What is everyones opinion on the cry it out method and when they are teething. My daughter 11 months is teething and has multiple teeth coming in. She is terrible at night. She wakes up about 4 times a night, screaming at the top of her lungs. Her voice is hoarse and even has a hard time crying. When we go in to get her she stops crying and will fall asleep as we are rocking her. Soon as we go to lay her down she starts screaming again. She used to sleep great at night, 7:30pm-7am. For the past two weeks, she has not slept throughout one night. I dont know what to do about letting her CIO or not. I know that she is in pain from her teeth, but she is fine throughout the day, not even cranky, just at night. Should I let her alone at night, or keep trying to soothe her back to sleep?
I agree with the other moms here, CIO is definitely not for children who are sick or in pain. I personally don't think it's a good method at all and it upsets me that people use it with their children. My daughter is 9 months old and whenever she is sick or in pain I let her sleep with me. I usually just hold her on my chest. It works for both of us, we both sleep better and I enjoy the closeness.
My son has been going through the same thing with his molars. We have consistently given him Motrin before bed and it has helped tremendously with the sleep interruptions. If the baby is in true pain, i couldn't let him cry it out.
I agree that the teething pain is worse at night. try to pre-empt it with Tylenol or Motrin before bedtime. Maybe prop up the head of her crib on phone books so she has less congestion (that often comes with teething pain). Personally, I think I would suspend the CIO b/c she is in pain and needs to be comforted. Maybe you ad your husband can do a split-shift kind of thing so you both know you can at least each get a few hours of sleep? Good luck--those teeth can't stay in there forever!
Hi M.
I have always held the philosophy that CIO is not intended for sick or babies otherwise in pain. Teething is a nightmare for all of us especially the little one who only knows that Mommy or Daddy can help me feel better. Try Motrin before bed as already suggested as well as baby orajel. If she wakes up and she can be redosed with either the Motrin or Orajel go for it and put her back to bed when she has calmed back down.
Reintroduce her sleep training after this period of teething.
Hi M.,
We did a version of CIO with our two children. My daughter is working on her eye teeth now so she occasionally will wake a couple of hours after we put her down and I always go up to comfort her. It takes two seconds and she is back asleep. (FYI - we use the night time Orajel and it seems to help.) I really think if a child is in pain then CIO should be suspended. You might let her cry a couple minutes to see if she goes back to sleep on her own, but it sounds as if she is really screaming. I think teeth pain is worse at night. There is nothing else to distract them from the pain. Good luck - this will pass.
M.
