oprah just scared the bejeezus out of me

i should clarify, we already did CIO. but we haven't had a single night where there weren't bedtime protests. both boys went down completely zonked from their evening bottle last night and we were able to leave the room without any crying, but about 45 minutes later they woke up and had their usual nighttime crying fit. it's usually about 10 minutes and then that's it. my kingdom for a totally cry-free bedtime, but they're committed to 10 minutes of crying every single night.

oprah was just interviewing a woman who was doing CIO for naps and she heard a scratching noise through the baby monitor and went upstairs and found her 9 month old strangling with the baby monitor cord around his neck.

and i KNOW we don't have anything like that in their cribs, and i KNOW the monitor is all the way across the room and high on the wall where they can't get to it, but i was literally sick to my stomach hearing that. i think this is the first real safety panic i've ever felt since they were born. i've always been so confident of our safety practices.

so now i'm terrified to let them cry tonight. i know they're going to. but the whole time i'm going to be thinking WHAT IF WHAT IF WHAT IF????


someone talk me down!!!!!!!! :gah:

 

It's okay. It wasn't CIO that was a problem for that woman & her baby, it was the fact that the monitor was left within reach of the baby. As long as the area around the crib where the baby can reach is safe & clear of anything that they might be able to grab, babies are perfectly safe to be left in the crib to get themselves to sleep. :hug: Things like that always freak me out too, but the good thing is they serve as reminders to us to keep an eye on safety!

 

i didn't watch the show today, but from what it sounds like is more of a safety issue and not CIO issue. As long as your children don't have anything around thier crib that could possibly cause a problem than i would say they are fine. Now why did the mom have the baby monitor so close to the crib?

 

:hug: it's so hard to hear stories like that no matter what situation you're in! We did cio and didn't have any big issues. The best part was it only took 3 nights and we haven't had any issues since.
I do know the panic you're talking about though, just learn from it! I'll never forget the first time I heard a story about a baby strangling themselves with the cords from the blinds. I've always been EXTREMELY careful with that ever since.

 

There are worst-case scenarios for just about everything you can thing of. :hug: Just make sure you have a safe environment and you will be fine. And there is nothing wrong with crawling in on the ground to make sure everything is okay. Not that I have ever done that

 

Now I'm watching Oprah, she's talking about leaving kids in carseats in the car. so sad

 

QUOTE(DATJMom @ Jun 25 2009, 05:11 PM) [snapback]1368803[/snapback]
And there is nothing wrong with crawling in on the ground to make sure everything is okay. Not that I have ever done that



haha, oh neither have i! okay maybe once or twice.


...okay so i check every night.

 

I'm confident that you *know* what sounds are normal, and what is cause for concern! You can tell when they're just fussing, when they're in distress, and when something just doesn't sound right.

My boys were in their cribs the other day, babbling happily while I was getting ready for work, when suddenly Nate started crying hysterically. I knew something had changed, and when I ran into their room, I found Nate crawling along the floor toward me. Yes, on the floor. I guess we were a little late in lowering his crib....

I'm sure you don't ignore them even if you're leaving them to fuss a bit. If something didn't sound right, you'd be in there checking on them!!

 

QUOTE(DATJMom @ Jun 25 2009, 02:11 PM) [snapback]1368803[/snapback]
Not that I have ever done that


Oh, me either, Rachel. No, never done that, nope.

 

QUOTE(piccologirl @ Jun 25 2009, 05:15 PM) [snapback]1368810[/snapback]
haha, oh neither have i! okay maybe once or twice.
...okay so i check every night.


:rofl:

QUOTE(tinalb @ Jun 25 2009, 05:21 PM) [snapback]1368825[/snapback]
Oh, me either, Rachel. No, never done that, nope.


:lol: I am cracking up!!!

 

QUOTE(DATJMom @ Jun 25 2009, 02:23 PM) [snapback]1368829[/snapback]
:rofl:
:lol: I am cracking up!!!



you all are to funny!!!!

I have heard all sorts of scary things. Everynight, I have to go in and check on them. And im not happy tell I can see them breathing, and I have to see their lips are a nice color, and I check their fingers....

 

QUOTE(DATJMom @ Jun 25 2009, 05:11 PM) [snapback]1368803[/snapback]
And there is nothing wrong with crawling in on the ground to make sure everything is okay. Not that I have ever done that


:laughing: I think it was Nicole(seamusnicholas) that was describing that one time and she was totally cracking me up!

To the op, those shows/stories can be total wake-up calls can't they? Even if you already have safety precautions in place, it makes you take a second and third look just to make sure. :hug:

 

tonight before bed i evaluated everything around their cribs and made sure the crib mirror and ocean wonders soother were really tightly tethered down with no loose bits.

it's amazing how these things affect me now. this was a rerun of a 2008 oprah and i seem to remember watching it the first time. and at the time i thought, "oh that's horrible." but that was before babies. this time i was literally instantly sick to my stomach and my heart started racing.

it's a whole different world now. -_-

 

QUOTE(becky5 @ Jun 25 2009, 07:52 PM) [snapback]1369106[/snapback]
:laughing: I think it was Nicole(seamusnicholas) that was describing that one time and she was totally cracking me up!

OMG! Yes! I totally remember that thread! I was a great army crawler! :spy:

 

Ok, I checked around my cribs too. Removed the lamp from the room and moved the baby monitor. Even though I know the babies can't reach them yet, may as well take care if it now.

I didn't watch today's Oprah, but the thought of leaving babies in a hot car freaks me out. Do any of you do something special to remind you that you have kids in the back seat? I try to put my purse back there. Also, I think it's important that day care providers call the parents if a baby/child doesn't show up, as expected.

 

QUOTE(AmberG @ Jun 25 2009, 07:50 PM) [snapback]1369338[/snapback]
Ok, I checked around my cribs too. Removed the lamp from the room and moved the baby monitor. Even though I know the babies can't reach them yet, may as well take care if it now.

I didn't watch today's Oprah, but the thought of leaving babies in a hot car freaks me out. Do any of you do something special to remind you that you have kids in the back seat? I try to put my purse back there. Also, I think it's important that day care providers call the parents if a baby/child doesn't show up, as expected.



I think this is what I once heard...

Put a big stuffed teddy bear in your kids car seat. That way, every time you put you child in thier car seat, you move the big teddy to the front passanger seat. You see that great big teddy setting next to you and it is a reminder that their is a kid in the back. When you take your child out, you just put the big teddy back in your childs seat.

 

Sometimes I hate Oprah! The real story there isn't that they were doing CIO, it's that the woman was an idiot to have the monitor cord anywhere near her daughter!!! What the heck was she thinking? Ours is like under the crib. And the second moral of the story is that, if you hear weird screeching or odd screaming, you still go in! CIO isn't about letting your kids die or be in pain or not going in ever for any circumstances.

 

Oh, for crying out loud (no pun intended)!!! I hate Oprah. Bad news sells, and that's why she's doing that. Like PPs have said, it's the idiot mother who left the baby monitor in the crib for goodness sake, not the CIO.

And there's reasonable CIO - you don't just let the baby scream it's little head off for hours... I have never had to do a CIO longer than about 15 minutes - I watch for tired signs, and stick to a routine and most of the time, both girls are asleep within 5 minutes of putting them down. Not that I wouldn't do CIO longer than that if I needed to, but the point is: you know your babies, and you know their cries. And you definitely know the difference between a tired going-to-sleep cry and a distressed screech.

I can't believe what an idiot mother would leave the monitor (with cord!) inside the crib. Sheesh.