When to Cry it Out?

[Louise1001]

Weissbuth says to wait until 4 months before CIO. Has anyone tried it earlier? Would that be bad for my DD? My DD is now 10 weeks old (very fussy baby)and we were thinking about trying it at 3 months. She is very hard to put down to sleep at night. We usually have to rock her for over one hour to get deep sleep, otherwise she wakes up when we try to put her down. Nursing used to work, but not anymore. Usually we start her bedtime routine around 7:30, but she may not go down until 9:30. And she sometimes wakes up an hour later, and we have to "start over." She is also difficult to put down for naps. I feel that DD doesn't know how to self soothe at all. And it is frustrating when all our soothing methods don't work, or take soooo long to work! I did not originally want to do CIO, but now we are getting very tired out from the process of getting DD to sleep. Help!

[Calla]

I waited until 4.5 months to start CIO - that was when my daughter started to reject the swaddle, was able to bring her hands to her mouth reliably, and when she could roll over in a controlled manner. Before then she had very few resources to make herself comfortable and really needed the help from mom and dad.

Have you tried swaddling? Pacifiers? Swings? That is how I survived, but every baby is different.

If you have trouble getting your baby to stay in a regular receiving blanket swaddle, I highly recommend the Miracle Blanket (http://store.babycenter.com/product/furniture_bedding/bedding_blankets/receiving_blankets/7081?binky=CON%3ASERC%3APROD%3A1)

[daisy1234]

I would wait ...she is too young. My baby was just liked you described...hard to put down....period! I was sooo stressed out....See my other post. I recommend Familysleep.com
I paid for a 1 hour phone consult...I think it was $75...it was well worth the money...Deb gave a lot of good ideas. It was around 10-12 weeks that things got better. She helps get the naps un control...which actually helps the nighttime sleep... Your baby should be taking at least 3 naps a day! If not call Deb! Julia was a different baby when we learned to nap her. There were days where I felt like all I was trying to do is get her to sleep and she would wake the second I would set her down! Babies need our help to learn to sleep...unfortunately it is not so easy for some of us to figure out! But I will tell you...invest in your daughters sleep now...get a phone consult. I hope she writes a book soon! We learned the hard way...we are still having some sleep issues with my son and he is 3.5! Good luck! Hope this helps.

Laura

Ps Deb's used to work with Dr, W....her son was one of Dr. W's patients!