Did CIO not work for anyone ??

[IcedCoffeeGirl]

Cry it out. Let’s be clear, I don’t want it do this, I hate the thought of it and I’m not even sure I CAN do it because whenever I’ve tried I’ve lasted about two minutes because she gets so so hysterical.

but I am completely at my wits end with sleep, DD is 6 months old and from 3 months her sleep has been awful, like truly horrific and it gets worse all the time. We’ve ended up in a feed to sleep association and it’s only happened because every way of putting her to sleep just stopped working and she has a relentless ability to stay awake for hours and hours and hours. I’ve been trying to hard to gently teach her other methods but it just isn’t working.

basically without going into every detail of the endless things I’ve tried, I am curious to know if anyone tried CIO and it didn’t work like magic like everyone says it does?

DD gets utterly hysterical and I just don’t think it would work for her, it’s not a whimper or a small cry, it’s a loud, screaming, angry, very distressed cry and I don’t think I can leave her like that, but i am seriously running out of options.

I think there’s a difference between letting them cry in distress for a long period of time and letting them have a wee cry to settle.

For instance, my baby always has a wee cry when I put her down for her nap. She isn’t massively in distress and my going in and out DOES result in distress, so i just leave her to it. She’s normally asleep within 10 minutes at most.

I think it’s unrealistic to think babies can never be left to a cry a wee bit.

Hi all, jumping on the band wagon a bit here, I hope that's ok. Can I ask - do you think the Ferber Method would work for a 2 year old who can be tricky to go to sleep at night/often wakes in the night still or do you think that's too old? Thanks

@clairebear610 I would read the book and see what you think and also contact a sleep consultant as they will tailor an approach specifically for your child and what you’re comfortable with. My baby is almost 1 and I don’t think I could Ferber her now as she’s much stronger willed so the crying may go on for ages which I couldn’t do. When she was younger she just went to sleep after a few mins.

If she’s not going to sleep for ages and ages and waking up every 45 mins it’s possible that it’s not to do with how she sleeps but too much napping? If her sleep patterns aren’t working then whatever method you use won’t work.

Hi OP

My dd is at secondary school now but I got to the same stage as you when she was 6 months old. She was so alert as a baby that getting her to go to sleep was hard work. She would be exhausted and wouldn't sleep.

I did the baby whisperer method to start with and then sort of controlled crying when I realised that picking her up was stimulating her more and really not working.

The baby whisperer book was good in that it helped me understand sleep cycles etc. Also it emphasises that any sleep training only works if you're absolutely consistent. Nothing will work after one night. It takes persistence. However, my dd was then a brilliant sleeper...possibly the only toddler who gave us lie ins!

For my dd the waking every 45mins was because she couldn't transition between sleep cycles due to always having 'help' getting to sleep through feeding. But it is a good idea to look at sleep plans for napping which will help...

From memory:
Nap for 45mins to an hour at 9am
12/12.30is a sleep for up to 2 hours
4.30/5 ish a quick 30 min nap (although both of mine were outgrowing this by 6 months.

It's often advised to focus on the night sleep and getting them to fall asleep on their own and do whatever you need to to get them to nap when you're first sleep training. Good luck op. X