CIO

For those who don't know what CIO stands for, maybe you don't have kids yet. It stands for the dreaded Cry It Out technique many of us parents use when we're just exhausted and at our wits end about what to do about our kid's bedtime.

The battle with my kids started once they passed that newborn phase. I made the mistake (or in my opinion, the best decision for me) to let all my kids sleep in bed with me. But then after I was ready for them to get back into their own beds, that's when the problems started. That's when I decided to just lie in their beds with them for a few minutes (and sometimes upwards of an hour) until they fell asleep in their own room. That to me was better than nothing. At least they were out of my bed and into their own. But that technique was taking up minutes of my nighttime life, minutes that I could have spent doing other, more productive things.

Thanks to my playgroup leader, I decided to try the CIO technique again. I had tried this before, with all 3 kids. But something about leaving them to cry for such long periods left me broken a little inside. But I felt it was just something I had to do. They needed to learn to soothe themselves to sleep.

Fatty, being my last little LITTLE one, was the most difficult to get to sleep on his own. And Princess had gotten so accustomed to having me in the same room with her at bedtime, she threw a fit when I wasn't there. The playgroup teacher, who was doing the 1 year 6 month evaluation for Fatty's class, was inquiring about all the kids' routines and bedtimes. Since my kids already had a routine (pajamas, brush their teeth, story, bed), I just had to work on them actually sleeping on their own.

First night was Tuesday. After story time, Princess climbed into her bed, Fatty settled into his bed and I kissed them both goodnight. I told Princess:

"You're a big girl now, you have to sleep on your own OK".
"Ok mommy,' she responded. She actually understood. And she fell asleep on her own without a struggle.

Fatty on the other hand did not understand. So he got out of bed and started crying immediately after I left the room. But to my surprise he only cried for 15 minutes, or so, before he climbed back into his bed and fell fast asleep.

"Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew".

The second night, Wednesday, he only cried for 5 minutes.

I will see how tonight goes. If it's smooth sailing from here on out, I think I've got all 3 of my kids sleeping not only in their own rooms and their own beds, but on their own as well. Here's to taking my nights back for me.