Why I Won’t Be Using the Term CIO Anymore – EP 15

I’ve been using the term CIO or Cry It Out for years. I’ve never liked it. It’s pejorative. “Oh…you’re one of those CIO parents. Whelp I’m not, because, y’know, I’m a good parent.” It’s largely meaningless. And in some parenting circles even the faintest mention risks getting you banned from the group.

It also doesn’t really mean anything. I’ve tried to define CIO or minimally bring some clarity to the discussion. But even with millions of readers annually, CIO remains a vague ill-understood concept to most people.
And it’s ugly. It’s plain ugly.
In case it’s not clear, I’m not a fan. And going forward, I won’t be using it anymore.
Sleep Learning Independence Plan
In this podcast we delve into the history of the term CIO, unpack some of the baggage related to the term CIO, and how the ambiguity of what it means muddles our thinking about sleep and parenting.
There is a better option than CIO and we discuss it fully in the podcast. Hint: it’s this. What it means and why it’s the new cool thing is covered in greater detail in the podcast.

Further Reading
First use of the term CIO from The Care and Feeding of Children (written in 1894.)
What sleep training is.
What other parents have to say about it.
No sleep training is not child abuse, not even remotely.
Yes there is a book. It’s not quite ready, but almost.
Take a listen, let me know what you think. And I hope you’ll join me in embracing SLIP. SLIP into bed, SLIP into sleep, see how nicely it rolls off the tongue?

Om Podcasten

Want to learn how to get your baby to sleep better, your toddler to eat something other than Goldfish, and your big kid to go to bed without making a Federal case about it? Alexis Dubief from the Precious Little Sleep blog, along with a diverse group of smart parents from across the globe, break down everything related to parenting and sleep in a concise, conversational format. Co-hosted by Alexis Dubief, Melissa Brander, Katka Gabris, Ashby Mizell, and Elisabeth Nadin.