Full Blown CIO mom's...help

Agree with Denise. Move bedtime back to around 7:30 pm, and don't let her nap past about 3:30 in the afternoon. And give it a week or so on the new schedule before you decide it doesn't work. (Take 2 or 3 days moving bedtime back in 15 min increments, then when you get to about 7:30, keep at it for a week, and see what happens).

I also think that her bedtime might be too early.

While you don't want an over-tired child either, she's obviously good to go with 10-11 hrs per night, so gradually push her bedtime back over a few weeks to about 8ish. And make sure she's not napping past about 3:30 in the afternoon.

She's getting older - you need to put her to bed later....naps during the day, etc.

I didn't really do the CIO method in my home, we wanted our children to be self-sufficient (sucking thumb, playing, etc.) however, I wanted my children to know that when they NEEDED something, i would be there. PERIOD.

this worked in my home, not what you are doing in yours. In my opinion, her bedtime needs to be later if you don't want to wake up at o-dark-thirty...my boys at 7 months were going to be at 9PM and sleeping until AT LEAST 7 AM...my daughter was in bed at 9PM and didn't wake up until 9AM - she was and still is (at the age of 25) a person who needs 12 hours of sleep!! URGH!!!

Hope this helps!

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Sometimes, like my daughter, when she started waking up early like that and not wanting to go back to sleep, I tried putting her to bed later but that never worked. STill to this day it doesn't matter how late she stays up, she always wakes up at the same time. If this is the case, I know it stinks but you can't always get the child on your schedule. You sometimes have to adjust to theirs. As long as she still naps during the day, she might continue to get up that early and that's okay, she is getting all the sleep she needs so you can't cry it out on a kid who just slept all night. Once she gets older and you phase out at least one of the naps, she will start sleeping later. Good luck!

Could she be teething? Sometimes that will throw off a sleep routine. If she is, you could try some baby Tylenol when she wakes up. She might then be able to go to sleep and stay asleep for a good chunk of time. That's what we had to do with our 4.

I think kids/babies get scared with the CIO, though, and then don't want to go in the crib because for all they know no one's home. There's a happy medium though- the Ferber Method.

When my son started having sleep problems, I'd go in after 2 or 3 min. if he cried when I put him down. I'd comfort him and then tell him it was time to sleep, and list the people he knew and tell him they were sleeping too. When he calmed down, I'd leave the room again. Of course he'd cry again, but I'd add another minute or 2 to the time I waited the last time. I'd settle him down again and leave when he was calm. Yes, it is a long process of going in over and over (keep adding a minute or 2 to the time each time before you go in) Eventually he wore himself out (and me too) and went to sleep. But he slept through the night from that night on (unless he was sick or something) Sometimes it takes a couple of nights of this before it helps.

sounds like she really is a combo of hungry and habit. Make sure you are feeding her RIGHT before bed so you know she is really full. Give her solids and bottle both as close to bed as you can. Then after a few nights of her eating good before bed and getting enough food during the day go ahead and start letting her cio for that early morning. OR you can offer her just water at that time for a few days and she may just decide to not bother. You can leave a bottle of plain ole water in her crib as well (never anything but water in bed)

I am not sure of her daytime feedings, but at this point I am with you at dropping that 5am feeding. I would just not go to her. Maybe start putting a few of her favorite little (safe) toys in her bed, so that she has something to do. Then just go get her at 6-6:30. She will get the idea that you aren't coming and give up and go back to sleep until then. I would also start having her stay up a little later at night to balance the shift a bit. Like until 7-7:30. I have felt that once you know their cries, you know they are safe, dry, and not hungry, it is up to me to decide the schedule. Sorry if that sounds tough, but it works well for our house and we have a 3 1/2 yr old, a 2 1/4 yr old and an 11 month old, so I have had a crash course in sleep training and they are all healthy and sleep well through the night in their own beds. :)

I don't know but it sounds like she is taking really long naps. My daughter took teo 1 hour naps. Two 2 hour naps sounds like too much sleeping during the day. I wonder if she would sleep better if she only took 1 hour or 1 1/2 hour naps?????

We let our son CIO when he was 3 months old. He only did one night really and then he slept through the night and still does and he's almost 1. Right now my son goes to bed between 7 and 730 p.m. Mommy has him all day so daddy gets to put him to bed because daddy is in the army is usually at work all day and doesn't get to see him except weekends and after work. But anyway, I usually set my alarm clock for 930 a.m. seeing as that's when he wakes up every morning. He gets a diaper change, I play a little, make a bottle and he goes back down for his morning nap. Sometimes I go back to bed and sleep til noon and so does he. then I get up feed him lunch and play with him in the living room and we watch tv until about 330 p.m. when he goes down for his afternoon nap or quiet time if he doesn't want to sleep. He is really good with this. then when 5 530 rolls around he gets dinner then both the husband (if he's home) and I play with him and talk to him before he gets put down for bed at 7-730. Sometimes he goes to bed earlier if he's not feeling well or just being grumpy.

IMO just let her CIO if you do it every day she will see its a routine and get used to it faster. that's just my opinion though. Good luck. :)

I am not a CIO mom, so on that end I'm not sure. My first thought was to ask if she was teething, or she may be going through a growth spurt? I know that both of those can really mess with a sleep schedule. I know when my little guy was cutting teeth he was a miserable sleeper, but almost as soon as they popped through he went back to sleeping for almost 12 hours a night, but it took a loooong time for them to fully cut.
If it is either of those, it won't last forever, she will get back into a routine. It may not be the same routine she had before, but she will get back.

I am not a CIO mom, but my DD was always a good sleeper. She was also an early riser. So her first nap was around 830am. I was told by my dr that this is an ideal schedule to have her on. And it did work our for us. after that first nap we would play and have lunch and then a nap again around 3-ish. I found that if she napped any later than that the night schedule was completely thrown off. I also found that certain things like a cold or teething or the time change really threw a wrench in our schedule. But she/we would adjust it and it always seemed to get back on track easily.

Hi I'm not sure how old she is now, but basically it is a habit like you said, and she needs a little less sleep. I would put her to bed a little later, move it up to 7:30, and I would do it in 15 min increments over a period of a few days. I think this would work, in my opinion. I have 2 girls, 4 1/2 and 3 1/2 and we have had great sleep habits from the beginning. Both of my kids still nap. The 4 yr old naps usually 5 times a week, and usually from 1 - 2 hours. The 3 year old naps every single day, a good 2 or 2 1/2 hours. They go to sleep at night between 8 and 8:30 and wake up around 7:30 every morning.

Good luck!

I am sorry I am a couple of weeks late on this, but I have a baby the same age, on a different schedule, but he doesn't need that many hours of sleep. Definitely put her down later, she can still nap as much, but her overnight sleep does not need to be as long. it will probably take her a couple weeks to get used to the schedule, things will be hard for a little while, but if you don't want her up as early I think she will get used to going down a bit later and then sleep a bit later.

Good for you using CIO!

What time is her last nap? Maybe make sure she doesn't sleep past 3 or 3:30pm in the afternoons. Is she still taking 2 naps a day? If so, it's possible she may need to give up the morning nap. All kids are different - my first only took 2 naps until she was right around your daughter's age, then my 2nd took two naps until he was one!

Hope you get her back on track soon! I remember those days all too well.

Good luck!