SO Proud of My Boy!

On a spur of the moment decision last weekend, we decided to go for it and start the CIO (Cry It Out) method with RJ. I think the spur of the moment part was more for us than RJ - we had to do it on a whim (so we didn't have the anticipation of the dreaded event!). So, we took away everything from our little guy- the paci, swaddle, body positioners (yes he had 2!) as well as no rocking, holding, swaying, etc. to go to sleep. We merely started laying him on his back in his "big boy" crib (yikes - what a novel idea!).

Today we are claiming complete success!! In the end, we really only had a couple cry sessions that were longer than 10-15 minutes (ok more like an hour and 10-15 minutes) and now the last few nights (and several naps) there has been absolutely no crying. RJ knows when it's time to go to sleep and now that we've taught him how to go to sleep, he does just that. What a champ! We are SO proud of him!

I do have to admit, now that I'm on the other side of this thing, I question whether or not we should have ever given RJ the crutches (swaddle, paci, etc.) to begin with (we told ourselves throughout pregnancy we would be CIO fans from the beginning after ready Dr. Ezzo's book Raising Children God's Way), but from all that I've read there are about a million philosophies when it comes to that (and it's so hard to see your perfect little baby crying). So, I think we did the best we could and maybe we've learned a little something along the way (if we ever need to go through this again)!

I believe RJ is getting sounder sleep this way . . . there is no paci to fall out and upset him(which was happening several times a night in the past), he can get comfortable and lay the way he wants to lay (which often we found isn't really his back) and finally I believe he's taught himself how to go right back to sleep if he wakes up. He's just incredible . . . asleep around 7:30 - 8:00 and wakes at 6 am "happier than a lark!"

So, for all you new parents out there that have thought about the CIO, I'm here to say "Just Do It!" It's your job as a parent to teach your child and I believe we've done just that . . . we've taught him how to go to sleep on his own and that's an important skill for him to know (and a nice bonus for us)! So, OK - I guess I'm proud of him and us ! :)

A HUGE thanks goes out to our amazing pediatrician (Shana Kaznowski) for encouraging and coaching us through this and the Moe family for going 1st and paving the way! They really inspired us to go for it! Also, they directed us to an article that completely mimicked what our pediatrician suggested - http://www.angelsfoster.com/parenting/ask_dr_mommy_0805.htm
and so we realized those docs must be WAY smarter then we were! :)

SO . . congratulations to RJ . . . you've officially graduated to "Big Boy" status! :)