CC/CIO Support and Information Thread

[lysh]

So my question for starting out is do I feed him and put him down awake tomorrow night and let him get himself to sleep, or do I feed him and let him fall asleep then start cc when he first wakes up? If I do the former, and it takes say 90 minutes to get him to sleep, do I then have to do cc again when he first wakes up? What if he wakes again?

Anything I say is based on what I read in Ferber's book as I have yet to officially start CC with my LO.

You want to start at the beginning of the night as DaisyBee said. I do not remember there being a time limit set in Ferber's book for nighttime, just for naps.
You can feed your LO, just make sure he is awake when you put him down. If feeding to close to putting him down still ends up being an issue then you can separate it out...like feed, then bath, then sleep....or whatever your routine is.
Then yes, you do CC when your LO wakes up again throughout the night, unless it is a feeding time- then you feed LO and then put in bed awake and repeat CC if needed.
I think the hardest part is making sure LO doesn't need to be burped, hungry versus wanting comfort, etc. You will have to use mommy judgement there.

 

[MrsKyliePaton]

I have always used the pupd method with my lo since she was a few weeks old, if she was crying I would pick her up give her a cuddle she would settle I would put her back down and so on unless I knew she was hungry etc it has always worked for me, she started sleeping through the night at 10 weeks old and since we have out her down awake at bedtimes since she was 6 weeks old she is an excellent self settler now at 5months old, so it definitely was a method that worked for me, with DD1 we used to feed her to sleep then put her in her cot, but in the long run it wasn't a good idea as she became dependant in the bottle to go sleep until we tried to stop it at the age if 2, in the end we had to resort to cc/CIO as she just would not settle at night it worked within 3 days and we have never looked back, she's 6 now and could sleep for Scotland lol that's my experiences, even though we did it when miah was 2, she has no trust issues with us, she's a little madam at times but what girl isn't haha xx

 

[megangrohl]

Well ladies we have some progress, I think! Two nights in a row she has been in her crib! And just last week she wouldn't even touch the crib, she'd just scream for hours on end!

Night 1:

Did not put her into her crib until 12:00 AM. She slept 12:30AM-1:00AM then 1:30AM-4:30AM then 5:30AM-6:30AM.

We had tons of naps yesterday, she was so tired. All in all, it was a very tiring night but to be expected as was the first night. I had to keep going in every once in a while to give her the soother but I think the first night went pretty well.

Night 2:

She slept 8:45PM-3:30AM in her crib. Then she fell back asleep 4AM-6:25AM and is now up for the day.

I must say she did alot better than the first night. Again, she still was fussing for her soother but all in all, another great night. And this was on top of teething really badly. She would have been asleep since 8:15PM but her gummies were really bothering her so I had to medicate her with tylenol and some teething gel. But I think she was exhausted from the first night in her crib.

I don't think the tylenol helped her sleep longer, because it never makes her drowsy. I think (and hope) that she is adjusting to her crib because she no longer screams the place down causing herself to vomit. So I am happy with this

Anyhow, I just wanted to leave my message here and hope that someone realizes that even with the worst baby for self settling and clinging to their mama there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[Aimee1003]

Everything I have read on CIO and CC States you should not use it for night wakings-only bedtime and eventually naps.

 

[overcomer79]

Everything I have read on CIO and CC States you should not use it for night wakings-only bedtime and eventually naps.

True. I put Ginny down for bed last night and she laid awake for a few minutes then talked herself to sleep. I KNOW I am doing what is right for her. She is easily stimulated and with us working, she wants to go to bed as soon as we get home so we hardly see her. She wakes at night we always go in to her. She won't take naps even at her young age.

 

[lysh]

Everything I have read on CIO and CC States you should not use it for night wakings-only bedtime and eventually naps.

I am not sure about CIO, but Ferber's book says differently for CC. However, I think it is trickier to implement because the baby could be wet/dirty, needs to burp, has gas pains, teething pain, is hungry etc. You really have to know why LO is waking up. It obviously will depend on the baby/situation.

BTW- How is progress or lack of going for those implementing it? We are on hold as LO has a small cold, so she is still staying in bed with me.

 

[Noelle610]

Everything I have read on CIO and CC States you should not use it for night wakings-only bedtime and eventually naps.

