anything besides CIO??

[Anonymous]

Is there any other way to get babies to sleep besides cry it out (CIO)? I am definitely not against CIO, it worked great for my dd. The problem is, that we have a really little house and my ds and dd have to share a room. It stinks! But this is what we can afford for now. I can’t let him just cry himself back to sleep when he wakes up at night, b/c he wakes up my dd and I have a whole new set of problems.

Any suggestions? I am confused as to why he even wakes up so much at night. He sleeps like…well…a baby during the day. He doesn’t even cry himself to sleep for naps, he just goes to sleep. I NEED SLEEP BADLY!! I have done this for 7 months and it is too much. HELP!!

BTW- no solids, just Elecare. No rice cereal for a couple months. 30mg of Prevacid a day (for a week now).

[Anonymous]

What do you normally do to get him to fall back asleep in the middle of the night? Do you pick him up to rock him? Take him out of the room? Feed him?

You’re right though…what a tough dilemma! What does Kylie think about it? Is it something where she could be a big girl and have a slumber party in the living room for a few nights until you get things ironed out with him? We did CIO because Sarah wasn’t a cuddly baby to rock and she screamed harder when we went in the room to “pat her” or whatever 1001 other methods there are. It was simply the only thing that worked for her.

Good luck! I know how frustrating lack of sleep can be!

[Anonymous]

That one IS tough. I like Amy’s idea of a slumber party for the few nights it takes….. Or even a “camping trip” and set up a little “tent” in the living room or on the floor of your room.

We did CIO with both boys once the reflux was under control and they were taking in enough calories in a day. It really is only a few nights and then it is over, except for those random night terrors or teething episodes, but then those are much more random than the sleep training….

Good Luck…

Ann Marie

[Anonymous]

OMG…he woke up 4 times last night. Ugh. This is sooo out of control. I normally feed him to get him back to sleep. If I try to pat his back or just rock him he cries harder. I have been giving him Tylenol to help with the teeth. My dh thinks its b/c he gets no solids, but he drinks enough formula throughout the day that I think he should be good for the night.

[Anonymous]

I would do the slumber party thing as well. just to get him on a good schedule. What I did was I would just lie in bed and he would fuss but usually for only a minute or 2 and then go back to sleep. Once I stopped rocking him at night and he started putting himself to sleep (only been about 6wks now!!! hehe) He stopped fussing at night, except for when his 2 top eye teeth came in and I expect a few wakings with the bottom 2 as well. Teething just messes everything up. I hope this helps some. Good Luck. I couldn’t do CIO b/c I am a wimp when it comes to crying babies.

[Anonymous]

Hehe Kristen we were posting at the same time. I fed Cooper a middle of the night bottle until he was 10 months old and he had been taking solids since he was 5 months old. Some babies just need it… it is a pain, but gradually they can go back to sleep without having to be fed. I made a plan: if cooper didn’t wake up until after 3 am then I only gave him 4 oz etc to gradually wean him off his nighttime feed and then one night he slept until 4:30am and I just rocked/patted, I can’t remember him back to sleep and then slowly our night feeds became less often, but I would say it was around Christmas before he stopped them totally.. I thought he never would.

[hellbennt]

I also did a ‘plan’ with jonah- I called it an experiment…

I sent dh in there w/ water to see if that would work.

when it DID work I knew he didn’t need a feeding at that time…

THEN i could address figuring out how to get him to sleep. I did do CIO.

his reflux was TOTALLY under control & I knew that he was not hungry. I did it later than 7 months, though, maybe about 8 or 8.5? and there was a time when he was not satisfied w/ the water. when he WAS satisfied was when he would take a sip of h2o, snuggle against dh & he could put him back in the crib. I (personally) had to have dh do it because a) I’m a sucker 2) he knew he’d get milk from me even if I offered water (I breastfed)

[Anonymous]

I feel for you b/c this is what Landen did to me from 10-15 months of age. I say “from” 10 months b/c I can pretty much guarantee his reflux was really under good control at that time (and we were med weaning too).

I would also suggest talking to Kylie about a slumber party in the living room or maybe even in mommy & daddy’s room but only if you think she understands it’s ONLY for a few nights, so you can address things with Nicholas!

[Anonymous]

I completely agree that a “plan” is necessary. I think I’m quoting Weissbluth, but “it’s much easier to make a decision when it’s 2am & you’re tired when you’ve already decided in the daylight hours how you’re going to handle the situation”. We always had a plan for Brodie… whether it was how to handle getting him back to sleep or if we would intervene @ all, etc.

So, although I don’t have a specific suggestion on what you should do since it’s so much a personal decision (we personally did CIO) as well as trial & error (ie: we started out going in every few min a la Ferber, but ended up stopping that as it made him more angry) I just wanted to echo what the other ladies said about having a “plan”.

I also think the slumber party thing is a good idea. If you’re a reader, Ferber has a section on CIO when siblings share a room (I think it’s Ferber- him or Weissbluth – if you’re interested let me know & I’ll look it up in both books).

Oh, also – I know you mentioned your dh worried he’s hungry & not getting enough calories. I looked up how many calories he should be getting. It’s vague, but should help you some. I don’t know how much he weighs so I put the 6mth & 9mth info. This is from Baby 411 – LOVE that book btw (can you tell I’m a reader-lol?).

6 mth old, 16.5 lbs, Avg=787, Range=600-1000

9 mth old, 19.5 lbs, Avg=930, Range=700-1200

HTH

erinntx2008-07-18 15:41:57

[Anonymous]

If I’m doing my math right (I never was a math major LOL) I think that he’s getting enough calories from his formula. It just sucks b/c it’s only formula.

930 calories was the average divided by 20 calories per ounce (formula)=46.5 ounces. 46.5 ounces divided by 7 ounces (per bottle usually)=6.64 feedings (probably 7). His feedings are on track, it’s just so many per day compared to a baby on solids.

Thank you guys for all of the suggestions. I do really need a plan of action. Now to figure out exactly what that is.

[Anonymous]

i think the slumber party sounds like a good plan. if there is really no reason, except habit, that he is waking up during the night, chances are that your problem will be solved in about a week.

i was a real sucker, too. my twins were sleeping 9-12 hours a night when they were 3 months old—-i thought i had it made, and then they got sick and did not sleep until they were 2 years old—and it was totally our fault.

when daisy was a baby and sleeping in my room, she would wake up at night to nurse. one night i must have been really tired, and when she woke up i threw the covers over my head and hid. when she looked around and couldn’t see me, she layed back down and went to sleep. i moved her out of my room.

[Anonymous]

Hi to all. I have a question for anyone. My 4 month old has reflux. She is on prevacid split up and given 3 x a day. She was sleeping through the night about 2 weeks ago for 3-4days straight. I then introduced cereal in her bottle to help with the reflux and that threw her all out of control. I have stopped the cereal which she only had for about 3 days. She is still waking in the middle of the night screaming like crazy. I was told by my ped to give her 20min and if she has not calmed down feed her. And then hopefully each night she will cry less and then within 3-4 nights she will sleep through the night again. Well, it is not working. She is getting enough formula during the day and is gaining weight just fine. Her reflux does seem to wake her at night, I think unless she is in a grove of being fed at 3am. I want to let her cry it out for longer than 20 min. but don’t know if that will work if it is her reflux bothering her. My ped said if she is eating and going back to sleep without any pain or crying then it is not her reflux at night it is her wanting to eat. I am just a wimp when it comes to her crying but I think I might have to bit the bullet and do it for a few nights. Any thoughts or suggestions would be great.

[Author]

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