Sleep & CIO

I was going to write a long, drawn out explanation of our situation... but the bottom line is... is it reasonable to make your babies CIO in the same room? I am SO hesitant... they really feed off of each other when upset and I am afraid it will be a big mess.

We currently have one baby in OUR room, and one in "the twins'" room... we only have ONE other room in the house, currently used as a guest/exercise room, and I don't want to have to have both babies in separate rooms because our house is just not spacious enough for it.

Please tell me how this is done!

 

I'm not sure if this is what you mean, but I had one CIO b/c we were taking away her paci, and the other slept right through it. I'm not sure if you mean CIO at the same time or not. I know it is feasable to have one CIO whil the other isn't. GL!

 

At 5 1/2 months we did CIO with them in the same room. I was hesitant thinking there was no way it would work. We did not have a choice since their room is the only extra room we have. At the beginning, there were times when one would wake the other but it was so rare and if one did wake, they both were able to fall back asleep.

Now, it is the most amazing thing how they sleep through each others cry! Just this week, they have been taking turns being sick and when one cried, the other does not even flinch. There also is a noise machine in their room so they have always been used to some type of noise.

 

I just want to add that the first couple nights (I think it was the first 2) were tough. They pretty much cried off and on throughout the night. But after that, they slept through and woke happy!

 

I was terrified to try CIO at the same time. But as my babies reached about 1 year, i was also tired of running into the room and grabbing a kid as quick as i could and running out in order not to wake the other! So then they were used to me picking them up as soon as they even whimpered. Bad mommy move. So, i started late, and it was probably harder on them because of it. BUT it only took a couple nights and now they sleep like champs! I thought it would be much worse. I spent about three night with little sleep and a lot of crying. Now, they pretty much ignore each other, and my dd is a very light sleeper. She might wake up, but she tries to ignore ds. Then they go right back to sleep.

As far as how, i did more of the controlled crying, rather than complete CIO. It worked for me. Cry for 5 min, go in and reassure, go back again after ten if still crying, then 15. All i did was a pat on the belly (or back) and said i love you but its time to sleep. After a couple nights, they get the hint. It really won't be as bad as you might think. I think the worst night, my ds cried for 35 minutes straight before she gave up.

I do still seperate for naps though. Dd is a wonderful napper, but ds only sleeps for 30 min or so at a time. He would wake her up, so i just keep a pnp in the guest room for naps only.

Hope this helps! good luck!

 

We just had to do this a few nights ago -- DS started night-waking for some inexplicable reason. At first I thought he was hungry...but a couple nights later, he started giggling at me, head-butting me, etc. And, he didn't really want to eat. So, clearly we had to nip that in the bud.

It took two nights of crying -- he did wake up his sister both nights, but thankfully, she didn't cry. I just knew she was awake, because she likes to slam her legs down in the crib and make a thud, which we heard repeatedly while DS was complaining, LOL.

I'm not sure what we would have done if she had started crying, because she is *impossible* to soothe when she gets really worked up.

Anyhow. We haven't had to separate the babies yet, but we will whenever it becomes necessary. Maybe you could put one in a pack n' play in your bedroom for a few nights, just until the other one starts sleeping well again?

 

Hi, I'm not there yet but wanted to share some advice from a friend of mine with two sets of twins. She said that in everything we decide to do with these babies it will be easier on them and us if we always follow the rule "begin as you wish to continue" so, if they are going to be sleeping in the same room after the CIO, you should start that way and let them CIO together.

 

QUOTE(girls! @ Jan 5 2008, 01:02 AM) [snapback]558432[/snapback]
Hi, I'm not there yet but wanted to share some advice from a friend of mine with two sets of twins. She said that in everything we decide to do with these babies it will be easier on them and us if we always follow the rule "begin as you wish to continue" so, if they are going to be sleeping in the same room after the CIO, you should start that way and let them CIO together.


I think that is a great quote!

 

Our guys were inthe NICU for 9 weeks so they are very used to background noise (Thank goodness!!!). I have done CIO with both of my boys at separate times and neither woke the other up. I was quite surprised since CIO can get quite noisy!!!

 

We havn't done CIO -- but I am a SUPER light sleeper - so we don't use the monitor - just leave our door open and ocassionally, one will be to a real wail when I get to the room -- at first they would wake the other - but after about a week NEVER - I think they could sleep though a cannon!! LOL. we had a huge x-mas party - and it was SO SO loud -- I was SURE the boys would wake up - but they didn't. They DO work eachother up during the day (CIO in the same room for naps - which i HAVE tried did NOT work!) -- I think the drive to sleep at night is just strong enough (and they sleep deaply enough) that it works.

 

Believe it or not, they learn to sleep through the others' cries!!

Mine still sleep through each other. Last night my DD had a FULL tantrum in the bedroom with my son and he moved around a little, but slept through all of it and HIGH winds too!! :hug99: We are close to 3 and they still sleep through all the other one's nonsense - and there is a lot of it right now!

 

I just started CIO two nights ago and I separated them b/c it is a lot less stressful for me. I am not constantly afraid that they will wake each other ... or I will wake the sleeping one going in to reassure the crying one. There is so much that I fear when they are crying ... are they hungry, does she hate me ... that one less thing to feel horrible about was worth it to me. We put one in their room and one in the PNP in the study ... both with white noise b/c the two rooms are side-by-side and their cries bring down the walls. I hope that it will work within a week and I can put them back together. If it doesn't work in a week, we are going to stop trying and move on to Plan B.

 

I just started doing CIO for going to bed at nite (not thru the whole night) mine are 4 months old. I Basically put my heavy sleeper down first. he is normally asleep really fast and then i put my light sleeper down and she cries (wimpers) for about 3 minutes and is asleep. They still wake at night and i feed them.

 

QUOTE(girls! @ Jan 5 2008, 05:02 AM) [snapback]558432[/snapback]
Hi, I'm not there yet but wanted to share some advice from a friend of mine with two sets of twins. She said that in everything we decide to do with these babies it will be easier on them and us if we always follow the rule "begin as you wish to continue" so, if they are going to be sleeping in the same room after the CIO, you should start that way and let them CIO together.


Fantastic way to explain it. I agree and we did CIO in the same room at 6 months old. The girls learned to sleep through each other pretty quickly. We don't plan on any of our kids having their own room so they needed to learn to sleep through each other's sounds. It is much easier for them to do as infants than as toddlers.