In Dr. Weissbluth's "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" he does recommend CIO or CC for night wakings. It is a bit confusing, however, because he also advocates one or two night feeds until 9 months. So essentially you're supposed to go to your child when you think they're hungry, but not at other times.

 

[lysh]

Everything I have read on CIO and CC States you should not use it for night wakings-only bedtime and eventually naps.

In Dr. Weissbluth's "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" he does recommend CIO or CC for night wakings. It is a bit confusing, however, because he also advocates one or two night feeds until 9 months. So essentially you're supposed to go to your child when you think they're hungry, but not at other times.

You are right, he does too. Same with Ferber, except he feels babies can sttn without feedings at a younger age. I say depends on the baby- mine will need to be fed, but then again she is only just about 4 months. I am hoping to get to a point where I can at least space them out by 3 hours during the night before returning to work. I can deal with that....every 1-2 hours is a bit rough.

 

[lozza1uk]

Well we wimped out of starting! But he actually had a better night than usual - i've given up dairy and seems to be having an impact. I did try and put him in his cot not quite asleep and I think that may also have helped (he was 99% there, but was probably aware of being put down, so knew where he was when he woke? Who knows!)

 

[Aimee1003]

Our progress is amazing. Went from waking 5 times a night to 2 times last night-1 of which he self settled. Also last night, night 4 of CC, he fell asleep with less than a minute of crying.

As posted above, I only do CC at bedtime. I go to him during the night.

 

[DaisyBee]

Aimee - where have you read that cc isn't to be used in the night? I had not heard that before, and I've read quite a few different sleep books.

When we did cc with Megan at 13 months she wasn't eating at night at all anymore. By her choice, but she was waking crying wanting me to rock her. Me having her self soothe at bedtime only to go rock her in the middle of the night vs doing cc again then wouldn't have made much sense?

I did cc in the night with Jordan after her bedtime and naps were perfect. She stopped drinking any of her am bottle and was waking up Megan every single night at 3 am and megan wasnt able to fall back asleep. So I gradually offered her less oz. Then when she had been on 2oz for over a week I did cc. She then was sleeping through after that and willing to drink her morning bottle and Megan was able to sleep as well. She has been waking again for bottles after she was sick last month and now after dropping a nap she has dropped a bottle during the day which she needed yet, so she is taking that at night. So right now she is having a night feed again until I can figure out how to get her to take an additional bottle during the day ( she won't drink a bottle unless in a dark room with no distractions).

Eta - lysh - Jordan is still setting every night with no crying. She sleeps well at night in her crib. She woke last night twice, first time was crying but settled herself within 2 minutes, the other time she was escalating around 2am and I fed her 4oz. I typically wait 5 minutes at night to see if she is settling down or getting more upset. Unless she has a pain cry ( burp). I have a video monitor which is awesome. I can see if her eyes are open, if she is squirming, if she seems to be settling ( putting her head to the side ) it's helpful for me knowing when to go in and when it's better to wait another minute to see. She is napping 2 naps a day usually 1 1/2 - 2hrs each. She settles for each with no crying. If she is overtired when she falls asleep for a nap she will wake after a sleep cycle but she is able to put herself back to sleep without crying.

 

[libbylou]

We had a bit of a setback and LO went from 1-2 hour naps to 20-30 min naps and was waking every 2-3 hours instead of going 5-6 hours...but turns out she was busy busting out two teeth so pretty understandable!
She's settling back into a good sleep routine again though

Still no crying at bedtime, she just rolls on her tummy and passes out. She hasn't cried at bedtime in over a week
Naptime is sort of 50/50 as to whether she will go down without a fuss or if she will fuss for a bit. Sometimes she'll play and talk in her crib for 15-20 mins then cry/whinge for a couple mins before sleeping. Sometimes I still have to go in and settle her if she starts to get upset
We don't do CC when she has night wakings, as she comes to bed with us after her initial waking. But if she wakes at night (as she tends to wake slightly nearly every light sleep cycle) I do let her fuss for a couple mins as she often puts herself back to sleep

 

[lysh]

Glad to hear, that other than teething issues, there is still progress for most!! We were going to start last night, but LO was still getting over a cold. I will see how she is today, if there is a hint of a cold we will wait until next weekend. I at least got her in her crib for an hour and 45 minute stretch at the beginning if the night. She did not self settle, she fell asleep nursing, but I am at least trying to get her use to waking up in her crib like my pedi advised.

