CIO - once and done? or have to repeat and repeat?

Hello,
I hear many people let their babies cry it out at night and I think that sooner or later (at about 9 month to a year old) I will have to do the same. The constant feeling of tiredness and having to return to work will necessitate it...

In your experience, does the method work once and forever, or do babies start waking up again after sleeping through the night for a number of days/weeks? In effect, do they have to CIO again and again?

Also, what is the earliest time you would feed your baby in the morning assuming he went to bed at 7-8 pm? I read that a 7 am to 7 pm sleeping duration is not umcommon.

Many thanks.
Alex

I did the Ferber method with my son when he was about 4.5 months old. He was sporadically sleeping through the night so I knew he could do it, and he always seemed so happy when he woke up after getting a good night's sleep. I was very hesitant about Ferberizing because I have a terrible time listening to my son cry and I feared that he would be the one little boy the method wouldn't work for. The first night, he cried for 18 minutes and fell asleep, waking twice and going right back to sleep after our first intervention. The second night, he cried for 10 minutes before going to sleep and waking twice, again going right back to sleep. Two months later, he sleeps at least 10-11 hours a night without waking (unless something wakes him or he rolls over on his blanket - in which case we go in, fix his blanket and he goes right back to sleep). Occasionally he's cried before falling asleep or cried for more than 10 minutes if he wakes up in the middle of the night, but that's usually when he's not feeling well (like when he ran a slight fever after shots) or if a noise outside woke him up and scared him. I've heard that major schedule disruptions or travel or illness can throw your child off his sleep rhythms, but usually they bounce right back after a day or two.

As for the feeding, Ryan usually goes to bed between 7:30-8:30 p.m. and is usually up at 8 a.m. and I feed him right after he wakes up.