Friday, March 20, 2009

CIO

(I didn't do a SPD post, even though we went to an awesome kids party,
so I will slowly feed you pictures from SPD, one post at a time)

One of my MOM friends had a post about CIO (crying it out) yesterday.

Coincidentally, today I decided it was time Ethan was NOT swaddled during nap and night time (well, we will do night time after nap time is conquered). I mean, he IS four months old as of Wednesday and he IS 17.5 lbs...he's busting out of even the best of swaddles some nights(I can swaddle like a rock star, too, thanks to Miss MawMaw blankets) and that is waking him up which in turn is waking me up and making me UNhappy. Meaning...CIO is coming into play once again at our house...Round Three, the FINAL CIO Countdown.

So, today, I laid him down in his bed around 12:15...no swaddling, no swinging (I think we will keep using the swing sometimes, but not always). He was tired because he kept falling asleep while eating, but he was awake.

So far (and it's only been 45 minutes or so but now might be my only time to blog) he has slept restlessly...he'll let out a whimper here, a cry there, but so far there have been no mass hysterics. I am thinking I will let the whimpering go on for a while longer because it is not constant and it is not driving me bonkers...however, if he is not OUT by about 1:30, I might throw him in the swing so he gets a good nap and is not Mr. Cranky Pants tonight for Bart (Brennan and I have a church thing).

Okay...it's One p.m. now and there is no more whimpering.

I will go ahead (jinxing myself, I am sure) and say "Day One, Nap One" is a success. A little premature, yes, but I have laundry to switch out (tomorrow is laundry day and when you see my post about Brennan and Legos, you will see it takes two days for one day of folding) and a kitchen to straighten, so I am OUT.


What's your opinion? Do you let your babies CIO or do you hold them until sleep falls upon their sweet baby head every time? Let me know, but don't be a jerk about your opinions, or I will stick Megan on you as retaliation.


UPDATED: It is now 1:38 and he is crying (madly) right now...hmmm...

UPDATE #2: He stopped all whimpering and mad man crying by 2 and is still sleeping. I hold to my success for day one.

10 Words to brighten my day:

Cathi said...

I'm all for letting them cry it out - I do reach a point (after about an hour of crying) when I can't take it anymore, but usually I'm okay with some tears. David is not though, he'll rush in there at the slightest little whimper, so CIO is not a viable option when he's home.

Cathi said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lexi said...

Well, since Peyton has always been whiny and always cried a LOT {and not because he was colicky, just 'cause}, it didn't bother me AT ALL to let him cry it out sometimes because I needed a break too!

He actually caught on really fast about where he was to sleep-in HIS crib... {sorry, no co-sleeping here!} and after he too began busting out of his swaddles and I knew he had gotten enough to eat for the night then it was all over {as far as going in after it was bed time}.

Since we trained him so well, he sleeps REALLY well now. I always feel bad when I hear other Mom's say that they have to go in two or three times at night when their kid is Peyton's age!

With the exception of him once in a blue moon waking up from nightmares or night terrors, he sleeps through the night {by himself} or if he does wake up, he doesn't bother us and goes right back to sleep.

I've never been the type of Mom to rock or snuggle my child to sleep but then again, I didn't come from a touchy, feely, lovey, huggy house either. I am affectionate with Peyton but when it's time for bed, it's time for bed already! Mom needs a break too!

Then again, we'll see if that works with Chloe... because every kid is different and maybe Peyton was just a lucky fluke!

Unknown said...

Phew! I'm glad I'm past all that with ours :-)

Jessica, this is a long shot, but I'm wondering if you can please help me out with something.

I was just on LDSlistings.blogspot.com and tried 3 times to leave the comment copied below. But it never showed up and I can't see how to contact the person running it.

Since your comment worked, I wonder if you wouldn't mind copying and pasting mine onto the page for me?? You could explain what happened to me if you like. Thanks so much if you can do this. Here's what I tried sending.

Your button is now on my blog in the right hand column, above my Favorite Links.

Thanks so much for creating this blog. And thanks for adding me in - I hope :-) I'm at http://www.annebradshaw.blogspot.com

It is good to have a way of getting word out about the weekly give-aways on my blog.

Megan R. said...

Well, since I'm the post you referred to, clearly I am pro CIO, and con Stupid Rude Know It Alls! I think CIO is great, to a point. I wouldn't let him cry to the point of making himself sick, or cry because he needed something. But C is a kid who seems to relieve tension from a few minutes of crying. Sometimes he will just scream for 5 minutes, then be all smiles. Just has to get it out of his system I guess! I'm glad it's working for you so far! We tried to break the swaddling, but it got worse every night, so we backed off. Well try again in a few weeks. He is barely crammed into the swaddle me blanket!

Julie said...

Well heck, I'm no expert...you gotta do what works for you and your kid. I do know looking at that pic he's a super cutie! Thanks for stopping by my blog :)

Unknown said...

I guess I'm all alone here in the anti-CIO department. I'm not here to be a stupid rude know it all, just to put my opinion in like everyone else. Everyone can do whatever works for them and their children. Being married to an infant mental health counselor, and having other personal reasons for the opinion, I choose to snuggle and rock my babies until they go to sleep. They're only this small and cuddly for a short time and one day they'll be too cool for me, so I choose to soothe them to sleep myself. We have no trouble with bedtime now. They both sleep in their own beds until the sun comes up (that's our rule). I was lucky with both Ayden and Ian as infants. Once they were asleep, they stayed that way all night, or at least 6 hours, at a very early age.

Stacy Hutchinson said...

That was me, not Josh. I didn't know he invaded the computer while I stepped away for a few minutes!

Anonymous said...

I'm not very good at the CIO method either. After everything Leo has went through I don't like hearing him cry when I know it only takes about 5 min of cuddling to put him to sleep when he's tired. There are nights when he's over tired and he doesn't want to be held that I can just lay him down, turn on his rainforest friends and leave the room for five min and he's out. I'm working on getting rid of the two am feeding. Most nights I can just reach into his crib and give him his bink and he's happy. Other nights I can hear the poor kids stomach growling so I feed him. I hope CIO works for you; and you and Ethan can get the sleep you need.

The Rambler said...

I sucked big time at the CIO method. BIG TIME.

BUT usually only several minutes of soothing paid off plus the little one was a really good baby when it came to sleeping. Not too much trouble.

Visiting from SITS to say welcome and hello :)