My dd won't go to sleep on her own, she's seven months old now, and still wants ME to stand and rock her to sleep, she used to let me put her in her swing, and fall asleep that way. But in the last week or so she has to be in my arms, standing, and being rocked or bounced a little, I can't even sit down with her or she starts screaming. I'm at my wits end here, it's sometimes 11:30 before I can put her in her crib, because if she's not sleeping like a rock when I put her in her crib then the process starts all over again. I don't know what to do, I've tried to let her CIO, but she'll cry for an hour or more, that's with letting her cry for 15 min, pick her up and calm her down, and over again. I don't know what to do, any advice? I think she's just spoiled, she's also doing this thing where if I have her on the floor and she can see me she cries to be held, and if she can't see me she's fine, and that has to stop too, but she thinks she's "queen of sheba." Anyway, whatever advice you ladies, or guys for that matter might have would be a blessing, thanks.

By Coopaveryben on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 11:43 pm:

I hate to say it, but if you are that tired of it CIO is what you will have to do. But don't go in and pick her up. Go in every 5 minutes or so and just lay her back down (without picking her up) and say "Night Night I love you" and leave. It may take an hour the first night, but the next it may be 45 minutes, then 30 and so on. It's not worth rocking her if you are getting frustrated with her. I did this with my first 2 and if I could go back and change it I would because once they are out of the crib it only gets harder, the only new benefit is you can lay with them and it can still take hours. I left #3 CIO and he is an absolute joy to put to bed. He prefers his bed, he walks to it and says "night, night" when he gets tired.

Good Luck, I know CIO can be heart wrenching.

By Palmbchprincess on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 12:45 am:

I'm going to agree... going in, patting and reassuring is a much better than picking her up when trying to CIO. I had to have my Ex sit and check on them, and I'd go outside, because the CIO hurt me so much. (they were still newborns) It will be a rough night or two, but you'll all be much better off in the end. Good luck! (((Hugs)))

By Kittycat_26 on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 08:03 am:

Even at 21 months old there are times that I have to do this. I no longer call it CIO though now we just have to sort through our issues.

If they've been fed, changed and are plenty warm, then give yourself a break and let them cry for a while. Like Crystal said, if you can't take it how about letting someone else stay close by and you go for a walk. Babies are smart and they will catch on. My mom would say it this way. "Look how good they have you trained now. They'll only go to sleep if you stand up and rock them."

By Kaye on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 08:31 am:

I am not a CIO fan, so my thought would be, what will work for you? I just couldn't put my child in a room by themselves to be miserable, but I could hold my child while still teaching them that I am not at their beck and call. So if you would prefer to rock your child to sleep then do it, yes she will cry, but you can comfort and hold her and she will figure it out. yes either way there will be some crying to deal with. You just need to decide what you want and think about how you want to get there.

By Txmomof2angels on Friday, March 12, 2004 - 10:12 pm:

I wonder how long she would cry if you didn't let her see you? i know it is hard to hear them cry, but if you're anything like me, I found it harder to go in because it seemed like they would cry harder if they saw me because they wanted me to hold them. I just had to let my 10 month old CIO and I asked the dr. how long I should let her cry and he said he let his daughter cry for 1 hr. and 40 min. If the babies have all their needs met then each time they cry less. I had it easy this time because she only cried 10 min. It turned out that she was so tired from depending on me to put her to sleep that she slept all night, had 2 long naps the next day and slept through the next night. On the third night I guess she had caught up on her sleep because she cried for 30 min. I know all babies are different because my son was not that easy and all moms are different. We just have to do what we feel comfortable with. I know it is very frustrating and I wish you the best of luck. I just thought it was better for her to cry than for me to get frustrated with her. I heard someone say before ( i don't know who ) that helped: they don't die from crying. Sorry this is long.