding them for waiting until the light comes on they'll get the picture. Okay, so it's a stretch, but a girl can dream, right?

 

QUOTE
I think I will stick it out for another week of screaming until 6am and see if that gets me anywhere. Today I installed "morning lights" to help the boys know when it's time to get up. I attached green night lights to a timer so they are set to come on at 6am. I made a big deal about it and showed them the pretty light and am hoping that with a week of going in and applauding them for waiting until the light comes on they'll get the picture. Okay, so it's a stretch, but a girl can dream, right


Goodluck, let us know how it goes!!

 

I don't get my girls out of the crib any earlier than their getting up time. If I do, it becomes a pattern. They know what to do to get mommy sooner. I just get up and shut their door and shut mine until it's time to get up.