The CIO Method and Why I Don’t Teach It

Jun 14

Sleep training as a whole notoriously gets a bad rap for being “cry it out,” but really, it is so much more complex than that. I often see parents commenting on Facebook Groups saying “I just don’t have the heart to let my baby cry for hours, so I refuse to sleep train” but really, sleep training is so much more than crying uncontrollably. In fact, there shouldn’t be any uncontrollable crying while sleep training.

The CIO Method, or the Extinction Method, is a sleep training method where you get your child ready for bed, lay them down in their sleep space, and then shut/lock the door until morning time. This method doesn’t allow for check ins, just simply closing the door for a set amount of time until morning.

Extinction method doesn’t care if your child is:

overtired
undertired
crying like crazy
sick
teething
having an off day
going through a growth spurt
needs a feeding in the night
in the middle of a regression

…because it’s the same every time. Lay them down in their crib and don’t come in until morning.

I DO NOT TEACH THE CIO METHOD because I find it vague and hard!!!!! There are so many “what-if” scenarios that the extinction method doesn’t account for.

When teaching parents how to get their children to sleep through the night, there are so many boxes that we check to make sure that we are making this new transition as seamless and fair as possible. I teach parent the proper wake windows for their child’s age, how to set up their sleep environment so it’s conducive for sleep, how to lay their child down awake, what to do if there IS a lot of crying, how to know when to feed throughout the night, and what to do when things aren’t going as planned.

The benefits of working directly with a sleep coach are huge. The 2 methods I find myself teaching the most are Leave and Check and Stay-in-the-room. Both of these sleep methods are responsive and allow the child to fall asleep independently in their room, while still doing it themselves.

If you need help with your child’s sleep, please don’t hesitate to book a free call with me to see if we’d be a good fit ❤️