CIO method

[myusernamewastaken1]

Hi all,

Want opinions and methods of doing Cry it out. I never did this with my first son but my youngest is a lot clinger and not getting enough sleep. I honestly feel it maybe more beneficial for him in the long run. He's so grumpy and exhausted, and so is him mum !!

I understand some people are completely against it , in fact I use to say I would never do it. But I've heard and read so many benefits to it also.

My son is 4 month old if this helps

I do think 4 months is too young. I’m not totally against it and to be honest I’ll do anything that works with my 14 month old but 4 months is really very little.

There's a well known regression at 4 months. I'd get thru that first, but as the PP said 4 month is too young

Thank you @kitkatsky and @Secondnightblue what age is best do you think ?

It’s designed for babies over 9-12 months old. CIO only works once babies eat at least 3 meals per day (so you know hunger isn’t a driver) and have regularish poos. A proper CIO method works up to the crying - so in week one you let them cry for a minute before walking in to comfort them. Week two it’s 2 minutes etc. It’s not designed for a 4 mth old and you never, ever, let them cry themselves the whole night to sleep.

@Ozanj I never planned on letting him cry it out all night. I would always ensure he was full , pampers clean and he wasn't unwell or hurting. I want him to be able to self soothe, even if he only sleeps for an hour. My oldest use to want to breastfeed and cuddle to sleep. But even at 2 he was waking 3 times a night and again would want to hop into bed and breastfeed. He associated that as sleep, once I got pregnant I decided it had to stop. It was a hard 4 days , but that was it!! now we put him into bed and he's asleep 10 minutes later. We hear him wake up throughout the night and two minutes later he's back to sleep, no sleep aid required he's learnt to self soothe. I don't want anyone to think I'm doing this as an easy way out , I want to ensure he's getting all the sleep he needs, he's so grumpy throughout the day from being so tired. I just want to ensure he's getting all the requirements he needs.

Cry it out literally means closing the door and letting the baby cry until they’re asleep

Controlled crying is where you go back in at intervals, soothing the baby every few minutes

We did the latter at 6 months and it worked really well.

We did Ferber method at 6 months (not CIO). It was amazing.
I would really encourage you to read the book so you understand what you’re doing, don’t just google the Ferber method timings and follow it blindly. I got the e-book.

4 months is too young though - some baby’s brains are just not capable of linking the sleep cycles together at that age.

@ShirleyPhallus I think this method would be more suitable. I remember trying the CIO method with my oldest son at 9 months old and I honestly only lasted 5 minutes before I ran in and gave him a big hug. But what I have realised from my oldest is if I don't try something he will associate sleep with being held by me and breastfeeding. I don't want to fall into the same trap as my oldest of breastfeeding three times a night when he's 2 years old. But I also hate hearing my kids stressed. I will give it a go once he's a bit older. For now I will stick it through, as I now know it's to early. Much appreciated.

Thanks @GemmaRuby , I will give it a read. This thread has helped immensely and that's what I created it so I could get some insight! I will wait till he's at the right age and definitely read the suggested e book

Best of luck. Ferber method honestly worked like magic for us. My DS needed to be fed or rocked to sleep and woke every half hour through the whole night. When we did Ferber we reduced to only two wake ups, and then over a month we managed to reduce it to one wake up and then sleeping 7pm-7am.

So hopefully that gives you a light at the end of the tunnel knowing that in a couple of months you’ll have a lovely sleeping baby.

I agree with the Ferber method! Although 4 months of young. I waited until 6 months and we went from a baby who would wake within 20 minutes of being put down and then wake up every hour or so throughout it the night to sleeping 12 hrs with no wake up. It took 8 days in total. The first night I broke my heart, then every night got easier after that. Both LO and me are much happier now that we’re getting some sleep.

@mariebaby3 I will give it a go at 6 months. He's not a day time sleeper at all , he will only nap whilst being held. And at night he is pretty good 9pm-2am then 2:30am - 530am and then 6am-7am. I do hate hearing my LO cry , so I know I'm really going to struggle. I always ended up in tears when I was trying to do it with my oldest at 9 months and day 3 seemed to be worst then the first two days which made me give up. I was thinking maybe he was a little to old and aware and that's why I thought the younger the better, my oldest was a great day time sleep and worst night time sleeper, completely different. It is recommended 4 months on a lot of online articles but I never trust online sources, and taken other parents recommendations.

Another one for Ferber when he's a bit older. In the meantime I'd concentrate on building whatever good sleep habits you can.

6 months worked great for us OP with Ferber. I don’t think it would have worked for my DS at 4 months, he just wasn’t ready and still needed to be fed lots at night. So it would be difficult to tell when to feed him or not.

I think you’re right that 9 months is too late - that’s how old my DS is now and it would have been so much harder if we started it now he can stand up in his cot, he’d be able to keep himself awake much more and would get more upset.

When we did it at 6 months, the most my DS cried was 25 minutes on and off (we went it to reassure 3 times in that 25 mins and it wasn’t constant crying for 25 mins).

Thanks @GemmaRuby your been amazing. Honestly I know how difficult it will be but I know this time it needs to be done,
When the time is right ☺️