I feel like the worst mother (CIO related)

So tonight I did it. We CIO. I did the progressive approach where I went in every few minutes (3,3,5,7). It was horrible. He cried and cried and cried. His sleepsack was all wet, he banged his head into the corner of the crib, he coughed. I swear at times it sounded like he was wailing mama mama mama. I would go in and soothe him but he would cry. After the 7 minute stretch I soothed a tiny bit longer, 2 minutes maybe - I stayed by his crib, he cried, i told him I was there, he cried again, I stayed, and then I left. He finally fell asleep.

Then I cried. Bawled into DH's shoulder. What if I didn't soothe him enough those times i went in and that's why he suffered so long? My heart was breaking. I feel like such a bad mom even though I was doing it for the right reasons. He's 10 months and had been a great sleeper, I'd thought I'd escaped ever needing to CIO. Not sure I can get through this again tomorrow night.

Re: I feel like the worst mother (CIO related)

Honey HANG IN THERE!!! It really is waaaaaay harder on us than them, he'll have a beautiful sleep tonight and every single night this will get easier, you'll see!!!!!! It sounds like you did great tonight, baby is LEARNING to soothe himself, it gets so much better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: I feel like the worst mother (CIO related)

I hear ya. tonights my first night. My hearts breaking. I'm doing it right now. Time to go in...

Re: I feel like the worst mother (CIO related)

omg first night for me too,
well i actually started sun, but then we cheated mon, and tue was her bday so we cheated again

so im starting tonight.
she fell asleep after i soothed her after the 7 minutes.
but she was all sweaty :( poor thing

Re: I feel like the worst mother (CIO related)

I'm on 7 minutes now. This is torture. She's sweaty from screaming. It's like the crying just stops but then starts up louder than she was before.

Re: I feel like the worst mother (CIO related)

It can be AWFUL, but it WILL get better. Tonight will probably be the worst night of it. I promise that he won't remember in the morning. We've had to do CIO with DD a few different times, and no matter how hard she cried at night, she always greeted us with a smile in the morning. You're not a bad mom, and you have his best interests at heart.

Re: I feel like the worst mother (CIO related)

this is my fear. im still on the fence about trying CIO with DS, hes 10 months old and when i put him in the crib awake he starts to cry and wail. it breaks my heart so i dont know if i can do CIO. im confused though, DS can stand so as soon as i put him in the crib he pops right up and stands on the side of the crib and cries. what happens when you CIO and theyre standing? do you just keep lying them down when you go in to soothe or will they eventually just lie down on their own?

Re: I feel like the worst mother (CIO related)

Re: I feel like the worst mother (CIO related)

Do you think he may be teething? I read that CIO doesn't work when they are teething since it's the pain that keeps them up. No advice since we never did CIO, but DS did have much more trouble sleeping at that age when he was teething badly. It did pass.

Re: I feel like the worst mother (CIO related)

He was sweaty too Aggh, I'm miserable tonight.

He'd be up on his knees, practically looking into the camera. He has this one corner he goes into. I would pick him up (but not all the way) to put him back into his sleeping position on the other side of the crib but I wonder if that made it worse. As he got more tired he'd put his head down so the last time I just moved him a little bit just so he was comfy.

I hope he's not teething. He seems fine during the day. He only has 2 teeth, nothing has come in during the last 2 months.