Attended CIO and pacifier

[carey]

My son is 7.5 month old and I have been considering trying a mild form of attended CIO to sleep train my son. He seems to be very dependent of his dummy to help him to fall asleep. He seldom wake up to look for a dummy but he would cried for one when he wants to sleep.

If I try attended CIO, should I give him a dummy?

I understand that sleep training is to help them to fall asleep on their own. But I know he would scream the house down if he does not get they dummy to help him to sleep.

He goes to bed around 630 to 730pm. He wakes in the evening between 10:00 pm and 11:30. Has a bottle and returns to sleep right away. Doesn?t seem to be a problem there. BUT?. he wakes again sometimes around 1:30, sometimes around 4:00. He?ll have a bottle and return to sleep but only for another hour to maybe 1.5 hours.

I am just exhausted and planning to set aside time to start this training but giving him a dummy or not for this training remains my question.

Thank you.

 

[LeahH]

My son was waking a lot in the night and needed a BF, bottle or dummy to get back to sleep.

We decided to get rid of the dummy and sleep train at the same time as I knew I would be swapping one problem for another if we kept the dummy.

He was 7.5 months also and after 2-3 tough days (especially the middle of the nights), he learnt the 'knack' of drifting off to sleep himself and of putting himself back when he woke in the night.

He is now 10 months and a great sleeper - needless to say I am MUCH happier also!

 

[carey]

Thank you leahH for your reply. It gives me confidence on what to do tomorrow night. We are gearing up for some tough nights too, mostly to bear his cries.

I have another question, did you do nap training and night sleep training at the same time?

Could you give me a more detailed account about what you did. I am attaching what I found on this website and online about what to do. IS it similar to what you did? Thank you.

Day 1
• Step 1 Decide on a regular time to start the bedtime routine and stick to it. Allow at least one hour for the bath, milk feed and settling.

• Step2 Settle your child in his bed before he gets too sleepy. Kiss him goodnight and leave the room.

• Step 3 Allow a minimum of five to 10 minutes of crying before returning to reassure him. Reassurance should be kept to the minimum. You can stroke him or say 'ssh-ssh' softly, but resist the urge to pick him up. Leave the room after two minutes even if he continues to cry.

• Step 4 After the first half hour of crying, the times between visits should be increased by five to 10 minutes each time, to 15-20 minutes between visits.

• Step 5 Continue with the checking plan every 15-20 mins until your baby or toddler falls asleep. Reassurance should still be kept to a minimum of no more than two minutes and he shouldn't be lifted out of the cot.

• Step 6 If your baby wakes in the night, continue to follow the same plan for the evening, gradually increasing the time between visits, until you are going in every 15-20 minutes.
Day 2

For daytime naps, it is important you start where you left off in the night.
• Step 1 Wait at least 20 minutes before checking your baby and continue to keep visits to him to a maximum of two minutes, with the minimum of reassurance.

• Step 2 If your baby or toddler falls asleep closer to the time he's meant to be getting up, allow 15 minutes in the morning nap and 45 minutes at the lunchtime nap so he won't end up sleeping after 3pm in the afternoon. If your baby's very tired he may need a short nap of 15-20 minutes late afternoon, so he doesn't become over-tired.

• Step 3 Follow the same settling procedure as the first night in the evening, this time waiting 20-25 minutes before returning. During visits on the second night, reassure your baby by saying "ssh-ssh", but don't stroke or touch him.

• Step 4 If your baby is still crying after the first hour, the time between visits should be increased to 35-40 minutes.

• Step 5 If he wakes in the night, you should wait 45 minutes before checking him, and you shouldn't speak to him or stroke him. Reduce visits to one minute.
Day 3

By the third day, the majority of babies and toddlers will be settling themselves at all sleep-times within 20 minutes and there's no need to check on them.
• Step 1 If your baby backtracks at one of the steep-times and you have to go back to checking him, start off with looking in on him every 15-20 minutes and increase the interval until you are back to 4-5-50 minutes.

• Step 2 Once your child has done a few days of settling within 20 minutes, you should be able to use the crying-down method for getting him off to sleep. Within a couple of weeks, the majority of babies and toddlers will be going to sleep without any fuss at all.

Thank you.

 

[Suv]

Hi Carey, We sleep trained both nap and night times all at the same time so that there is no confusion about expectations (of being rocked and patted in our case). This way the pain of hearing your child cry is spread out over fewer days/ nights. Think of it like removing band aid in one shot! But we have been happy with the results as the baby sleeps through the night and wakes up in the morning.

The above plan is mostly what we followed but we did not increase the time between the reassurances, always kept it at 10 min. unless unless we heard the baby settling down a bit. It took us 3-4 days of training.