I am weak.
I will admit it. I cannot bear to hear my baby cry.
But I tried “sleep training” for about a week or two back when he was around 6 months old. I let him CIO (Cry It Out) at bedtime, thinking that he will learn to “self sooth”.
Why?
(1) He was taking his sweet time to fall asleep at bedtime. I started feeling guilty about spending so much time waiting for him to be in deep sleep before transfer rather than doing more “productive activities”, like washing dishes or doing laundry.
(2) For naps, he needed to be held or nursed and, most of the time, both. It was getting a tad confining, but I loved the cuddles. Plus, I felt bad not engaging in “productive activities” mentioned above.
(3) I thought helping him sleep was creating bad habits for him. Many websites I have read told me this, and a lot of people kept telling me to “put down the baby” and “do not keep holding him!” I did not want him to start off with bad habits.
(4) Many people around me suggested it and they boasted of the miraculous property of CIO. After the first 3/5/9 (you get the drift) rough days, their babies slept like logs. No more waking up at night. (But they have to “retrain” from time to time.)
Although I was skeptical about it and it sort of went against my instincts, I gave it a try because I thought it was for his own good.
Obviously it did not work.
When he was crying in his crib, I felt scared and angry. Every cell in my being screamed for me to go get him. Instead, I sat there watching the baby monitor intently and tried to eat my dinner. Daddy was sent into his bedroom to check on him after a few minutes of crying.
What was that? You are saying that we did not keep at it long enough for it to work? Perhaps. But I had enough of watching him crying alone in his crib before he fell asleep. It did not feel like a healthy “habit” to me either.
So, no more CIO. Just WIO.
{ Inspired by Daily Prompt | Never Again }
Have you dappled in CIO too, but “quit”?
