15-month-old too old for CIO?

[sads]

I've tried everything I can to avoid using CIO, but am ready to admit defeat! I'm now considering Ferber, but am not sure if DD is too old for it. At 15 months, she's so much more aware of her surroundings than she was even a few months ago - I feel like at this point it actually might be traumatic! Has anyone started CIO/Ferber with a baby at 15+ months?

[chozen]

not sure what cio is.

[chozen]

whats going on that you feel like you need to let your child cry?

[arivecchi]

I'm so sorry you are in this position! I think it does get harder to do CIO when they are older. I have sometimes let DS1 cry it out a bit when he wakes at night and it has not been very successful. He is normally a pretty good sleeper (did CIO at 3.5 months), so we don't really push it anymore. What my DH does now is try to do a really fun bedtime routine for him, like reading fun stories and kidding around with him at bedtime. They do the same stuff every night and he seems to enjoy the fact that he knows what will happen every night. He rarely wakes up when we follow the routine. Maybe try something similar? Good luck. I feel for you.

[sads]

We've tried routines, but things aren't getting much better. Basically, DD goes to bed around 7:30, and usually the waking begins around 9ish. She wakes up crying, will only go to sleep on my chest, and then when I roll her back onto the bed she's up again about 20 minutes later. This pretty much goes on all night, and the sleep I do get is while she's on my chest. But, it's gotten to the point that I'm so exhausted that I'm not always aware that she's there, which is just dangerous! She's never been a good sleeper, but this routine's been going on for about 2 months. She's not teething, no growth spurt, etc. The ped suggested cutting her down to one nap, which I did, but it hasn't affected her nighttime waking. I tried the Pantley book, with no luck. If someone has ideas other than CIO, I'm very willing to listen, but at this point that's seeming like my only option!

[arivecchi]

With that fact pattern, I think I would try CIO then. She seems to have gotten used to her new "routine" of sleeping on your chest. They do get tired when you let them CIO. Just make sure you keep an eye on her if the crying continues for too long or you can hear that she is very upset. They can throw up sometimes because they get so upset. Hopefully, someone else on this board can offer other advice as well.

P.S. What about getting her a new blanket or safe stuffed animal for her to sleep with? Is she sleeping in her crib? Once my DS was 18months, I put the bumper pads in the crib so he would not wake himself up after hitting the sides (he moves a lot). It works in our case because he sleeps with a sleepsack and cannot jump from the crib (he's never even tried). He started really enjoying his crib once we did that and got him a Thomas fleece blanket that he loves.

[jgenie]

:hug: I could have written your post and probably have many times in the past. I don't know if CIO will work at that age, but my 16 mo DS just started STTN about 3 weeks ago. He slept till 5:15 one night and has worked up to 6:15. That night was the 1st time we put him in a sleep sack. I don't know if that was the trick, but he'll be sleeping in them till he's 18 now! :) :hug: I hope you find something that works. I know how tough it is to be at the end of your rope.

[jellibeans]

I am thinking that it sounds like she is in a routine of waking up and knows that if she cries, you will let her sleep on your chest. I think that CIO is the only way. I am NOT an advocate of CIO with infants, but at 16 months, she knows enough. Maybe put a shirt that you have worn that smells like you in with her in her crib. Or try to get her used to a "lovie" or blanket or something else that will help her to feel secure.
I am so sorry that you are having this problem and I know that listening to your little baby cry is not fun! It's that motherly instinct that wants our children to be safe and not cry! Good luck!

[nemawei]

Subbing ... I am in this exact place...DD is also 15 months old.

[mimi2008]

i did CIO with DS at 15mo. He was sleeping thru the night until he got sick with croup and we babied him, messed up our sleep routine. We tried ferber but everytime we went back in, he cried even harder. We decided it was actually less draining if we just let him CIO without going in every 5-10 minutes. It took an hour the first time, but sure enough, every night, it was less and less crying.

did CIO with ODS at 6mo. He would cry even after feeding, burping,diaper change and holding him. Finally, I'd just put him down because I couldn't do anything else.

CIO is very emotionally draining. I was glad that my DH is so supportive and together, we stayed up during the CIO periods or else, I probably would've gone running back in there.

[sads]

Thankfully, I have a happy update :) After we got back home last week (DH was deployed, we were at my mom's for 5 months) I started putting DD in her own bed in her own room - up until now, she's always slept in my bed. I had tried transferring her to another room at my mother's house, but she didn't take too well to that. For some reason, she's all about it now! She's sleeping so much better, and only wakes up once at night to drink milk (the next thing I'll be working on!) Otherwise, when she has started grunting or let out a cry I've run to her room only to find that she's already back to sleep. :yay:

I don't know if I'll still have to do a bit of CIO to get rid of the bottle, but for now it's not on the table - which is good, because I'm pretty sure I didn't have it in me! I do still put her to sleep on the front end, basically lying with her until she falls asleep. She keeps trying to get up so sometimes I have to hold her in my arms and she does cry a bit, but that type of crying I can live with.

[MCsMom]

Glad to hear it's better!
Just FYI, DD is just about 9 months old and has slept through the night at 6 weeks. She got all messed up with an ear infection at 6 1/2 months and her sleeping just worsened after that. I started nursing her to sleep again when she got sick and sometimes she would stay asleep but more often wake up 2 hours after going down and we would have to start the process all over again. There were times when I would hold her and try to get her to sleep and she would be in my arms for 4-5 hours. I was a wreck!
We didn't do CIO. I have a friend who is RIE certified and she guided me to what we are doing now. There is a routine but it varies depending on how DD is feeling.
6: 00 dinner, 7-7:30 bath time with Dad (I am there the whole time to rinse out the tub, help with dressing her etc.), after her bath, she nurses. If she falls asleep, don't sneak her into bed but quietly place her in it, talking to her softly and telling her that I am putting her in bed. If she is awake, we read 3 or so books, again I am reminding her that she is going to bed. I place her in bed and the first time, she cried to be picked up but I didn't. I stayed with her, rubbed her back, talked to her gently and eventually she fell asleep (I will pick her up if she works herself up to a really hard cry but I will still put her back in the crib when she calms down). I only leave the room when she is fast asleep. The more we did this, she got more familiar and placing her in the crib is not the cry-fest it used to be. She also falls asleep faster now. We also started her whole routine earlier than we used to, made a big difference. We were bathing her at 8-8:30 because she was always a late sleeper but I guess she was ready to go to bed earlier and I just didn't figure it out.
This is what's working for now.
I hope that helps!