I have 6 1/2 month olds and we had to CIO b/c they were waking anywhere from 10 to 12 times each at night ... it would take us 3 hours to get them down in the first place. I follow HSHHC as close as I can so I don't think they are overtired. We do the same routine every night and have since they were 8 weeks old. We have been doing CIO for 3 1/2 weeks now and they are light-years better than they were ... once they get to sleep they only wake once or twice and I only have to nurse them once when I was nursing them 2 or 3 times each. However, they still cry for 45 mins. to an hour almost every night. They are crying right now and so am I because it breaks my heart and kills my nerves. Has anyone else dealt with this? Will they ever "get it"?
So when you say they cry for 45min-1hr, is that when you put them down or when they wake in the middle of the night? So you do go to them sometimes at night?
They cry when we put them down at night. I still feed them once at night b/c they are really small. The other times they wake at night they fuss some then go back to sleep ... I have been known to pop a paci back in once or twice if they wake at 5AM or something and aren't going back to sleep within a few minutes....
QUOTE(TraciF @ Jan 27 2008, 08:31 PM) [snapback]592339[/snapback] They cry when we put them down at night. I still feed them once at night b/c they are really small. The other times they wake at night they fuss some then go back to sleep ... I have been known to pop a paci back in once or twice if they wake at 5AM or something and aren't going back to sleep within a few minutes.... My ped said to still nurse them once but only once. I was nursing them each about 3 times ... prior to the night waking they were STTN really well with only nursing once or twice ... from like 3 mos to 4 1/2 mos then they started waking all the time until about 5 1/2 mos when we decided to Ferberize. Anyway ... sleep has been a struggle since they were 3 wks old ... every nap and every night is a constant struggle. I am so exhausted and stressed and sad for my poor little girls who will not go to sleep. I feel like such a bad Mommy letting them cry. We had tried everything else and they just will not learn. I think one is alseep now and one is still screaming at the top of her lungs.
BF kids don't generally sleep through the night til much later. you may just have hungry kids. I'm not the biggest fan of CIO - I did a friendly version of it on my kids at 11.5 mos -- but that's past when they actually know you are still around after you leave their sight (object permanence) -- prior to that (10mos or so) they really can get quite distressed if you're not coming to them. I know that our sleeplessness got the worst at 4 mos and then after we started getting a real good nap routine and moved the bedtime extra early 5:30p things got much better. My kids woke 1-2 times every night till 11.5 mos, but htey were real easy to get back down. At just about a year, they started sleeping through the night. they also got "lovey's" at this time. I think if you're frustrated, tired and stressed out, the babies definitely know and will get worse instead of getting better. I always had my hubby take the reigns when I was ready to lose it cause it just made things easier for us. It does get better. I'd be leary of CIO at this early of an age - especially for a bf baby. teri D
Traci- Can you tell me more about your daily sleep routines (naps, wake time, bedtime, etc)? I think it is okay to use CIO for bedtime at this age.
QUOTE(excitedk @ Jan 27 2008, 09:03 PM) [snapback]592398[/snapback] Traci- Can you tell me more about your daily sleep routines (naps, wake time, bedtime, etc)? I think it is okay to use CIO for bedtime at this age. Thanks for the confidence Kristi! I am not trying to get them to sleep totally through the night, just to GO to sleep more easily. My husband is a medical resident and works really late and even overnight a lot and things just HAD to get better or I would lose it ... giving them over to him just isn't an option a lot of the time and my family doesn't live here. Here is our schedule give or take 15 mins or so: 7A nurse 8A cereal & fruit 8:45-10:15 nap 11:30 nurse 12-1 nap 3:00 nurse 3:30-4:30 nap 4:30 veggie & fruit 6:30 nurse, books, bath, lotion, PJ's & sleep sack ... 7P bedtime usually nurse each girl once btwn 1-4 AM ... they wake on their own ... I don't wake one when the other wakes. I never nurse to sleep except in the middle of the night. I have tried and tried to get them to nap longer but 45 mins to an hour is ALL I can get from them for their 2nd two naps ... the first they have been doing OK with ... an hour and a half usually. Sometimes they will catnap in the car or in the stroller, too ... but I ALWAYS make sure they get those first two naps in before we go anywhere. I plan to take this to my Ped on Friday so she can tell me if it looks OK. I try to go by HSHHC as best I can but my girls can't make it to 1PM for their nap ... they are too tired by then ... so they are still on 3 naps a day.
Good Night Sleep Tight by Kim West aka Sleep Lady has a great modified CIO technique. highly recommend!
