Anyone successfully enabled self settling through CIO for 2 month old?

[Lucypearl]

My 2 mth old will not go down to sleep - I feed/rock/pat/whatever is required to get her to sleep in her crib but 10 minutes later she is awake again and crying. This can go on for hours, the whole evening. My poor 5 yr old is suffering greatly - having to eat dinner alone and forgoing bedtime stories because I'm trying to settle her sister. My LO is obviously tired and I know she is fed, dry, well etc so am seriously considering just letting her cry it out for an evening to see if she settles. We had to do it with DD1 so i know it works but she was 6 mths old. I know there r lots of people on here with strong views on CIO but respectfully I am not asking for anyone's opinion on it in general, I'm just wondering if anyone has tried it on a younger baby and if it ended in a happier sleeping outcome. Thanks :)

I dont think it (Controlled Crying or Cry it Out) is advised for that age as they have no concept of where you have gone and that you are going to come back again. I dont even think it is advised before 6 months.

Powerhoop is correct, CIO or CC are not advised for babies under 6 months because the baby will not understand and will just keep crying.

I think there maybe some gentle sleep training methods for younger babies, but I'm not sure. When ds was a small baby we let him sleep in his rocker chair in the living room while we put dd to bed, and settled him in his cot later on

Can't you put the baby down after the 5yo is in bed

We used to do stories with baby in a bouncy chair

Please don't use CIO on such a young baby

I'm not a CIO hater, I used controlled crying on both mine at 8/9 months and it worked but not with such a little baby

Well definitely things cannot continue the way the are. You need some support, a spare pair of hands to give you a breather and allow you to spend some time with your older child. I found a sling changed my life with a older child when dd2 was born. The baby loved being close to me and then slept well during the day. CIO is not an answer at this stage.

you must be exhausted, it is so hard for all of you.
have you tried a dummy, a sling, keeping the baby with you (on
lap when reading with dd1). put her in the bath with big sister?
do you have a dp or friend who can offer an extra pair of hands, maybe an auntie who can do the occasional bedtime with dd1?

some babies settle better in bouncy chair/car seat/pram rather than crib or cot from early evening. even if it is just until dd1 has settled.

She's much too young - both for it to be a success and for it be appropriate. Very rarely do children this age self settle. They are certainly too young to be taught.

She is still so tiny and needs to learn that you will respond to her needs. Crying is her only means of communication and leaving her to cry until she is exhausted and gives up will tell her that there is no point in trying to communicate anymore.

Agree with sling and just feed while doing bedtime stories. I had to feed my newborn a lot while my oldest ate meals.

I thought at that age most babies stayed up feeding or whatever and went to bed at same time as parents? We are talking eight weeks old here?

Please don't leave her to cry.

Yes that is what I was worried about, that she would not in any way understand and just cry her heart out night after night to no avail. I used to keep her up and just feed her to sleep in bed with me but then she started screaming in the evenings from about 7pm and I thought it was colic but recently realised I think she is just knackered but fights sleep so I started trying to put her down earlier. She doesn't fall asleep easily, usually only by being carried about so I guess I will try a sling to save my breaking back! :) Have desperately tried dummies of all shapes and sizes but she just screams...DD1 was exactly the same, little monkeys. Anyway thanks for all your replies :)

OP I really understand how hard this is - my first had just turned two when the baby was born. Bedtime / settling for naps was a nightmare. I started trying to teach self settling at about 9 weeks but didn't use CIO - honestly as the other posters have said I think they are too young for it to work then, they just don't understand why you aren't there.

Assuming you have nobody to help you at bedtime I would feed the baby while you do stories with the older one then put her in sling/bouncy chair while you sort out the older one. and then deal with putting the baby down. Believe me it will make your life easier and less stressful. It is so hard when they are cluster feeding (not sure if you are BF) - my #2 wanted to be on the boob from 4pm til bedtime (which has been half 6 since about 6/7 weeks).

I used PUPD and shush-pat from about 9 weeks and it took a few weeks to get to the point where I could put him down awake and he would settle himself. If he ever got too upset I would pick him up / feed him. If she is waking after ten mins consistently it sounds like she is overtired (sorry if stating the obvious) - maybe work on getting her sleeping in the day (however you need to - sling or whatever) as soon as she is tired so she is not overtired when you try to put her down at bedtime?

God it is hard. When you have an older one it is much more important in a practical level to be able to NOT have to spend x hours settling the baby. In the early days (after the period when they sleep all the time in the basket in broad daylight!)I just let him sleep in the sling in the day and would decant into the basket if at all possible (would usually wake). At about 9 weeks I had to start working on being able to put him down as my back was killing me (was a BIG baby).

But the tiny baby days go so so quickly. It makes me teary just thinking about it - he is 4 months already.

Really very best of luck

Biscuits thanks for ur lovely message. I was using bouncy chair, b feeding etc for stories until she started the evening screaming and for some reason trying to feed her then made her scream louder?! Daytime sleep is definitely a problem so hopefully a sling will help that and in turn help in the evenings. Ur right, they grow big so quickly, we need to enjoy them when they r tiny, however challenging they may make that ;)