10 Month Old Still Wakes up in the Middle of the Night-after CIO--HELP?

Hi C.,
Try putting him down much earlier -- maybe 6:00 or 6:30. Also, how is he napping? A sleepy baby has a harder time sleeping (sounds strange but has to do with adrenaline). The book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby" has lots of good information and advice. The doc who wrote it runs (ran?) the sleep clinic at the U if Chicago Medical Center. He is def a CIO advocate, more so than I could handle, but I still found a ton of useful info and advice. He does offer ideas for parents who don't want to be as hardcore as he about CIO. Also, the book is not simply about CIO -- not even close. There is a wealth of info in that book!

Could he be teething? Or maybe going through separation anxiety issues that are often accompanied by disruption in sleep? It could just be a phase and maybe he just needs some comfort or soothing.

It seems that when my son was about that age he went through a spell of waking at night and screeming. I guess some people call it "night terrors". I think it has something to do with their growing bodies and brains. It was suggested to us to put an interesting night light in his room. If it is a growth related phase, there isn't much you can do but go in and comfort him until he is calm enough to go back to sleep. My son has always been a good sleeper and passed through that phase in a month or two.

I feel for you. It's so hard to try to figure out how to help your baby with sleep issues and I had a hard time too. A friend recommended the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. The book is organized in such a way where you can go right to the section of the age of your baby and go from there. The author gives clear explanations and basically says babies have optimum sleep times (when their brains are trying to tell them they are tired) and when we miss those windows of time when they will go to sleep....we end up with an overtired baby. Your son may not seem like he is tired, but eventually he gets frustrated because after missing the window of time to fall asleep his brain is now telling him to wake up and he doesn't know how to deal with it. Get a copy of the book and read the section for the age of your son and be consistent. It sounds like some of the things you have tried will probably still work, but the start times of the process probably have to be bumped up so your son can catch that window of opportunity that will easily lead to sleep. You are doing a great job and you will get this straightened out too. It will not take long once you start following the recommendations in the book. All the best to you and your baby boy.

Hi C.,
I would say definitely a phase at this point. I do believe in CIO (touchy subject, I know!), but it takes patience and willpower along with going in every 20-30 minutes for light comfort measures....no picking up or anything, just patting their little behinds and saying it's ok, mama's here, go night night. My other suggestion is maybe some lullaby music or soothing white noise on CD turned down just low enough to hear the soothing sounds. My 7 year old has started having difficulty getting to sleep and we were at a loss as to what to do with her. I finally decided on getting her her own CD player and some wonderful lullaby music and it puts her straight to sleep. I know your problem is waking up after falling asleep well, but maybe it would work to turn that on when he wakes up and you give him his comfort measures and get him calmed down enough to hear it's playing. If you're consistent and unrelenting, it should pass quickly. God bless and good luck.

My 10 month old still wakes up as well. We are just startingn the CIO method. One thing the Ped told us though, is not to touch him. She said to tell him he's ok and it's time to sleep, but not to touch him. To simplify the process, I just don't go into my son's room. He cried last night on and off for about one hour and finally fell asleep. We are supposed to give this a good week to work.

I hope that helps.

I'm with Karen on putting him down earlier. Try 6 or 6:30 at the latest. It worked wonders with my kids. I have no idea why it works (although many mommies on this website have used the Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child book and rave about it, so probably there's some good info in there on why early bedtime works.) With my girls it seemed to be a combination of making sure their last meal of the day was a big, full meal, and a very early bedtime, that led to a good, sound sleep at night. I hope that helps!