CIO

CIO, or cry it out, is not something I'm a big fan of. But away we go. This past week, I have been experimenting with it and we're having success. Each night, Mya and I talk about how she will sleep aaaalllll night long like a big girl and I will see her in the morning. I will not be coming to her in the night. If she wakes up, she can find her soother, her pillow, her blankie, her Fluff, her book and her water (little wonder there's any room for her in there!) and she can go back to sleep herself.
So, I have been able to stay in bed aaaallll night for four days in a row. It's glorious. Of course, I have to lay awake while Mya cries, but we only really had one bad night where she cried and screamed for over two hours. The other wake ups have just been small noises and fussing for no more than 30 minutes. She's averaging one or two of those little sessions per night so hopefully those fade away before the week is up.
She does climb out of bed once in a while and I'm quite certain she has spent at least half the night on the floor by her door. I explained to her this morning that she needs to crawl back into her comfy bed before she goes back to sleep.
I said I wasn't a fan and I have to say I would still rather wait until Mya naturally finds her sleep rhythm, but she has been showing definite signs that she was ready to change. Lately, she has sometimes fought me fiercely when I went to her and she didn't seem to want me there at all. Any touch or any word made the situation worse. She did not want me there to soothe her at all. As I told Craig this morning, this is likely going to be only one instance in a long line where I have to stand back and let Mya figure it out on her own. Tricky stance that - standing just far enough away for her to be little Miss Independent, yet close enough to assure her she is not alone.