If you didn't do CIO with your DC

[jgenie]

how old are they now and how well do they sleep? DS is 2 and STTN at 15 months. He has finally started to realize when he is tired and is willing to go in his crib. :) We didn't do CIO and don't plan to. Just wondering how things change as DC grow older. TIA

[Tondi G]

we didn't do CIO with our boys. They are now 8 and 4 and sleep like LOGS! You can drop a bomb in their room and they don't wake up. Sometimes my 4 year old will wake in the middle of the night but all he does is come wandering into my room... I run him down the hall to go pee and then we climb into my bed and he is back out in a flash! For everything that DS#1 put us through he is a fantastic sleeper now. He has fallen out of bed a couple of times and didn't even remember in the morning thats how sound he sleeps! LOL

[belovedgandp]

I was never one to let my kids fuss at night. My rule was if they woke me (I never used a monitor), I'd go to the bathroom. If they hadn't quieted down after that I went to them. Almost always me; I'm a SAHM and EBF. Once weened or if I'd been up recently, I'd kick DH to go instead.

DS1 is almost 6. He did not sleep through the night until 13 1/2 months and then did so basically every night since unless sick. He was always an inconsistent napper though and stopped napping completely at 26 months.

DS2 is 2 1/2. Once he did sleep through the night he did it every single night, but not until 17 1/2 months. Much better napper and super easy to put to bed compared to his brother.

[smilequeen]

Mine are 2.5 and 5. They sleep together. My 5 year old is the worse sleeper of the two. Once or twice a week he has a bad dream and climbs in our bed. Usually his brother sleeps all night. I still sit in the room while they fall asleep. It takes 15 minutes or so. I catch up on email while they go to sleep :) I could probably transition away from it, but I don't mind it so I haven't tried.

[nov04]

dd1 sstn at 10m, but even today still has a sip of water sometimes at night. Every few months she goes through times where she'll insist on sleeping downstairs with us. Because of her neuro history (she does things differently sometimes) and she's usually a good sleeper, we go with it.

dd2 sstn at 18m and finally gave up the bottle. She's just always been a bigger eater and that's fine. She moans a little at night needing her kitty, soother or blanket. Not enough to be an issue.

The kids fall asleep with us at night and then we put them to bed. It's not typical but since all of us are fine with it as a family and I know we'll transition eventually to other things.

[firsttimemama]

We haven't done CIO or any sleep training. DS is 2. We are nightweaning this week. I wouldn't say he's a good sleeper. Does it make me wish we'd done CIO? No.

[egoldber]

I've never done CIO or sleep training.

Sarah is 8 and is and has always been a great sleeper. Easy to put to bed at night, napped easily and sleeps like a log. As in, I can put laundry away in her room after she goes to sleep at night.

Amy is 3.25 and has recently become a decent sleeper. She was a slight preemie (34 weeks), with reflux, slow weight gain and just very high needs. Even if I believed in CIO, I wouldn't have done it with her because she simply needed me. She is still a light sleeper, but in the last 6 months she has started consistently sleeping through the night most nights. It was a long road, but we can now easily put her down at night and she goes to sleep on her own.

[vludmilla]

We did not do CIO and 3 year old DD sleeps beautifully. No problems.

[JTsMom]

We did not do CIO, and DS has always been a great sleeper, except for a few small rough patches, which were always short-lived. The challenge with him is getting him to settle down enough to go to sleep! Once he's asleep though, he's out.

[doberbrat]

we are anti CIO

dd self night-weaned at 2 and was sttn by then. we then moved her to her crib - no issues - were still nursing to sleep. by 3 she stopped needing to nurse to sleep. we'd read a story, rub her back and say goodnight. end of story. she's 4 now and still sleeping well. she gets up during the night, goes potty, washes her hands and goes back to her bed.

[pastrygirl]

I didn't do CIO with my older son. He started STTN at 11 months old and started falling asleep on his own for naps at 13 months. I don't remember when he started falling asleep on his own for bedtime. He's been a fabulous sleeper all along, even when I had to rock/nurse him for an hour when he was a baby.

My baby is 4 months old and is NOT a good sleeper! I will not be doing CIO with him, either... I hope he turns into a good sleeper in the next few months. I hear horror stories about 3-year-olds that still don't STTN.

[Cuckoomamma]

Our girls are 8.5 and 4.5. We nursed for a really really long time :-). Both are great sleepers now and only wake up to go to the bathroom (younger one).

