Hi! My name is Ann. I have a 7 month old (7 months old today) that we started doing CIO with last Tuesday night at bedtime. Before this he slept with us exclusively in our bed since birth. The first night of CIO, he cried 1 1/2 hours, 1 hour the second, then 45 minutes the third night, then 35 minutes the fourth night. I felt we were making great progress. Now, however, for the past three nights he's back to crying for over an hour again! What is happening??! Once he goes to sleep, he sleeps pretty well for the rest of the night. I lay him down at 7:30 and he's asleep by 8:30 usually. He'll sleep until between 2 and 4 am usually. I then nurse him and lay him back down until 7 or 8. Why is he fighting this and why is it getting worse? Any help would be so very much appreciated! Our routine is that I put on his pj's, read him a book and nurse him. Then I lay him down and tell him goodnight and go out and close the door. We started going in to comfort him during the CIO, but that seemed to make him all the madder. I'm not sure what to do next?

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Ann (37)

DS - Brady 03/02/01
DD - Allison 05/17/03
DS - Nolan 8/21/06

I think it's totally normal for things to get worse before they get better. We dealt with this same problem at first too, and we started at around 6 months. Another thing that worked for us in getting DS to sleep better and longer, was simply moving his bedtime earlier and earlier each night until we found the magic time. He is 16 months now and he has gone to bed at 6:30 since about 7 months old....and he doesn't wake until 8 am. Another thing....your little guy may not need that nursing in the middle of the night. We had the hardest time giving that one up, but later realized that he was just active sleeping (crying in his sleep), and he really didn't need to eat until sometime between 6-8. Just a thought. Hang in there and stay consistent. Good sleep is just around the corner for all of you!

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Another question - He is still napping in his swing for both naps. Should I move his naps to the crib too or keep him in the swing until he's sleeping well at night in his crib? Thanks for the help!

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Ann (37)

DS - Brady 03/02/01
DD - Allison 05/17/03
DS - Nolan 8/21/06

All sleeping should be done in the crib, whenever possible.

The baby could be going through a developmental milestone, which can cause night waking, but you should not go in to the baby and let sleep happen...

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Happened to be *lurking and thought I might be able to throw in some suggestions. My little guy is 10 months now...and he's been sleeping about 12 hours a night since about 4 months old.

When talking to our pedi about how to bridge the eating, sleeping issue...she told us that he had become a night feeder...and therefore - he was waking up to eat. (Now...we are formula feeding so a bit different...) but she suggested offering him less and less every few nights, and to slightly water down the formula (if I was making a 4 oz bottle - add only formula like I was making a 3 oz bottle). One it wouldn't taste as good, and it would allow his tummy to shrink. She said continue until we were just offering him water. However, when we got to 2 ozs we decided to let him CIO - and he only cried about 25 minutes...it was a TOUGH 25 minutes I'll admit! LOL.

The next night it was 15, and the next two nights - it was 5 each! Since then he has slept through the night. Now when he wakes (teeth issues) I do not remove him from his crib...just sneak in and rub on Ora Jel and go back out and close the door...

He was never much of a crier when we put him to bed...but every baby is different. Good luck - and I know you'll be so thrilled when he's sleeping through the night!

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Good point.

You might also want to consider an earlier bedtime. Grant is now turning 3 this month and is in bed asleep by 6:45. When he was 8 months old (when I had to begin sleep training as he didn't know how to self-soothe, and was sleeping in our bed, etc.) his bedtime was 6 p.m. In Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child, Dr. Weissbluth states that earlier bedtimes allow your infant/child to fall into a deeper, more restful sleep.

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