CIO desperation (long)

lewispm

Ok, so last night I gave in and decided to start trying CIO a little earlier than we originally wanted to. LO has been HORRIBLE at night the last 3 weeks and we are desperate. He went from sleeping from 10-4 and then 4:30-7 to sleeping maybe 1-2 hours before waking and only going back to sleep if comfort nursed.

Last weekend, I started to refuse to comfort nurse him and only rock/paci/shush in order to soothe. It ended up taking almost an hour to get him back to sleep each time he woke up and he would only stay asleep for 20 mins max. EXHAUSTING. It seemed to get a little better for about 3 nights, but the last 2 nights he was back to his waking every 1-2 hours routine. It is really taking it's toll on me and LO as well. He is over tired and fussy during the day because he is not sleeping at night.

Well, last night I figured, since he is screaming crying whether I am trying to soothe him or not, that I would try a modified CIO. When he woke, I went in, soothed and shushed him and then left whether he was alseep or not. He usually fell asleep for about 5-10 mins after soothing him just to wake up screaming again. I would then let him cry for 15 mins, soothe, and leave. He would sleep 5-10 mins and the cycle would start over. I never left him longer than 15 mins but we seriously did this dance ALL night except the one time at 2:00 that I fed him and he slept 2 hours. I am exhausted.

I literally layed in bed staring at my monitor crying all night right along with him. We tried him swaddled, unswaddled, one arm out, mattress flat, mattress inclined, mobile on, mobile off, lamp on, lamp off, nothing seemed to make a difference.

Have any of you done CIO yet? What was your experience? Do any of you have a LO who does the same thing at night? What do you do?

Oh, and I gave him Tylenol kind of as a preventative measure just in case his ears or gums were hurting him bc I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if he were screaming bc he was hurt and I was just letting him. It didn't make any difference so I really think he just wants me to pick him up/comfort nurse and that is why he is crying.