I've been torn for a very long time between letting Sophia cio to go to sleep or rock her to sleep. I didn't have the heart for a very long time for cio so I always rocked her. Well in the past week she figured out that crying at bedtime makes mommy and/or daddy come running!
On Monday night we did her usual bedtime routine..bath, Goodnight Moon with daddy, kisses, bottle, rock with mommy, go to sleep, mommy puts baby in crib and we sleep til morning. HA! She got through the routine except the part where we go in the crib and sleep til morning. As soon as her head hit the mattress she sat up and started crying. Of course my instinct is to pick her up and console her...so I did...this went on forever and ever. I thought I was going to be rocking and consoling all night long. BUT that day my allergies were crazy and I was miserable and I had little patience for any sort of shenanigans. So I told her I loved her and gently lay her in her crib and walked out. She cried for nearly 2 hours and it took every bit of willpower that I have to not go running in to rock her..but finally she fell asleep and slept til morning.
Of course she's continued this new phase of testing mommy and daddy. However she seems to learn very quick. The past few nap times she's started to cry and then within 2 minutes she's out. That first night was so rough though.
Anyway, I can't believe I've finally had to do this method. I never thought I'd see the day. Never say never, right?!
4 comments:
Good work honey! I swore I would never do CIO either but now that I have and Addie is sleeping peacefully through the night...I realize it was so worth it. Never say never...especially when it comes to motherhood. Haha!
Thanks Jen! It was hard, but like you said, so worth it...even if it's only been a few days I'm already reaping the benefits! Tonite when I put her down she barely cried. I feel such relief knowing I won't be rocking her to sleep when she's 4!!
The funny thing is that I used to think that I would let my kids cry it out, and didn't end up trying it until Bug was about eight months old.
Two hours is a bit long, though. I'm not criticizing you, because I have allergies, too, and know there are some days when you can barely function, never mind deal with a child who seems to be pushing all of your buttons! I think Ferber recommends starting out with 15 minutes (or maybe it's five and working up from there). Since it was your first time doing it (letting her cry, not IT, although if you were doing that for two hours, good on ya!), Sophi was probably confused as to why her routine was all off, hence the long bender. I'd be careful of letting her go that long in the future, though.
Anyhow, I better go. Bug is showing that he does indeed listen to me as he says, "Don't hit Mommy. Don't!" Of course, he's kicking me as he says this. Little bugger.
Hey A, thanks for the comment. I guess I should clarify that I didn't leave her for 2 hours on her own..I did go in and try to console her. However, the Ferber method didn't work too well with Soph...in fact, I found that me going in actually stimulated her more! I did the Supernanny method where you sit next to her crib but don't say anything or make eye contact and that seemed to work best but I just couldn't touch her.
She learned very quickly though because now she's sleeping through the night and I can just walk her into her room and place her in her crib awake and she'll be asleep in a few minutes. Of course we still do our night routine of reading and cuddles and singing and prayer..but she goes to sleep really quick..thank goodness!
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