Crying It Out was the best thing I did

Cry It Out or the Ferber method for sleep training a baby is one of the most controversial ones out there. I read about the positive aspects of it and the negative aspects of it. Scientifically, it can't be proven one way or the other.

Both my kids were Ferberized, as it is called. I tried everything else to get them to sleep for more than an hour at a time and eventually got too exhausted and had to try CIO. My older dau
The first few days of sleep training are excruciating. This is what I did -

1. I bought a video baby monitor. The thought of my baby in a room alone with no way for me to see her was too scary for me.
2. Follow a bedtime routine. It doesn't have to be elaborate. With m y older one, I had a long bedtime routine but with my younger one, I didn't have the time.
   1. Long Bath, Lotion, Put on PJs, Read 2-3 books, Sing 3-4 songs, Rock her for 10 mins, then put her in crib and leave the room
   2. Short bath, Lotion, Put on PJs, Sing Songs, Rock her for 1 minute and then put her in crib and leave the room
3. After putting them down, they would scream and cry. Check on them every 2, 5, 10, 15 minutes. I modified this according to how bad the screaming was and the situation.
4. My older daughter ended up sleeping sitting up for the first few days. So did my younger one.
5. After a week, my older daughter had started sleeping through the night. It took my younger daughter longer to sleep through the night, about 10 days - 2 weeks.
6. It took longer to sleep train them for naps but eventually the night training kicked in during the day as well.

At the end of it, I was glad I had done it so we could all get some sleep. I still get only 6 hours of sleep every day and I have a video monitor next to me at night so I can always keep an eye on her.

The hardest part of CIO was listening to them cry all night for so long. And each time I would go to check on them, seeing the tears on their eyes would make me cry. But I had to stay firm and my husband really supported me at that time.

Both my kids slept better and deeper after they had been sleep trained. I don't regret it at all. This may not be appropriate for all kids and I'm not suggesting you do it for your kids but it worked for me and my family. I only did it after I had tried everything else for both kids.