Sleeping through the night??? is CIO ok for preemies

[jessiprncss]

Hi moms-

I am having a dilemma on getting my 6 week premature, 4 &1/2 month old (actual age) to sleep through the night. I am inquiring how you got your baby to sleep through the night? At what age (adjusted or actual)? Any tips and advice is appreciated.

We were getting roughly a 6 hour stretch of consistent sleep with him up until 1 month ago. But that 6 hour stretch was from 6:30-7pm to ~midnight -1am. And then the 3 hour feeds would continue after that 1 am feed. My last visit to my pediatrican, she suggested to do a "dream feed" at about 11:30pm and try and stretch his 6 hours from there until a 6 am feed. I feel like this back fired on me. He now wakes up prior to the scheduled dream feed. He will eat at that time, and now wakes up every 2 hours through the night.

All my friends tell me to have him CIO. But, I still have the mentality of a preemie crying, is bad. All that energy he spends crying, will be lost energy that he needs to grow strong, and use for his feeds. And now he recently came down with a cold. So he has been congested and not eating, or sleeping well. I am thinking once he gets over this cold. I will be back to square one?

PLEASE help with any advice.

[naomishere]

my daughter is 11 months old gonna be a year on thanksgiving and she still doesn't sleep through the night she was born at 35.5 weeks gestation. 

[LunaB]

i know its hard on you, but please don't let the baby cio! he may just be going through a growth spurt and messing up his sleep patterns and if he's getting over a cold, he probably is very tired, miserable and cranky. just give it some time and follow your own instincts! mother knows better than "helpful" friends, i promise

[momofthree109]

To answer your question my son is in PT (physical therapy) they suggest CIO in 5 minute blocks. Every five minutes go in and rub babies back. No talking, no turning on lights, no picking up.  (I want to say he was 6 months when they suggested).

BUT, if you do not want to do CIO, there are so many other routes out there. Rubbing his back, white noise, rock back to sleep. etc. I always feel that a baby wakes up for a reason at night, to eat, because he is cold or just needs to know mom is there.

My baby will be one actual age next week (13 weeks premature), he is inconsistent at night. Sometimes he will sleep 8-10 hours straight, sometimes 6.

You said your baby is also sick, that could be the issue right there, if he is congested he might be having a hard time breathing. Try elevating his crib, and suctioning him right before bed. I also found a warm mist humidifier help keep the nasal passages open.

Good Luck.

[MommyLuvsBray]

my son is 15 months and still doesnt sleep through the night :(

[flutegirl7]

Quoting jessiprncss:

All my friends tell me to have him CIO. But, I still have the mentality of a preemie crying, is bad. All that energy he spends crying, will be lost energy that he needs to grow strong, and use for his feeds. And now he recently came down with a cold. So he has been congested and not eating, or sleeping well. I am thinking once he gets over this cold. I will be back to square one?

PLEASE help with any advice.

It's okay if you don't want to CIO. I didn't want to, either! For the same reasons - I didn't want DD wasting the energy that should be going into growing, etc. 

I started doing a routine of sorts with DD. Evening bath before what I hoped would be the last bottle, used that Johnson & Johnson calming lotion after the bath, then her bottle, then some snuggly time in the rocking chair in her bedroom with the lights dim. We also tried our best not to swaddle her or let her sleep too deeply during the day (i.e. we let her nap in the bouncy chair or swing, not in the pack 'n play or her crib, we also didn't swaddle her during the day unless she was really fussy and seemed to truly need it).

Pretty soon, she started sleeping longer and longer stretches, and now she sleeps about 10 hours a night - she's just shy of 5 months old (actual).

[jessiprncss]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I am thinking I have to switch a few things around that I do already with him. As I too have almost the exact night time routine, and nap routine. The only thing is I swaddle him for the naps (when needed) and use the sleep sack for his night sleeps. I may have to take the sleep sack away and try the swaddling again. I was trying to get him out of the constant swaddling. But may have to go back to that.

Hope everyone has a great holiday.

[momofthree109]

Quoting jessiprncss:

Thanks everyone for your responses. I am thinking I have to switch a few things around that I do already with him. As I too have almost the exact night time routine, and nap routine. The only thing is I swaddle him for the naps (when needed) and use the sleep sack for his night sleeps. I may have to take the sleep sack away and try the swaddling again. I was trying to get him out of the constant swaddling. But may have to go back to that.

Hope everyone has a great holiday.

When I was talking to PT last week we were talking about my DS how he still gets over stimulated really easy. One of them was talking about her DS who was a preemie. She said that even at 15 he has to be "swaddled" in the sense that he has to have so many blankets over the top of him that he feels like he is swaddled.

They mentioned the area of the brain that deals with stimulation and comfort is the last part to develop. When they are born so early that area doesn't fully develop, and the effects can be seen the rest of their life.

For now I would swaddle him, he must have the need for it.

Hope you have a great holiday also!