 

[DaisyBee]

Jordan always has shorter naps when her teeth are bugging her, it's one of her biggest teething signs.

Last night she had more bedtime bottle then ever and didn't want a bottle til 7am. She was crying around midnight but coughed as well so I went down vs waiting as was thinking maybe burp and I was right. I burped her, cuddled her for a bit and put her back down and she went to sleep without crying.

 

[megangrohl]

So any tips to get Lily to not use her soother? She is used to her crib now, but wants her soother every 30-45 minutes from 11pm-7am and I can't do it. Please somebody help me it's one thing after the other

 

[Aimee1003]

I use www.troublesometots.com They have a lot of info on CC and CIO. Their philosophy completely aligned with mine.

 

[libbylou]

megangrohl - our girls are only 4 days apart

LO wouldn't ever take a soother, but I've heard it suggested that you can pop the soother in for a min or two and let her suck, then take it away. Put it back in and repeat if she starts to get upset...and repeat as necessary. It will take some time but the idea is to let her soothe with the pacifier but not fall asleep with it so she learns to settle without and you don't have to replace it a million times a night
Or if she can find it herself, I've heard some moms say they just leave a bunch of soothers in the crib so LO can easily find one

 

[DaisyBee]

We took Jordans away at bedtime and had her cc without it. The nights I've given it to her forgetting ( as I still had given her one for naps) she woke up a lot. If she fell asleep the first time of the night without it, then she didn't need it at all during the night.

Megan I was up every hr finding her a pacifier. I had many in her crib, but at this age she wasn't all over her crib yet. Jordan isn't either. She doesn't roll in her crib, she will lay on her side at times, but mostly all on her back and she doesn't scoot around in her crib either, Megan did a bit of that. I would put megans pacifiers in the corners of her crib. I used a mesh bumper and that kept them from falling to the floor. So at least at night I could find them. And I kept showing her where they were and eventually she was able to look for them there as well.

 

[emsie_123]

Just a quick one to add my experience.

LO was sleeping to 4-5 every morning and then came to bed with me to nurse because, lets face it, nobody should be up at that hour!

It slooooovly started to be earlier and earlier, hour by hour. It ended up with LO sleeping to 10pm and then wanted bed with me. In the end, I just took her to bed straight away. She then started to wake up through the night every hour, being upset if she wasnt on the boob. I had become a human pacifier!

We went on like this for about a month with me getting aprox 3 hour sleep per night.

I told my mum who asked me how long the baby cries if I leave her to cry in the evening and I said I didnt know as I never tried cc. She told me to give it a go cos now my (then) 7 month baby wont know HOW to fall sleep without boob!

First evening. Bath, bottle, bed. Laid her down and walked out with the baby monitor. She cried (without tears) for 5 nins, i went back and picked her up for a quick cuddle. Told her nightnight sleepy time, walked out. I had to repeate this 3 times and she was fast asleep. She slept through the night!

Next evening, same thing.
Next evening, only had to go in twice
Next evening, only had to go in once.
Next evening, when being put down, she just looks at me really calm and turns to her side and falls asleep.

From 3 hours sleep to being able to do my thing in the evening and sleep to about 6-7 is AMAZING! fan of CC or not, a few tears by herself for a few days whilst "learning" to selfsettle, is in my books much more better than tears all through out the night with mommy.

good luck ladies

 

[Boo44]

Hi girls! Am looking for your advice on whether my situation is suitable for CC now...

My LO slept through from 14 weeks which was when we finally stopped his dream feed. He's 20 weeks now. Before he slept 8pm til around 6.30, and wed give his dummy and he'd most usually go back until half 7.

We have always cuddled to sleep after his last bottle and put him down asleep. I have always known this is risky (!) but as he slept through I've left it as it is. He sucks his dummy to sleep but usually spits it out, and like I say, hadnt woken for it until we gave him it in the morning

Thing is he's really not so bad still but I do think I need to teach him to self settle on a night. He still goes down around 8pm and since the clock change tends to wake around 5.30am but now takes a few goes of settling before he'll go back to sleep

Do you think I should start putting him down awake on a night? Would that maybe help him at 5.30 to settle? I don't want to go through it if this isn't the type of situation it would help with!

Edit - he can self settle with his dummy lying on our bed, he does it every morning for his nap and hardly whimpers xxx