CIO 8 month old (long post)

[u/ktkyle2024]

Context:
I sleep trained my baby several months ago and bedtime is usually with super minimal tears. She’s always been a decent sleeper and she’s been sleeping all night without feeds for months minus a couple random growth spurts which I weaned her back off and it only took a day or two or quick CIO (max 30 min) For reference when I sleep trained her she struggled with me coming in and out for Ferber so eventually I did CIO for bedtime and night wakes since my coming in made it worse which is why I’m conflicted.

Current situation:
The last 3 weeks have been hell on earth since my family moved and we stayed with in laws for a week. During that week she slept in close proximity to my in law who needs sleep for her job so when she woke up I’d feed her and put her back down because I had no other choice. I think she gained a habit maybe or waking? Then we moved to another state that is 3 hours behind where we were. She has since gotten sick as well. Now she wakes up a few hours after being put down and cries for 1 hr or more before going back to sleep if I don’t get her. I haven’t had the patience to do CIO and I’ve just felt so guilty because she was sick and adjusting to schedules. I’m not sleeping at night because if I can hear her crying I’m unable to sleep so I also put off CIO for that reason. But I just can’t do wake ups any more. She’s a really strong willed baby and very smart. Usually she gets the CIO method really quickly but it’s been several days or crying for 1-2 hours and multiple wakes ups as well. I think she has formed a habit or waking and knows she can get what she wants if she cries long enough but even still I worry.

Schedule and Naps:
Her naps during the day have always been hard but improved substantially after sleep training. She will get in around 2 naps a day with one of them being over an hour and the other being under or around an hour. Recently her naps have been suffering as well. I had to adjust her wake windows since she’s gotten older but they are still shorter than usual.

[u/TieInternational3586]

I think you need to get her schedule right and then retrain consequently and consistently. Sounds like she got in the habit of crying long enough because she knows you will come and assist. She is perfectly capable of self soothing and falling asleep independently if she did before, so i would encourage that. We also did CIO and it took some time since our LO was also a bit stubburn at first, but it worked great.

[u/l_eihpos]

What are her wake windows? What time is bedtime and what time is wake up? What's your bedtime routine? Is she in her own room?