I can see how this gadget could offer some reassurance to new parents while "sleep training" but as someone who didn't attempt it, I don't really see the need for this. Plus, once the baby can self-soothe it seems like it wouldn't be used anymore...making it a bit of a money waster.

Wow - didn't think I'd see any this Ferber method "CIO" stuff here...

The screen reads:

"Hang in there, You've waited 12:00 of 14:00. Baby is crying"

This just breaks my heart. I have nothing else to say about that.

It might seem sad, but the good news is that the gadget *does* encourage you to soothe your baby--- it's just after a specified time has elapsed. CIO doesn't work for everyone, but neither does letting the baby determine the sleep schedule for the entire household. I am sure the maker of this device isn't telling mothers to ignore their children if they are hungry, sick, or hurt.

I do believe that at a certain point, babies are old enough to be left alone in a crib. They will try to get you to take them out anyway they can. I can attest that when I watch my little guy on our video monitor, I can certainly tell if he really needs me or if he is just "pulling out the big guns" to get what he wants (which is to get out and play, instead of taking a nap).

Anyway, I can see a device like this being handy for parents who are okay with the idea of sleep training but are a little unsure of how to go about it or are too sleep-deprived to keep track of the clock. I can relate to the sleep-deprivation issue---there were several months I would glance at the clock and think, "Has it been two minutes? Or 20?" ;)

It seems like something that should be an app instead of a whole device.

But what do I know, I've somehow become a co-sleeper. Not what I had planned, but eh. I'm getting sleep.

To me this gadget is vile and is right up there with Babywise. Think it's not vile? I see moms emailing the entire group for CIO help for a newborn.

Any uninformed parent could misuse such a device, or just ignore the display that tells you to comfort the infant.

No. You just have to trust your gut.

You can't account for stupidity. Uninformed parents could abuse a sleep training book too.

It seems like there is a lot of heat around the CIO issue. I am not sure why everyone can't just understand that different methods work for different babies and families. There is no one way to do it. And parents that use a CIO method STILL LOVE THEIR BABIES!

My baby never slept. We did a CIO method and within a week she was sleeping through the night with little fussing. She gets more sleep now than she ever did before when I used to try to comfort her cries. For her, it has improved her well being.

That being said, I think the product is unnecessary. It really isn't that hard to look at a clock. Or get a stopwatch. CIO is pretty simple when it comes down to it.

So sad! What ever happened to following your instincts. If it is so hard to let your baby cry that you need a device to help you "be strong", then why would you do it? Babies only cry when they need something, even if it is just to be held. It's normal to be sleep deprived when you have a baby! But when you become a parent, you make sacrifices for the benifit of this child that YOU brought into the world!
And CIO has been proven to be harmful to a baby's developing brain.
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/10/handout2.asp
Just follow your gut and heart, for goodness sake, not a stupid gadget!

oh and CIO does make your baby sleep through the night. They eventually give up hope that they are going to get thier needs met and thus begins the loss of trust......
Of course people who let thier babies CIO love thier children, they are just grossely underinformed and have let thier instincts be overidden by what modern, me-first, american society has told them!

I don't criticize people who choose AP methods as I think that each baby is different and what works for one might not work for another. I find it so annoying that opponents of CIO think they can judge others and the methods they choose. Come live in my house for a month before you judge the decisions I make. Of course Dr. Sears says CIO is harmful. We're talking about Dr. Sears. So thanks for the link, but it is not persuasive.

My instincts and experience tells me that my baby is happier sleeping through the night. She greets me with a big smile every morning and is less cranky all day long compared to when she didn't sleep well and I rocked her to sleep. Yours might not react the same way and therefore might require a different method.

The suggestion that CIO is selfish is uninformed and exaggerated. I make plenty of sacrifices for my baby.

Amen edw. My twin girls were crabby and had regular tantrums. When my husband and I finally decided to do a modified CIO, a friend of ours gave us this little gadget as a gift. I liked the concept because it could track their sleep habits, but unfortunately, it isn't Mac compatible. What I do know, with a gadget or not, my girls are sleeping better at night and at nap time. When they're awake, they cry less, smile tons more, and I love them just as much as mothers who decided not to use CIO.

Yes, it's stressful to hear your baby cry. It's doubly stressful to hear two of them cry, but I am not a bad mother. And the moms who choose to not use CIO aren't bad mothers either.

This items is potentially much more interesting as a $.99 App for your IPhone than a dedicated gadget. They'd probably sell more of them, too.

In reference to the article that was posted, I don't take it as being totally against CIO. It shows a correlation between crying for extended periods of time (weeks and months) and possible neurological problems. Using CIO for sleep training takes place over a few days---not weeks and months. Could it be that the babies in the study were ignored on a consistent basis, and that's why they developed issues? Or could they even have had developmental problems in the first place that led to excessive crying?

For myself, I never really had to do much CIO (I used a combination of methods which mostly focused on no-cry solutions). But I know I was blessed that my baby's sleep improved rather painlessly. I don't judge mothers who turn to CIO, because I know several women who tried all the other methods and CIO was the only one that helped.

As the other posters mentioned, this isn't just about mothers getting more sleep (which helps them have more energy to engage their children and also prevent depression, btw)---it's about making sure our children get the sleep THEY need, so they will feel better and play happily.

with my first i was up all the time for the first year. then my pedi said he dosent need to have a night feeding (90%in weight). pedi told us it would take about a week. it took three days and he is sleeping. at first i felt this was crule. my mom said she never woke in the night for any three of her kids at any stage. with my second she would get so tired and i would try to rock her and sooth her as i did my first one. then he would make a loud noise and startle her awake again and i felt so bad for her because she was sooo tired and couldnt get rest. i realized that the little ones need to have there sleep too. i never woke her every two hrs like my son(per pedi request). i let her tell me what she needs. and if she is crying because she is tired i let her cry to sleep!!! because usually after five mins she is asleep. after ten if she is still crying i go get her. but my handy wall clock is my helper in all of this. i am not a gadget person and loose things all the time. my hubby would use this as a app for his phone. not an entire gadget though.

Of course mothers who do CIO are not bad mothers. But I still have to disagree with the idea that just because CIO usually is only done for a week or so, for minutes at a time, it is not harmful.
If listening to your baby cry is stressful, isn't that a big clue for you?
Do you let your baby cry during the day if she needs you? Why is night time so different.
Also, it's not really self soothing, it's more like emotional defeat.
Not judging anyone here. But it is pretty evident to me that CIO, for any amount of time is harmful.
more links here....please read, you might change your opinion.
http://www.growingyourbaby.com/2010/04/23/study-cry-it-out-harmful-to-babies/
http://www.phdinparenting.com/2008/07/05/no-cry-it-out/
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1998/04.09/ChildrenNeedTou.html

Doesn't your kitchen timer or cell phone clock do the same job? It annoys me that we're constantly told that the only way we can parent RIGHT or WELL is to BUY MORE STUFF.

So, uh, I guess I'm in the "unnecessary" camp.

I love that the AP crowd keeps saying to "follow your gut"-- when they are following a very prescribed set of rules themselves. And I say this as a someone who co-sleeps... I just hate a Parenting Philosophy that requires rigid adherence to a set of rules and regulations. Those ALWAYS strike me as a money making scheme for someone...