[mommylamb]

We didn't do Cry It Out, but I would have considered Ferber (which isn't really pure CIO) had we needed to. DS is 2.5, but ever since about 6 months of age he's been really easy to put down to sleep. Knock on wood, but after his bedtime routine, I just put him in his crib (yes, we're still in the crib, why mess with something that's working?) and he turns over and goes to sleep on his own.

[almostamom]

We did not do CIO. DS started sleeping through the night at 4 mos. He falls asleep fine, but he started having issues staying asleep at about 3.5. He gets up and comes to sleep with me, but then falls right back asleep. I don't mind. He just doesn't want to be alone.

Linda

[Raidra]

All three kids sleep really well (6, 4, 1.5). Sometimes Fiona will stay up late talking to herself and trying to wake up the boys, but they sleep right through it. She's in a trundle in their room right now. Once she's asleep, she's out for the night pretty much. Once in a great while she'll wake and ask for a bottle, all we do is hand it to her and leave and she's fine. Occasionally the boys will wake with a bad dream, but that's pretty rare. The boys zonk out pretty much as soon as their heads hit their pillows.

We never did CIO. The closest to it was with Colwyn.. he started really resisting when we'd try to rock him to sleep around 8 months, and once out of frustration I put him down in his crib while I went to the bathroom. He fussed for maybe a minute, but by the time I flushed the toilet, he was asleep. After a few more episodes like that (with him barely fussing for a minute, then falling asleep), we'd just put him down after a book, song, and cuddle, and he'd go right to sleep without a peep. I never planned to do that, but I figured the way he was resisting rocking so strenuously, he was telling me he just wanted peace and quiet while he drifted off.

We're big believers in paying attention to our kids cues and following their leads. It hasn't failed us yet. :)

[brgnmom]

we didn't use the CIO technique, and my son is 3.5 years old and he sleeps really well through the night. He only wakes up when he needs to use the bathroom.

[luza]

We didn't do CIO. Until we weaned at 1 1/2 years DD would wake up for a night feeding. Since she gotten bigger she's been a great sleeper, although she still wakes up sometimes to go to the bathroom if she has had too much to drink before bed. I only know this because after she washes her hands she comes to our bed and promptly falls back to sleep for the rest of the night. She says she likes our duvet better and "likes having company." We have a king sized bed so we don't mind (and she's a great little heater for me when DH is away on trips).

[wendibird22]

We didn't do CIO. DD1 sttn at 21mos when we night weaned. She sleeps like a rock for both nap and night time and she never fights going to bed at either time. She'll also lie awake and sing or play with a toy until we come get her and really has no problem just hanging out in bed.

[caleymama]

We did not do CIO or other sleep training.

DD1 did not sttn until she stopped eating at night, right at about a year. She did however, eat and go back to sleep at night easily until then. She had her blankie and we'd put her down drowsy and she'd go to sleep on her own. Now at age 7, she likes to listen to some quiet music while she falls asleep and she still goes to sleep fine (most nights!) but is up for something often. I hear her get up and go to the bathroom or she comes down to see me b/c of a dream, needing help with her covers, etc. She's a more keyed up kid and will go right back to sleep but just needs to touch base.

DD2 is a snuggler. Always has been. We've always joked that DD1 had her blankie and DD2 has me. She'd nurse to sleep and after that she went through a phase of being walked or held to sleep. Once asleep, though, she is good for the night so I didn't mind a little extra to get her there. Since about 2 she goes to sleep fine in her own bed and is a sound sleeper. When she's ready for bed she's *ready* and goes right to sleep. Poor DD1 (they share a room) is always asking, "how come DD2 can fall asleep so easily?" She very rarely gets up at night.

[mominmarch]

We did do Ferber at various times when my daughter was 7 months, then again at a year. She would go through difficult sleep stages every time she had a developmental milestone (7 months: standing in crib, 1 year: walking). We didn't do it for sleep issues after that though b/c I knew that she did know how to put herself to sleep.

That being said, she is nearly 3 years old and still comes into our bed every night starting around 1 pm for the rest of the night, and still wants milk ususally at that time. We are going to probably look into some sleep training because I haven't slept through more than a handful of nights since she was born (and then before that, I had pregnancy insomnia) and I have read about all the ill-effects that sleep deprivation can have on women. So 3 years into it, I am ready to start sleeping through the night myself!

[misshollygolightly]

We never really did CIO, and I BF until about 18m. DS was a TERRIBLE sleeper--up multiple times every night to nurse or whatever, but then magically started STTN pretty much every night when he turned 11-12 months. It was amazing! Now, at 19 months, he's still STTN with absolutely no problems.