up for 2 hours at a time at night... Mommy's going crazy!

Erin - posted on 03/09/2011

With my first son, I was up feeding him every 2 hours. I was getting too burnt out as his father worked a province over and was never home. The day I gave him a bottle of formula before bed, he slept through the night. After that day, he became the happiest baby ever and slept from 7:30 till 8 am the next morning and had a 2 hour nap in the afternoon.

Julie - posted on 03/08/2011

My daughter did this a few nights ago, but she doesn't do it regularly. I don't do CIO at all because she shares a room with my 2 year old son. But I don't want to encourage her to stay up at night because she thinks she gets mommy time. First thing I do, is like Laura, I don't rush in immediately when I hear her wake up. A lot of times, she'll go back to sleep after just 2-3 minutes. I can listen to her for a minute and tell whether she's just stirring or if she needs me in there. The other thing I've done that helps is to put her down with a toy to entertain her until she falls asleep. Nothing soft that she'll squish her face into. Usually either her pacifier (she doesn't like to suck on it anymore, but likes to roll it around in her hand and chew on the side sometimes) or a small board book. I'll hear her moving around, maybe talking a little, and when she gets tired, she'll just go to sleep.

I don't think you should hold her for 2 hours until she falls asleep. Keep trying to put her down, and then go back in if she needs to be calmed down again, so she doesn't think that she'll just get held as long as she stays awake.

Riki - posted on 03/08/2011

I'm having the same problem! I'm trying the cio method with my second son at 6.5 months and one night he was up playing in his crib in middle of the night but went back to sleep but then last night he woke up at 3:30 and cried for over an hour until i just picked him up and kept him up. Me and my husband go in and pat his back and try calming him down just like the books say, every 5, 10, 15 min until he goes to sleep. and it works at the begining of the night but not in middle. maybe i have to feed him and then put him back down but i think he doesnt really need those feedings.
Before we tried training him, he would sleep in my bed and i would wake up about 3 times in middle of the night to nurse him for 2 minutes and then he would drift back off.
With my first son, we trained him at 12 months and it only took 2-3 days and he was sleeping through the night! so what am i doing wrong here??

Riki - posted on 03/08/2011

I'm having the same problem! I'm trying the cio method with my second son at 6.5 months and one night he was up playing in his crib in middle of the night but went back to sleep but then last night he woke up at 3:30 and cried for over an hour until i just picked him up and kept him up. Me and my husband go in and pat his back and try calming him down just like the books say, every 5, 10, 15 min until he goes to sleep. and it works at the begining of the night but not in middle. maybe i have to feed him and then put him back down but i think he doesnt really need those feedings.
Before we tried training him, he would sleep in my bed and i would wake up about 3 times in middle of the night to nurse him for 2 minutes and then he would drift back off.
With my first son, we trained him at 12 months and it only took 2-3 days and he was sleeping through the night! so what am i doing wrong here??

Laura - posted on 03/07/2011

ok, i know you said you do not like the cio method i am curious when she first starts crying do you instantly go up and get her? or do you wait say 5 minutes or so? my daughter used to do the same thing and i didn't want to do the cio method either but i started waiting to see if she actually needed me or was just a little fussy she is also breastfed so i would wait about 5 minutes or so if she was still crying than it meant she probably needed me. sometimes babies aren't actually hungry they just wake up for whatever reason and realize where they are and don't want to be there. what would always happen with my daugher is we would put her in the crib she would wake up at the same time and start crying so what we ended up doing is put her to bed and let her cry for 5 minutes than went and got her calmed her down let her know we were still there than put her down again and did the same thing a few nights later extended the time to 7 or 8 min. and continued to do that so maybe you can try to wait 5 min. or so if she's still crying go and feed her pat her on the butt and than put her down and let her cry for a few minutes than do the same thing and than extend it. i know it's hard hearing them cry and you said you don't mind but if you continue to go in everytime she is always going to expect it. it's worth a shot and it worked for us i know every baby and family is different. i hope this helped and good luck!