To separate them or not - for CIO

We are planning to do CIO for bedtime and nightwakings. We have one really good sleeper and one really bad sleeper. However, the good sleeper does tend to wake up when the bad sleeper fusses or cries, and has a hard time getting back to sleep. (This morning the bad sleeper miraculously put herself back to sleep 20 minutes after she woke up at 4:50 am, but our poor good sleeper was then awake until 6:45 am when they got up for the day!). Any advice on whether we should separate them temporarily?

 

I actually just separated my girls, 2 nights ago to be exact. they were not bad sleepers, but they by no means were sleeping though the night, and they kept kicking each other, one likes covers, and the other one does not... nights were hell to say the least.. so far, it has been a dream. the twins seem happy with having their own space. we put the cribs end to end so when they lift their heads in the am, they can still see eachother and coo.

 

I had the same scenario, one good sleeper and one bad. The bad one kept waking up the good one and then they would feed off each other and no one would go back to sleep. We put the "bad" one in a playpen in another room and like magic my good sleeper went back to her routine. Then we worked on CIO with the other and in a week we had her back in with her sister. We have kept the playpen up and on occassion if one seems more tired for a nap than the other I will use it to not disturb the one that is napping well already.

I say separate-conquer-then put back together once they have the routine, it worked for us. And they didn't seem to mind not being in their room or with their sibling. Honestly, if we had the space I'd give them their own rooms. But I'm funny that way. I hate people messing with my sleep and I love sleeping alone. Our king bed seems small some nights, I'd love it to myself

Good luck!

 

Clarification - they are already sleeping in separate cribs - the question is whether we should put them in separate rooms for this.

 

One of my DD's started sleeping through the night at 5 months and the other needed CIO. We separated them and it was sooo much easier. My other DD was probably close to a year before she stopped her night wakings (I could remain in bed and not go in and try to quiet her down). And now they are both STTN (12 hrs) but it's still helpful for when one is sick and the other isn't. I can go into the sick baby's room and flip on the light and help her while the other one is sound asleep. Also when one protests her nap and is up talking for over an hour, the other is again sound asleep in another room. They are almost two and I'm still glad i did it!

 

My vote is no, don't split them. We had 2 bad sleepers (they are almost 3 now and pretty good sleepers just major stallers)and we split them up. One had more crying stamina than the other ... one cried for around 45 minutes and the other for 3 hours straight the first three nights we did CIO (torture!!!). We split them then put them back together after about 2 weeks (by then they were only fussing 15 minutes or so each.) When we put them back together ... they cried AGAIN ... not for 3 hours but they cried more than they had been and it took another few weeks to get them back to good ... I wish we would have never separated them ... and now they still share a room and still generally sleep through each others occassional wakings.

 

If you have the room, yes, separate them. I would. At least until the bad sleeper start picking up better sleeping habits.
I now have two good sleepers, but had to separate them from time to time and Eddie still wakes very early. I always make sure to get him before he wakes Ogi (who can sleep 13 hours).

 

I didnt do CIO, but I can tell you that they will learn to sleep through each others cries. And IMO you want this. Because then when one wakes, you will most likely have another waker if they dont learn.

 

My vote is no to separating. I think just as valuable as learning to put themselves to sleep, is learning to sleep through distractions and noise. My dd was a good sleeper and ds was not so we let him CIO in the crib right next to dd and she would sleep right through it. Now, even if one of them wakes before the other in the mornings (we don't get them out of their cribs until a certain time even if they are awake) the one that is still sleeping will not wake up and talk and play until they are ready. If you are going to always keep them separate, though, I don't see the harm in going ahead and separating them now. My two are going to share a room for a while (just easier IMO) and I just don't want to have two rooms to keep up with yet! They really will learn to block the other out and it seems to me that you are just adding a step if you separate them and then bring them back together because you never know if the one will stay a good sleeper!