"Cry It Out" Method

I was reading an article today regarding the "cry it out" method and it reminded me when I was debating whether to do CIO or not with David. The "cry it out" method is very debatable, and of course everyone has their own opinion on this.

When David was born I knew that I will never let him cry for any reason. The thought of him crying made me devastated. From day 1 David wanted to be held, as most babies do. So of course I abided by David's demands. It got to be that David only was able to fall asleep for naps in my arms. But to make it harder I needed to be standing and walking and shaking him (don't worry not hard enough for it to be considered Shaking Syndrome). That lasted a few months with no problem.

David was born 9 lbs and when he was 4 months he had already doubled his weight. So I had toned arms from rocking him for all of his naps. I was starting to feel that this way of putting David down for his naps couldn't last much longer. It wasn't necessary the rocking that got difficult, but when he falls asleep he likes to squirm. It was a mission to keep him within my arms, let alone get him to fall asleep. I would spend 20 minutes getting him to fall asleep for his 20 minute naps.

I reached a point of when I was so stressed that I would have to put him down and walk out of his room for me to calm down. I knew this couldn't be good for me, David, and my milk supply. It was then that I turned to researching ways to put David down for naps. I tried routines, shushing, music, EVERYTHING. All Mr. David demanded was to be in my arms so that I would be sweating.

I really didn't want to try the CIO method. But I felt hopeless and I knew this couldn't go on much longer. One day I made the final decision to attempt the CIO method. Ugh, the worst! He was hysterical and as I was shushing him and petting his little body I was crying with him. I was ready to screw the stupid CIO method and give him everything he wanted. But I knew I needed to stay strong. The first nap ended with me taking him out of his crib because he basically cried the entire naptime (his naps are only 30 minutes). When it was time for the second nap I was terrified. He cried again for an hour and poor boy was so exhausted that he passed out for the night until his usual middle of the night feeding. I felt sooo guilty and horrible. All I could think was that he was going to hate me because I certainly was hating myself at that moment.

The next morning when I came to get him and he smiled I was so glad he wasn't blaming me. But once again I was terrified for his upcoming nap. It was naptime again, he cried for about a minute or so and fell asleep. OMG! I was in disbelief. I couldn't have been any happier!!!!

Those 2 naps of him crying put me through soooo much stress and anxiety but it was definitely worth it. He now knows how to fall asleep on his own, but that's not to say he sometimes does want me to rock him to sleep. And those times when he cries because he can't fall asleep on his own I do rock him. I know that later on I will be missing the times of holding him close to me and rocking him to sleep so why not have those moments sometimes.

So back to the CIO method...there are different versions of it and a mom knows herself what's best for her and the baby. One day I just felt that this was what was needed to be done for me and David. It's wrong to tell a mom she's hurting her child by doing the CIO method because you are not in the mom's shoes. Everyone has their own experience with their children so all you can give is opinions regarding naps, bedtime, when to start solids, etc.