Sleep training--CIO

[Monica11]

Has anyone here tried the CIO method? I read Weissbluth's book (Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child) and he recommends trying CIO no earlier than 4 months. Maddie turns four months next week, and I am really anxious to get her to take naps on her own. Right now I literally hold her for all of her naps. (Fortunately, she sleeps well at night, although she doesn't go down until about 10 no matter how hard I try.) I have tried everything for naps--swaddling, shush-pat, you name it. I can't go on like this--I need to get some work done! Has anyone tried CIO for naps? Any advice or caveats?

Monica

 

[shopaholic]

At about 4 months, my pediatrician urged me to let dd fall asleep on her own. I was fine with letting her cry it out and so pretty quickly she was taking naps in her crib. Prior to this, she was napping in her swing. As a mom and a child therapist , I am strong believer in letting a child cry it out. My daughter rarely gives us trouble going to bed at 2.5 years old and I believe this is due to letting her cry it out. Once you introduce solids, it should be even easier to get your child to nap since her belly will be full. I started solids at 4 months. Good luck!

 

[Monica11]

Thanks for that reassurance--it means a lot coming from a child therapist. I think the most important thing will be consistency. I can see myself waffling once the going gets tough and then all of it will be for nothing. I think it will go smoothly because she already sleeps in her bassinet at night.

 

[MarleysMom]

I am currently in the process of trying this as of today and let me tell you it has been hell. I just tried it with nap time because my DD will not nap anywhere but her swing and she has been waking up at 3 am for the past 2 nights (she is almost 5 months old) and we end up putting her back in her swing to go back to sleep.
I only made it through 2 rounds today 1st round 5 minutes and the 2nd round only 8 minutes before we went and picked her up. She hyperventilates and sounds like she is going nuts in her crib.
It's not an easy task to tackle, but she is doing everything they say she will do so I will see how the next few nights go.
I will report back more over the next few days!

Wish me luck and good luck to you!

 

[EricaH]

Marleys Mom...

I'd like to recommend the book The Baby Whisperer to you or you can go to babywhisperer.com and try the pick-up/put-down method. Here's a link to the forums there - maybe you can get some info without the book http://www.babywhisperer.com/smf/.

I just find this method more compassionate than CIO. We used it with my youngest child and it worked very well.

Good luck with whatever you end up doing.

Erica

 

[Monica11]

RE: Marleys Mom...

We've been trying CIO for naps the past few days and it is going pretty well--Maddie whimpers and fusses for about 15-30 minutes before falling asleep. So far, none of that awful wailing I dreaded. In fact, it's no worse than the complaining she does when I rock her to sleep. So I consider myself lucky (for now) in that department.

The problem is that she doesn't stay asleep. She sleeps for only about 30 minutes. Then, since she didn't have her nice long a.m. nap (usually about 90 minutes if I nap with her), she's tired and then it's even harder to get her down later in the day.

I've read the Baby Whisperer and I've tried the pick up/put down approach with Maddie, but it seems to stimulate her further rather than comfort her.