Sleep Update: CIO Night #1

OK, so the sleep battle entered a new level last night, with daddy bringing in the big guns (ie. a little help from psychologist & sleep specialist Dr. Jodi Mindell and her book Sleeping Through the Night). While there are about a million different ways of saying "cry it out" without using those three hated words, I'm just going to go ahead and call Mindell's sleep method one of your basic modified "cry it out" techniques-- or CIO, for those of us obsessing about it.

The Ferber method is the most commonly known (and chided) of these techniques. In fact, the new hit show "Modern Family" poked fun at Ferberizing recently (see clip below -- love it!).


Mindell's technique is really a modified Ferber, but all-in-all the goal is for baby to become a self-soother (so that they can put themselves to sleep at bedtime instead of requiring holding, nursing, rocking, repeat, repeat -- a pattern Holden was getting quickly accustomed to at bedtime). It's not nearly as extreme as "Modern Family" shows it, but also not nearly as funny. For some basic info. on Mindell, and to hear her talk about her perspective, check out her appearance on the TODAY Show last year.

So, back to last night (and I'm going to give a detailed account here, since such details from other people have been SO helpful for me in this process). While I had been reading up and studying Mindell's sleep method (to have in my arsenal in the battle against bad sleep habits), I had no intention of starting it this weekend. After a shortened bedtime routine with Holden, he began to fuss and cry, and would not even go near his crib without kicking and crying. Rocking, swaying, rocking, shushing, singing ... nothing worked, and we did this for about an hour (the last 30 minutes of which Holden just simply cried his heart out). Due to my own frustration, I laid Holden down in his crib to simply gather myself. And, of course, my thoughts quickly went to Mindell and her technique, and all the people recently who have said to try one of the CIO methods since they really work (in as little as 2-3 days, and then baby can be a sleep champion). Holden was already crying, and I didn't know what to do except give-in and try Mindell's technique. So I texted Bryna (who had left the house for me to have the space to do this 'sleep project'), and we both agreed to go in this direction.

I let Holden cry for 5 minutes, then I went in and checked on him to reassure him, but did not pick him up or try to sooth him. I left, and sat in the other room -- reading Mindell's troubleshooting sections a third time so that I would be prepared for anything that could happen. I was able to remain composed for 10 minutes, and then went in to reassure Holden and check on him quickly (still wailing). I returned to the bedroom, told Jodi Mindell's book that I would burn it if this didn't work, and then ... all of a sudden, something changed ... the crying stopped. What??? Is he OK? I turned on the motion sensor we have on our baby monitor to make sure everything was good, and it was (of course). After 28 minutes of crying, Holden had stopped and began to sooth himself (likely with his hand, since I did hear some sucking sounds). And that was it. I sat in the bedroom for another 30 minutes waiting, mostly in disbelief, but he was asleep. I hesitantly texted Bryna with an update (mostly worried that I would jinx everything): "Not bad. I told you we could do it." She replied "Wow that's better than I thought it'd be!"

So how long did Holden then sleep for that first CIO night, you might ask? Well, let me tell you. He slept straight through the night for 10 hours ... yep, 10 hours!! Boo-Ya, Grand-Ma!!!!

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but thanks to Jodi Mindell (there she is on the right) -- who, if this works, will be in my good graces for many years to come. If it doesn't end up working, I may still burn her book ; )

Team Holden & Daddy take on Sleep again tonight for round 2 of the CIO (cry-it-out) solution. We'll give another update tomorrow (not as detailed, I promise).