Should I use CIO?

[faithwalkin]

My son is 9 weeks and 12lbs. He currently goes down awake and puts himself to sleep, he wakes up 2 times a night wanting to eat. At least he does in the bassinet in our room. We are moving and I am trying to get him to sleep in his crib ready for the new house. He wants no part of it! I put him down in his crib and he lays there for about 5 mins then throws a huge fit and will not settle down. I have let him cry for about 10mins before but not any longer. I don't mind getting up in the middle of the night for the feedings, I just want him to sleep in his crib the way he does in the bassinet. I have heard if you do the CIO you have to do it EVERY time. So, I have to let him cry it out the entire night without letting him get up for the feedings. Is this true? Any other ideas on what to do?

[mommy2b87]

I wish I knew the answer to that, I'm sorry I can't help you. My daughter is 8 weeks, and she falls fast asleep after her last nighttime bottle and doesn't wake up until 5 in the morning, bottle, then back to sleep til 8/9! I guess I'm lucky!

[cay8099]

I'm guessing here that after the feeding you should lay him back down, and let him CIO. I did CIO with both of my boys, but I waited until they were sleeping through the night. I would adjust the CIO method and let him CIO the first time, at bed time. While rocking him back to sleep after his night time feedings. This could work for you because it will teach him that the crib is his bed; which is what you want.

[eniese]

What they mean by doing CIO every time is that when you lay him down in the crib for bed, you let him CIO. If he wakes to eat, by all means feed him. After he's done let him CIO to get back to sleep. CIO is usually recommended for slightly older babies (3-4 months), but could still be appropriate for your younger one. Have you tried putting him in the crib after his middle of the night feedings? If he's pretty much asleep, maybe he'll stay down and it could help him get used to the crib.

[cay8099]

I thought about your post a little more and I'm thinking this might work for you if you want to try it. A different room, a different bed, and mommy's not there. So you could try moving the bassinet into his room, and laying on the floor until he's asleep. After he's used to his room; nove him to the crib and lay on the floor until he's asleep. Move a little closer to the door each night until you are nolonger in the room. It should help him get used to the change without a lot of crying. Good luck.

[djasinski]

I just started CIO with my 12 week old. I hold her and put her to sleep then lay her down she cried 10 minutes the first night. The second night I did the same thing and she cried for 15 minutes. I went in her room picked her up, calmed her then put her back down. She fell asleep. She wakes up at 4 or 6 am (depending on how much formula she had at bed time). I get her up to eat then same routine again. Good Luck

[Bec caV]

He may not be ready for the crib yet. Some babies need the womb like experience for awhile.
But if you really want him in the crib, I would think cay's suggestion is best. Ease him into it.

I'm not a CIO person, I refuse to do it (my husband on the other hand is... can we say marital strife on that one?). However, CIO is a quicker method, so if you want to do it fast, that's the way to go... I guess.
I didn't have to really transition my son into sleeping in the crib, we had a Moses basket rather than a bassinet for him and had it in his crib, he never slept in our room. So when I ditched the basket, he had no problems with the crib, he was already used to the crib (that's why I'm thinking cay's suggestion might work the best). Just keep in mind, when you move, the change is going to set back everything. A new environment might freak him out.

I did, however, have a problem with my son going to sleep at night. He fought it like the devil. It took awhile, I didn't get much rest and was frazzled for a long while, but when he cried, I'd go in his room, pick him up (see if he needed burped), rocked him back to sleep. If he woke up again (which he did), I'd pop the pacifier in his mouth (over and over, he never cared much for pacifiers at first, I ended up training him into one with all of this, but he still won't keep it in his mouth on the first few tries), and 'shhing' him. We established a shhing sound as a comfort sound with him, so when I do it, he knows everything is okay, until he fell back asleep. Then pull out the pacifier (he'll cry if it falls out of his mouth, but not if you pull it out), leave the room, and do it all again when he'd cry again.

I will admit I spent a lot of time sitting next to the crib calming him down with the pacifier and the shhing, but as time went by, he started learning to fall asleep on his own as well as falling asleep on the first time I put him down (sometimes the second, but usually it's he needs a burp if he wakes up after I put him down, then he goes to sleep). I just didn't give up. It takes a long time, but it worked. He never had to cry for more than a minute... only that long if I was doing something I couldn't drop right away (like in the bathroom or something).