What's their bed time? I am a "fan" of CIO and the book (Weissbluth was our ped when we lived in the States), truly believe almost everything! I've talked to him on the phone as well, many times, because my twins slept long stretches early on but were early risers (5 am for months, now it's 6 am). I've tried everything, earlier bed time, later bed time, CIO, etc. but nothing really worked. They're on their way growing out of it. At 6 1/2 months mine went to bed at 6.00/6.30 am, sleeping til 7.00 am (with a bottle between 5 and 6 am), napping at 9 am and 1 pm. They were on a 2-nap schedule at 4 months. Now they go to bed a little later, wake up later, but still go back down til 7.00 am. Still 2 naps as well. BTW, my boy was also more stubborn in the evening, but I just let him, and he got it ... it just took a lot longer than with his sister(s).
Hi there. I'm in a similar situation with my James. He's just not the kind of baby who will settle on his own when you initially put him down to sleep. We did sleep training with him at 9 months (attempted at 6 months but found he was too young) as per HSHHC, but we modified the process to suit our baby. We rock him a little, then put him in his crib and pat him/rest our hands on him until he falls asleep. It takes 10-20 minutes, and that's after 15 minutes of snuggling and story time in a dim room. He's a baby who needs time and attention to wind-down at the end of a day. But thanks to sleep training (i.e. not going in when he was waking up to 7 times at night - pretty much every time he rolled over!) we have been able to get him sleeping 11 to 12 hours at night. So for us CIO did not mean crying to sleep, it meant solving a night-waking problem. Of course it would be WAY easier if I could just put him in his crib and trust he'll fall asleep on his own but I've learned through time and experience that this is just NOT his style. What can you do? He's only a baby, but he has his own personality. Now that we have the night-waking problem under control, I know if James does cry at night (a rare occasion now) it's probably for a reason and I can go in to soothe him. Before we did CIO for night waking, we never knew what was going on. He'd be up and down all night, and he wasn't hungry at all. He just didn't want to sleep. Sleep training was difficult, but it has been one of the best things we've done. You can expect to feed your baby up to twice a night until around 9 months, BTW. We were fortunate with Evan and James - they stopped eating at night just after 3 months. But I think they're unusual.
This is kind of a side note to your main question (about CIO for going to sleep), but I wonder if nursing more often during the day would help with night feeding issues. 4 nursing sessions doesn't seem like a whole lot - though of course all babies are different, and if that's all yours want to do then that's just them.
QUOTE(fuchsiagroan @ Jan 28 2008, 10:27 AM) [snapback]592990[/snapback] This is kind of a side note to your main question (about CIO for going to sleep), but I wonder if nursing more often during the day would help with night feeding issues. 4 nursing sessions doesn't seem like a whole lot - though of course all babies are different, and if that's all yours want to do then that's just them. They only eat once at night which I am super fine with (they were nursing 3 times each at night before we started this Ferber thing). They won't nurse when they aren't hungry and I demand feed during the day ... it is just that they aren't big eaters ... I feel like I am forcing them to eat a lot of the time ... nursing and solids. I think they are at the age where everything else is much more interesting. It isn't getting them to sleep through that is the problem. They only eat once at night and one doesn't wake any other times and the other will wake maybe one or two other times but I just pop her paci back in and she goes right to sleep ... it is GETTING them to sleep in the first place that they cry. We will rock them drowsy and lay them down and sometimes they roll over and go to sleep but more often than not, they are still crying for 45 mins to an hour right when we lay them down. Anyway ... sorry I keep going on and on ... it is just so frustrating. I thought by 6 1/2 months they would be accepting bedtime a little better ...
Would you be willing to try moving to 2 naps? And napping by the clock? It may be rough for a while during the day but it may help with going to bed. When you first start switching to 2 naps they will probably go to bed WAY early (5:30pm or so), but as they get used to it it may work better for you. So maybe try naps at 8:30am and 12:30pm. No matter what you try, you will need to give it a week to see if it works. Or have you tried moving bedtime up? To say maybe 6pm? And remember give it a week before deciding it doesn't work Keep me posted!!
I know it sounds CRAZY but our doc said to give our DS (a horrible sleeper) a toy in his crib. Seems to help from the first night he holds it and tosses it around if he is upset. I caught him talking to it last night. He seems to just need to cry/fuss himself to sleep. BUT with the little stuffed dog he seems to be able to soothe himself. At least then he goes back to sleep after the night feedings now (well, most of the time).
