[OLA07]

Hi there, hope you sleeping patterns smooth out. Ours did. We brought our son home at 8 mos. He is a crib sleeper, but we held him until he fell asleep before putting him down. We just sensed that this was right for attachment (at least in our case). We had a routine with the bottle just before sleeping too. That changed for naps once he was eating more baby food. A child psychologist friend said not much has been studied on self soothing/ sleep development in adopted children, so she couldn't just recommend the CIO our similar, but didn't discount it's worth either. She did however suggest that we play quiet soothing sounds or music, repeating, so when our son awoke, he'd hear the same sounds that he fell asleep to, building familiarity in environment. We believe it helped, problem is we haven't stopped that practice and I'm not sure if constant music (soft Vivaldi) is good for the brain all night long.

THIS NEXT PART IS LONG:
When our son was 11 mos. he started to fight the "oh you are taking me in for that nap or bedtime thing, I'm on to you... "and squirmed and cried in our attempts to hold him into sleep. So I read up on methods and found one that I was comfortable with (hubby was too). It has been a blessing and felt like the "magic cure" for our case. Simply put... give your child 5 minutes (exactly!) with you in the room soothing in whatever way you choose (not engaging with eye contact or conversation though). I'd hold our son, but as soon as he squirmed/fought I'd lay him in the crib. Yes he'd be mad, but I'd begin rubbing back or chest (even when our son stood for those 5 minutes crying I'd rub or just lean onto the crib edge; no eye contact). Then say night night or sweet dreams, whatever you choose and leave the room after the 5 minutes (no more no less). YUP- you guessed it, crying, loudly.
Now-- listen to the cry, if he cries HARD for 5 minutes straight then quitely return to the room and begin your soothing routine (no eye contact or conversation). EXACTLY 5 minutes later leave again. Listen to the crying- it must be HARD crying to begin the clock for 5 minutes count. If it subsides to soft crying, stopping, or anything of the like for 20- 30 seconds even, just leave it. If he starts crying HARD look at the clock and begin the 5 minute count- only if he's cried 5 minutes hard will you go back in to sooth. It's tough to listen too, but I tell you 5 minutes at a time is easier that CIO, to me that is. The first try of this took 40 minutes of back and forth- I admit he was overtired to begin with so my bad. Needless to say, now, our son is either asleep within the first 5 minutes after I leave, or I return after the first hard crying bout and he stops and bam he's out with a few rubs. I admit to a couple time going in with out the HARD cry, because we were not at our home and very off schedule so I didn't think it was fair, and that he had a fear/ anxiety piece involved, but typically- the 5 on 5 off was a blessing. I don't even remember the Dr. who described it, just found it on the web, so you might do a search. Good luck and hope my story helps someone else.