CIO age

[solomonson6910]

My son will be 9 weeks this Thursday. He weighs 15 lbs 9 oz and is over the 95th percentile. I bf and very, very occasionally give formula if someone else is watching him for me and I don't have any EBM.

He doesn't sleep more than 2 hours on average at night. Anywhere from 1.5 - very seldomly 3. I nurse him and put him down again. Today at his WC, his pediatrician told me to try to CIO at night. I was a little shocked because it seems on my research that most peds agree that around 4 months is an ok time to CIO.

Her reasoning is that he's such a big boy and is obviously healthy and thriving, so there should be no reason for him to need nighttime feedings and the only reason he is waking up is because he's now trained to do so. Yes, I have tried to tank him up before putting him down for the night. At best, it gets him 3 hours.

I am just starting a bedtime routine and it is not set in stone, and I do intend to continue to establish a really consistent routine. I can't do it at the same time every night because his feeding isn't 100% consistent - 3-4 hours, occasionally less, occasionally more.

I realize that CIO is a controversial topic on message boards and I have no desire to start a flame war or debate over whether CIO or attachment style is better. I would just like to know if anyone has had any experiences having a baby this young CIO, whether successfully or not. Thank you.

[SnuggleBuggles]

A baby that young is incapable of understanding and being trained, imo. He needs you and it's only a brief phase of life that you will need to have to deal with this sleep schedule. Babies this young are crying because they need something. You never know when a growth spurt is going to happen and you need to plug away at nursing during those times to build up a good supply. He's a good size, as was my little guy at that age, but I weight and size don't = maturity and readiness for sleep training. 6+ months is the age that is more reasonable and more likely to be successful. Ferber used to say 4m but in recent years changed to 6.

Swaddle and a pacifier might buy you a little bit more of a stretch and both would be more developmentally appropriate.

Beth

[slworld]

I am not aganist CIO (we did it when DS was 4 months old) but I am thinking a 9 week old baby is too young for that. Its totally understandable that he is not on a set schedule yet. Also he may be too young to sleep through the night (some do but not all). If you think he is not hungry and only nursing for comfort then maybe you could try giving him a pacifier to see if that would help. Also like OP said swaddling could help. The only way we could get DS to sleep for a very long time was by swaddling him. You can still have a routine for bedtime.

[neeleymartin]

i LOVE cio method. your babe is WAY too young. it's not about size, it's about brain development. wait it out. the nights stink now, but they will get better.

hang in there. :hug:

[rgors]

9 weeks is too young

[firsttimemama]

My opinion is that you got bad advice from your ped. Advice that would make me look for a new one. But it bugs me when adults (or doctors) assume they know why babies are waking up at night. Until your baby can tell you why he's waking up, I don't think you know for sure. Pain? bad dream? Hungry? could be any number of things.

I believe in nighttime parenting.

[jenfromnj]

My opinion is that you got bad advice from your ped. Advice that would make me look for a new one.


I agree with this--I would have been very uncomfortable had my ped suggested CIO when DS was 9 weeks old. In every source I've seen (and we've done tons of research b/c DS has serious sleeping issues), not once have I found that anyone recommended CIO with a baby that young.

DS is 9 months and still not STTN, and was up to BF every 1-2 hours until he was over 3 months old, so I feel your pain! But please hang in there, it will get better.