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Tuesday, August 3, 2010

CIO

oh hey mom, i just napped!

So I know I'm probably jinxing myself by writing about this but it's just too exciting to not share. I've been letting Henry "cry it out" for the past few days and have had absolutely no luck. This kid is the most stubborn baby I've ever met and would just cry and cry and cry, getting himself so worked up that there was no way he was going to comfort himself back to sleep. Granted, I haven't been super good at the whole CIO thing. A few minutes of comfort nursing at three in the morning is so much easier than listening to a screaming baby when all you want to do is sleep.

Okay, so last night at two Henry woke up screaming per usual (I had just fed him half an hour before so I knew he wasn't hungry). I rolled over and switched the baby monitor off in my sleep (yikes!) and woke up to him still crying. I told G I'd give him fifteen more minutes before checking on him. And then guess what happened.

Silence. Complete silence!

AND just a few minutes ago he woke up and as I was headed to his room he put himself to sleep
again.

I'm beginning to see why people tell you to stick with this stuff, even if it is really hard. We could still be in for many long, tiring nights but I'd like to think he's catching on...or maybe he was just getting sick of seeing stressed out/pissed fb updates all. the. time. and decided I needed to mix it up a bit?

15 comments:

Joy said...

YAYAYAYAY!!!
good luck!!

i did it too! and it worked! for the most part, sometimes she'll need a little extra comfort than other times, but keep it up! eventually it will be perfect bliss!

after 2 weeks of it, B falls asleep by herself within a half hour, and doesnt wake up in the middle of the night crying!

I hope I'M not jinxing myself either! haha :)

Jess Craig said...

oh my gosh allie, i am so elated for you! right now i'm sitting on the couch googling "FERBER METHOD" because i need reassurance. wyatt is still getting up every two hours at 10 months old and it's ridiculous. i'm going to hold strong with this CIO thing, but it's so hard for me to imagine wyatt sleeping longer than 2-3 hours straight. WE CAN DO THIS ALLIE. we will KUNG FU these boys into shape.

now i'm just scared on what to do with night time feedings. i'm starting to wonder if it's time to eliminate those too? but i don't know if i should because wyatt doesn't really nurse that much during the day. i don't want to starve my kid, ya know?

Anonymous said...

i always nursed once during the night..but other than that, the CIO method ALWAYS worked for me. i think you're doing a great job! you and jess seem to both be going through it at the same time..so hang in there!! it does and will get easier!

alliehallmarr said...

Joy: This is very encouraging news, thanks!! Two weeks seems like an eternity but at least it (hopefully) results in good sleep for everyone involved.

Jess: Wyatt!! No!! I'm sure this is just a fluke and Henry will be waking up all the time again tomorrow, if not tonight. It's a reassuring break though, for sure. I feel like the whole thing gets even trickier when you are breastfeeding. I'm already so worried that H isn't getting enough food that letting him CIO is even harder. I hear you should pick one (maybe more in your case?) feeding to eliminate and then stick with cutting that one out. Henry wakes at 10ish and then at 3-4 (he's been worse lately) and so I picked weaning him from the four am feeding. It's harder because that's when I really want to be sleeping but in the long run, it will be nice to not have to get up in the middle of the night. I usually don't let him go longer than 5 hours but if he cries anytime before that then I just let him cry. We can do this (I think...) :) Hang in there!

alliehallmarr said...

Thanks Ashley! Yeah, it helps to have someone going through the same thing at the same time. I just commented on giving Henry one feeding at night, so it's good to read that's someone elses method too. Thanks so much!

Brittany said...

Yay! This is the single most terrifying thing about the baby stage for me. I'm so glad it finally started working for you!

Mandy@ a sorta fairytale said...

Yes!! Stick with it!! It worked for our son. Every night he goes down at 9-9:15, he cries for maybe 5-10 minutes and then falls asleep until about 5am. It took a while to be okay with letting him cry a little but so worth it. He only wakes in the night 1-2 times a week, not bad, right?
Hang in there, you're doing so good! :-)

melissa rohr said...

good job mama!
some babies just need to cry themselves to sleep. i watch my nephew and he still cries himself to sleep every time. but, he is always rested, happy, and a bouncing baby.
some good ear plugs or a noisy tv show help :)
and just remind yourself that it is totally safe and the right thing for you guys right now.

erinlucyloves said...

that is so funny we have just started doing this too. last week out of desperation we tried it for the first time. apart from a few hiccups over the past couple of days (i'm blaming the windy weather we're having for milo being a bit unsettled) milo has slept in his own bed, for a solid 12 hours a couple of times now. that is just so amazing and the best part is having time with my husband again, it has been so long since we've been able to have a whole conversation without being interrupted. it's fantastic! fingers crossed it stays working out for both of us!

Katherine said...

Thats great!

Yeah it took at least a good week of both of us crying like crazy, but she finally got it and only about 2x a week wakes up (in which I feed her a bottle) otherwise Everly sleeps through the night from 8pm to 7am.

I switched the monitor off a few times as well. Sometimes you just need to!

I hope everything goes smoothly for the next few days!!

lauren ♥ said...

doing the CIO was seriously the best thing we ever could have done. for us and our son.

my little guy had his days and nights mixed up for his first full year of life. it was awful. i finally had a breakdown at about 15 months and could not take his bad sleeping habits any longer (after i had let it go for soooo long. ugh.) and after we let him cry it out for a few nights, he was sleeping like a champ. it only took about a week to get into a routine. but he was much older than your little henry, so it might be a bit different for you guys. but STICK TO IT!! good luck <3

Jamie said...

so tough. luckily we haven't had to go there yet. but YAY for progress, Henry!

alliehallmarr said...

brittany: don't worry about it too much, when your babies are brand new you will be so distracted by their loveliness that little or no sleep will seem like nothing. as awful as it sounds, you just get used to not sleeping!

Mandy: 1-2 times a week is not bad at all! I think Bennett needs to give Henry a call and tell him whats up!

Melissa: Yes, I have to remind myself of this so much. It's hard to see the light at the end of such a long tunnel...

erinlucyloves: we're in the same boat! yay! i still remember the first night henry slept in his own room. i was so excited that we could walk around and talk and keep the bright light on until super late at night, even though i was sad that henry wasn't right next to my bed anymore. i hope it is going well for you, twelve hours of sleep? all right milo!

katherine: i'd love to be getting that much sleep! i can't wait until this all works itself out! and i'm glad to hear you switched the monitor off as well :)

lauren: i totally get how easy it would be to let it for so long. it's just easier on everyone to calm them the second they are upset. it's really to bad they become so dependent on that (but also awesome that we are such comfort to them!) i'm glad it all worked out for you!

jamie: lucky! is jude still sleeping with you guys? what's his sleeping schedule like?

. said...

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We usually don't ever enter contest's, but we could truly use the college scholarship that's being awarded to the winner.

The link for Adrienne is here:
http://www.gerber.com/photo/?entryid=35926&/#/detail/

Let me know if you do so & if there's anything else we could do for you in return as thanks!


God Bless,
Liz:D

. said...

Could you do us the favor of voting for our daughter Adrienne everyday this month?

We usually don't ever enter contest's, but we could truly use the college scholarship that's being awarded to the winner.

The link for Adrienne is here:
http://www.gerber.com/photo/?entryid=35926&/#/detail/

Let me know if you do so & if there's anything else we could do for you in return as thanks!


God Bless,
Liz:D

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