C.I.O.

I must say...hate is a strong word...but I hate the acronym you see as the title of this entry. C.I.O. means Cry It Out. This is the dreadful method we tried tonight to get my baby boy to sleep in his own crib. It is a very popular method, it works, but it is hard on baby and parents.

Since our visit to Kentucky in November, Gavin has been sleeping in bed with us. Two weeks in KY and here at home too. Not saying there is ANYTHING wrong with allowing your baby to sleep in bed with you, but Gavin doesn't rest well and we don't either. Gavin had been sleeping in his crib prior to our visit, but he quickly became accustomed to the new routine, and for obvious reasons, he loved it. He felt safe, he could roll over at any given moment and pull my hair, he could crawl onto his daddy's face to sleep, he could nest his head under my arm, he could sleep sideways in bed and kick daddy all night long. Yes, he loved it, for obvious reasons ;o).

So we decided tonight we would put him back in his nursery. The poor baby cried for 50 minutes! My sister-n-law read a book on this procedure and she has used it with all of her kids and they sleep like PRO's, so I thought I would give it a "go". How does it work? The first night, you lay your baby in the crib just as he is getting very tired, you comfort him/her, then walk away. The crying begins...you enter the room every 5 minutes consistently to comfort your baby w/o picking them up, then leave again. You do this until they fall asleep. Night 2 you comfort baby every 10 minutes and you continue adding minutes every night, until eventually, they know the routine and can put themselves to sleep fairly easy. The Dr. that wrote the book said it can take up to a week...yes 7 WHOLE DAYS!

My little angel, literally, fell asleep standing up with his arms hanging over the crib (how pitiful is that?)! He fell asleep standing up for 5 minutes, with little nods in between. Nelson went in and softly layed him down. He wanted to cry again, but that battle was over and sleep won. FINALLY!

Nelson and I felt horrible for leaving him in his crib to cry, but I know in the long run, he will sleep better, we will sleep better, all in all, it should just be better.

Long post, I know. But Gavin, when you read this someday, I surely hope you won't remember any of this C.I.O bull, cause it's NO FUN for any of us! I hope and pray this is the last time you have to fall asleep standing up, with tears on your face, and sadness in your heart. We love you little boy...to the moon and back...more than all the stars in the sky.