I am NOT against CIO. I am, however, against CIO before 6 months of age. Again, this comes with the territory of being a parent. Babies CRY! Having an infant CIO before 6 months of age is just cruel and down right mean. It’s wrong. They NEED to feel you, the need your love and attention. They need that connection and to feel safe and secure with you. Do you think letting a baby cry until she fell asleep would give that sense of safety to her?! NO!!!!!!!

And IF/when you do start. You need to start slow. Putting him in his crib and turning off the monitor until he falls asleep is just fla tout neglect in my opinion. You DON’T do that. You start out timing…maybe CIO for 2 minutes then go in and calm her down and leave again, CIO another 2 min and go back in and calm her down again. After a few times of that up the minutes..slowly. Let him CIO for 5 minutes and then go in and calm him down, then let him CIO for 10 min and then go in and calm him down and leave again. You see the pattern> YOU ALWAYS COME BACK. That’s their sense of safety and security even though you’re still teaching them to sleep on their own. I personally do not feel like any CIO should go over 20 minutes and that is a STRETCH. I would normally say 15 minutes but I know there are some babies out there who really need that extra 5 minutes to fall asleep on their own.

Just remember, put yourself in your baby’s shoes. How would YOU feel?